On July 8, Connecticut State Senator Edwin Gomes won a lawsuit in state court in Bridgeport. The court ordered that he be placed on the Democratic primary ballot, for the August 9 primary. Under Connecticut law, anyone who has at least 15% of the delegates at a party endorsement meeting is entitled to run in the primary. Gomes received that level of support at a recent Democratic Party meeting, but the officials who ran the meeting failed to notify the Secretary of State that Gomes had that much support.

Gomes won his last election to the Connecticut Senate as the nominee of the Working Families Party, but he is a registered Democrat and wanted the 2016 Democratic nomination.