State Sen. Bob Duff Wins Fifth Term

Update Wed. 4 p.m.

State Sen. Bob Duff won a fifth term Tuesday to represent the 25th District, defeating his Republican challenger Jack Chiaramonte.

Voters in Norwalk and Darien gave him 27,015 votes against Chiaramonte's 13,351 votes.

Original Story

Duff, who is currently serving his fourth term in the 25th Senate District, serves as chair of the Banks Committee and as vice chair of the Transportation and Energy & Technology Committees. He also chairs two subcommittees as a member of the Appropriations Committee.

Jack Chiaramonte, a native of Queens, NY, founded New York Ray's Pizza chain and the SoNo Silver Company. He ran for the Norwalk Common Council and later for the Board of Education, where he won a seat in 2007.

During a debate last month, Chiaramonte complained that rather than improving the overall business climate in the state, the Legislature and Gov. Dannel Malloy have concentrated too much on providing massive tax incentives to companies to come to Connecticut or to stay rather than leave it.

He used Jackson Labs as an example. The company received $200 million, title to a building that the state arranged to have built for the company, and another $100 million if the company stays in the state for 10 years and keeps 300 people working.

"Is that fiscal sanity? What is that?" Chiaramonte said. "That's not common sense."

Duff replied that the state's deal with the company would bring 842 new construction jobs and another 6,861 new, permanent jobs, including 661 "direct" jobs, another 4,000 or so "spin-off" jobs with other companies and 2,200 "indirect" jobs.

"I'm real proud of the agreement we made with Jackson Labs," Duff said. "I think that is going to be a real home run for Farmington and that area of the state [near Hartford]."

Quick Facts

• Chiaramonte pursued a degree in Computer Science at New York University and St. John's University before joining the family business.
• In September 2004, Duff was one of 35 legislators nationwide accepted into the Fleming Leadership Institute.