Congressional Candidate in Tight Primary Race Despite Arrest

A Republican candidate on the primary ballot Tuesday in the race for Connecticut's Second Congressional District is in a neck-and-neck battle in that race despite his arrest on Monday night.

Thomas Gilmer, of Madison, was the party's endorsed candidate running against Justin Anderson, of East Haddam to determine who would take on Democrat Rep. Joe Courtney in November.

Gilmer was arrested by Wethersfield police on Monday night and charged with second-degree strangulation and first-degree unlawful restraint. They began an investigation into Gilmer on July 22 after being contacted about a possible domestic assault that occurred in town, police said.

The state GOP Twitter account tweeted on Tuesday that Gilmer had ended his campaign after his arrest but the Secretary of the State's Office said they had not received an official notice from Gilmer that he was in fact ending his campaign.

As of Wednesday evening, both candidates had received 50% of the votes counted with Gilmer trailing Anderson by just 15 votes. So far, 93% of the district's precincts had reported vote totals.

NBC Connecticut reached out to Gilmer for comment on Tuesday but we have not heard back.