Greene takes father’s old seat by 109 votes

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Leonard C. Greene Jr. (R) knocked off incumbent Theresa W. Conroy (D) in the 105th House District on Tuesday.

SEYMOUR — Republican challenger Leonard C. Greene, Jr. defeated first-term Democratic lawmaker Theresa W. Conroy to represent the 105th House District.

Greene, 30, of 10 Roosevelt Dr., won against Conroy by 109 votes — 4,141 to 4,042. The district covers all of Seymour and Beacon Falls and a portion of Ansonia.

Greene will serve in the seat his father once held for nearly 12 years until 2008, when he didn’t seek re-election. Conroy, 53, of 177 Skokorat St., was elected to the seat in November 2008.
Greene said both he and Conroy ran positive campaigns, and he thanked his campaign team, plus his family for their support. He said he knocked on a lot of doors and talked to a lot of people, but he believes his team’s efforts Tuesday pushed him over the top.

“I give them the credit,” Greene said.

Greene said the people wanted to send someone to Hartford who was going to try to reign in the spending and the fiscal irresponsibility.

Conroy, a nurse practitioner for Minute Clinic at CVS locations in the area, heard the numbers surrounded by supporters in a former business at the corner of Bank and First streets. She later stepped out into the cold air.

“Of course, I’m disappointed,” said Conroy. “I don’t think there has been a harder-working representative than myself for the district.”

Conroy said she thinks voter discontent with Obama cost her a win, although she does not think she rode to victory on Obama’s coattails two years ago. People from all different groups have told her she has done a good job, she said.

Both Conroy and Greene had said the state budget will be the No. 1 priority in the next two years.

Conroy had said the state needs to look at alternate sources of revenue and generate its economic base. She said the legislature had started streamlining the permitting process for businesses to come into the state, and she wanted to ensure that work continued.

Greene, who has worked as a community relations specialist for Regan Communications in Wallingford, had said if elected, he would work to stop the state’s extensive borrowing and spending.

He said if Connecticut can stabilize its laws regarding business, it can attract more companies to the state.