Despite historic numbers of people casting absentee ballots because of the coronavirus pandemic, hundreds of thousands of Connecticut voters are still expected vote in person on Tuesday for races including the presidential election.

Former Democratic Vice President Joe Biden is expected to win the state's seven electoral votes and state Democrats are hopeful that his support, coupled with opposition to Republican President Donald Trump, will benefit congressional and legislative candidates down the ballot.

But Republicans note there is still strong support for Trump in parts of the state.

“The hatred for Trump only brings you so far. And I think voters want to hear from their state reps and state senators on what they’re going to do for them,” said Rep. Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, who is expected to be the next Republican leader in the state House of Representatives. He said voters still care about the affordability of living in Connecticut and the state economy, two issues he believes benefit the GOP.

Republicans have also been critical of a wide-ranging police reform bill that was passed during a special legislative session earlier this year.

Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, D-New Haven, said he believes Democrats have plenty of successes to run on, including the police bill, minimum wage increases and a new family medical leave program that begins in 2022. He said Democrats, who control the Senate, 22-14, have opportunities to pick up some seats.

“I think it’s going to be a good year for us," he said.

All 151 seats in the Democratic-controlled General Assembly are on the ballot this year, although a handful of the races are uncontested. Also, all five incumbent Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives are up for re-election.

The congressional races receiving the most attention have included those of Rep. Jahana Hayes, who is seeking a second term in the 5th congressional district in northwestern Connecticut, and Rep. Rosa DeLauro in the 3rd district in south-central Connecticut. Her campaign ran television ads defending her record for the first time in about two decades as she seeks a 16th term.

Real estate executive Margaret Streicker, DeLauro's opponent, had raised nearly $1.4 million as of Oct. 14, $1 million of it from Streicker's own funds. Streicker has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on TV ads, many critical of DeLauro, who raised nearly $1.7 million.

Hayes, who in 2018 became the first Black woman elected to Congress to represent Connecticut, is facing a strong challenge from retired federal prosecutor David X. Sullivan. While Hayes has raised more money, Sullivan has received endorsements from police unions throughout the diverse district and also has been running TV ads.

State election officials have warned voters it could take multiple days for the final election results to be counted, considering the large number of absentee ballots. While state legislators, who agreed to make COVID-19 an allowable excuse for voting by absentee this year, allowed local registrars to begin the process of opening of the ballots on the Friday before the election, they won't be actually counted until Election Day.

As of Sunday, nearly 600,000 absentee ballots had been filled out and returned to local town and city clerks. That's in contrast to the 129,480 absentee ballots that were received statewide in the 2016 presidential election. While historic, that's still roughly one quarter of the state's 2.3 million eligible voters.

Connecticut traditionally has a high voter participation rate. In 2016, it was nearly 77%. Secretary of the State Denise Merrill said it could be as high as 80%. Also, this year there are about 700,000 more new registered voters since four years ago, for a total of about 2.3 million.

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