Connecticut's 1st Congressional District election, 2026 (August 11 Republican primary)

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← 2024
Connecticut's 1st Congressional District
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Democratic primary
Republican primary
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: June 9, 2026
Primary: August 11, 2026
General: November 3, 2026
How to vote
Poll times:

6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Voting in Connecticut

Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Solid Democratic
DDHQ and The Hill: Pending
Inside Elections: Solid Democratic
Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Democratic
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds
U.S. House battlegrounds
Federal and state primary competitiveness
Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2026
See also
Connecticut's 1st Congressional District
1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th
Connecticut elections, 2026
U.S. Congress elections, 2026
U.S. Senate elections, 2026
U.S. House elections, 2026

A Republican Party primary takes place on August 11, 2026, in Connecticut's 1st Congressional District to determine which Republican candidate will run in the district's general election on November 3, 2026.

Candidate filing deadline Primary election General election
June 9, 2026
August 11, 2026
November 3, 2026



A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate whom they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. Connecticut law gives parties discretion to decide whether unaffiliated voters may vote in their primaries. As of October 2025, both parties operated closed primary where only a voter affiliated with the party may vote in a party's primary.[1]

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

This page focuses on Connecticut's 1st Congressional District Republican primary. For more in-depth information on the district's Democratic primary and the general election, see the following pages:

Candidates and election results

Note: The following list includes official candidates only. Ballotpedia defines official candidates as people who:

  • Register with a federal or state campaign finance agency before the candidate filing deadline
  • Appear on candidate lists released by government election agencies

Republican primary

Republican primary for U.S. House Connecticut District 1

Amy Chai (R) is running in the Republican primary for U.S. House Connecticut District 1 on August 11, 2026.

Candidate
Image of Amy Chai
Amy Chai  Candidate Connection

There are no incumbents in this race.

Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Candidate profiles

This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.

Amy Chai

Image of Amy Chai

WebsiteFacebookX

Party: Republican Party

Incumbent: No

Submitted Biography:  "Dr. Amy Chai, a physician, author, and home-educating mom, rose from poverty to serve those with addictions, mental illness, and complex problems. She is a pragmatist with real solutions who is honest, tough, and fair. She has degrees from the Johns Hopkins U (biology), IU School of Medicine (MD), U Michigan (Internal Medicine), UVA (General Medicine and MS Epidemiology). She is double boarded in IM and Addiction Medicine. She took 10 years off to home educate high school, earning a US Presidential Teacher award and earning a “top ten educational book” in Sichuan Province. Her thesis coined the term “learner-centered” education as she worked with medical faculty and medical education. She has earned a public service award for her volunteer work teaching STEM related material to children in Hartford, CT. She has a deep commitment to caregivers and veterans, as she worked while caring for two sets of parents through end-of-life care, and her father was a war veteran who suffered from PTSD. She also is committed to preventing mental illness and addiction. Her husband is a Taiwanese immigrant, and she has successfully raised two adult children. She has worked with a South Sudanese NGO, has supported physician ministries overseas, and has volunteered extensively with her church groups. She represents those who sacrifice for their families and for their country, and she is stepping up to serve—not to be served."

Key Messages

To read this candidate's full survey responses, click here.

Poverty to purpose. We are throwing billions of dollars at poverty and none of it is accounted for or effective. We have more poverty than ever. It is like putting a bandage over a cancer as it festers and grows instead of cutting it out with surgery. Instead of investing in band aids and lining the pockets of political cronies, I will invest in a scalpel. The root causes of poverty are mental illness, generational trauma, and lack of opportunity. Crime, social ills, and national debt result from bad policy. We hit poverty with the one-two punch of preventing mental illness (it can be done) and returning to evidence-based education with no agenda other than success. Poverty will dwindle as youth have purpose, opportunity, and healthy minds

Mend the Middle Class. Our tax system discourages work. It increases tax on earned income the harder you work. This hurts average Americans who struggle to stay out of poverty while paying their lifeblood on unreasonable government spends. I would eliminate the self-employment tax. I would shift taxation towards the financial industry and away from earned income. I would work on solutions with small local businesses who are hurt by unfair tax and regulations that advantage larger companies. I would end foreign and venture capital ownership of single-family homes. The housing market is artificially costly because 30% of homes aren’t owned by families. Homes are for families. Socialism isn't the answer. Better capitalism is the answer

Put the health and the care back into healthcare. With passage of the ACA, the costs of healthcare skyrocketed and doctors worked harder and faster to crank people through the office like sausage in a grinder. People think insurance is the problem, but actually the bigger problem is the for-profit nature of those who extract profit from ownership of doctors. Data from the U.S. healthcare sector indicates that VCs generate huge profits at the expense of providers, clinicians, and patients. The 2.6 TRILLION taken from healthcare by these people dwarfs profits made by insurance companies, who have a profit caps. With caps on profits for VCs that own healthcare conglomerates, we can immediately put the next 2.6 trillion back in your pocket.

