HARTFORD, Conn. — In a battle for one of the General Assembly's open House seats, Jason Rojas, director of community relations for Trinity College, waged a vigorous campaign and ultimately prevailed Tuesday night, winning about 60 percent of the votes cast.

Rojas, pictured right, who first had to win a Democratic primary in August for the right to be his party's nominee, captured 7,618 votes to 5,193 for Republican Clifton E. Thompson of Manchester. Rojas, 32, will be among the youngest of the 114 House Democrats who will be sworn in when the 2009 session of the legislature convenes on January 7.

A lifelong resident of East Hartford, Rojas will represent the 9th House District, which includes sections of three towns: East Hartford, Glastonbury and Manchester. The seat is being vacated by Christopher Stone, who chose not to run for re-election after a decade in office.

"It was a great night after a long five months of hard work," Rojas, who wore out a lot of shoe leather knocking on thousands of doors in discussing the pressing issues of the day with potential voters, said. In addition to his job and campaigning, Rojas is married and has two young daughters, one of whom was born seven weeks ago.

"There's a direct correlation with my work at Trinity and the election; it's about building relationships," he said. "Face-to-face communications is essential to doing that type of work, whether it involves politics or community relations."

Currently, Rojas is a member of the East Hartford town council and formerly served on that town's Board of Education and its Retirement Board. He has a bachelor's degree from the University of Connecticut and is enrolled in Trinity's graduate program, majoring in public policy.

Before assuming his job at Trinity about a year-and-a-half ago, Rojas worked for the state Department of Higher Education and Riverfront Recapture.

As director of community relations, Rojas serves as the chief liaison between the 2,200-student College and Hartford. The Office of Community Relations provides financial support to neighborhood and city non-profit organizations whose mission it is to improve the quality of life for city residents.

During Rojas' tenure, Trinity has been a financial sponsor of such non-profit organizations as Leadership Greater Hartford, the Girl Scouts of Connecticut, Boundless Playgrounds and the National Conference for Community & Justice. The College also regularly purchases tickets to and ad space for a number of events that benefit community institutions. For example, during the 2007-2008 fiscal year, Trinity participated in events that benefited Hartford Areas Rally Together, the Hartford Children's Theater, the Salvation Army, Our Piece of the Pie, the Commission on Latino and Puerto Rican Affairs Commission, and the Urban League of Greater Hartford. Trinity also sponsored the Trinity Bantams of the Southend Little League.