Voting information

See also: Voting in Connecticut

Election information in Connecticut: Aug. 11, 2026, election.

What is the voter registration deadline?

  • In-person: Aug. 10, 2026
  • By mail: Postmarked by July 24, 2026
  • Online: July 24, 2026

Is absentee/mail-in voting available to all voters?

No

What is the absentee/mail-in ballot request deadline?

  • In-person: Aug. 10, 2026
  • By mail: Received by Aug. 10, 2026
  • Online: Aug. 10, 2026

What is the absentee/mail-in ballot return deadline?

  • In-person: Aug. 11, 2026
  • By mail: Received by Aug. 11, 2026

Is early voting available to all voters?

Yes

What are the early voting start and end dates?

Aug. 3, 2026 to Aug. 9, 2026

Are all voters required to present ID at the polls? If so, is a photo or non-photo ID required?

N/A

When are polls open on Election Day?

6:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. (ET)

Campaign finance

Name Party Receipts* Disbursements** Cash on hand Date
Amy Chai Republican Party $840 $1,608 $-669 As of December 31, 2025

Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2026. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee."
** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election.

District analysis

Click the tabs below to view information about voter composition, past elections, and demographics in both the district and the state.

  • District map - A map of the district in place for the election.
  • Competitiveness - Information about the competitiveness of 2026 U.S. House elections in the state.
  • Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the district and the state.
  • State party control - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.


Below is the district map in place for this election. Click the map below to enlarge it.

2023_01_03_ct_congressional_district_01.jpg
See also: Primary election competitiveness in state and federal government, 2026
Information about competitiveness will be added here as it becomes available.

Partisan Voter Index

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

Heading into the 2026 elections, based on results from the 2024 and 2020 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district is D+12. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 12 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made Connecticut's 1st the 109th most Democratic district nationally.[2]

2020 presidential election results

The table below shows what the vote in the 2024 presidential election was in this district. The presidential election data was compiled by The Downballot.

2024 presidential results in Connecticut's 1st Congressional District
Kamala Harris Democratic PartyDonald Trump Republican Party
61.0%38.0%

Presidential voting history

See also: Presidential election in Connecticut, 2024

Connecticut presidential election results (1900-2024)

  • 16 Democratic wins
  • 16 Republican wins
Year 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024
Winning Party R R R D R R R R R D D D R R R D D D R R R R R D D D D D D D D D
See also: Party control of Connecticut state government

Congressional delegation

The table below displays the partisan composition of Connecticut's congressional delegation as of October 2025.

Congressional Partisan Breakdown from Connecticut
Party U.S. Senate U.S. House Total
Democratic 2 5 7
Republican 0 0 0
Independent 0 0 0
Vacancies 0 0 0
Total 2 5 7

State executive

The table below displays the officeholders in Connecticut's top four state executive offices as of October 2025.

State executive officials in Connecticut, October 2025
OfficeOfficeholder
GovernorDemocratic Party Ned Lamont
Lieutenant GovernorDemocratic Party Susan Bysiewicz
Secretary of StateDemocratic Party Stephanie Thomas
Attorney GeneralDemocratic Party William Tong

State legislature

Connecticut State Senate

Party As of February 2026
     Democratic Party 25
     Republican Party 11
     Other 0
     Vacancies 0
Total 36

Connecticut House of Representatives

Party As of February 2026
     Democratic Party 102
     Republican Party 49
     Other 0
     Vacancies 0
Total 151

Trifecta control

Connecticut Party Control: 1992-2025
Fifteen years of Democratic trifectas  •  No Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Governor I I I R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D
Senate D D D R R D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D
House D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D

Ballot access

The table below details filing requirements for U.S. House candidates in Connecticut in the 2026 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Connecticut, click here.

Filing requirements for U.S. House candidates, 2026
State Office Party Signatures required Filing fee Filing deadline Source
Connecticut U.S. House Ballot-qualified party 2% of enrolled party members N/A 6/9/2026 Source
Connecticut U.S. House Unaffiliated 1% of votes cast for the office in the last election, or 7,500, whichever is less N/A 6/9/2026 Source

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Connecticut General Assembly, "Conn. Gen. Stat. § 9-431," accessed October 20, 2025
  2. ↑ Cook Political Report, "2025 Cook PVI℠: District Map and List (119th Congress)," accessed July 1, 2025


Connecticut's current delegation to the United States Congress
Senators
Richard Blumenthal (D)
Christopher Murphy (D)
Representatives
District 1
District 2
District 3
District 4
Jim Himes (D)
District 5
Democratic Party (7)


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