Stronger Turnout Than Expected in Tuesday's Republican Primary

Former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO and US Senate hopeful clobbered her opponent, former longtime congressman , with 73 percent of the vote statewide to win

But in McMahon's hometown of , the victory was much narrower: According to figures released by the registrar's office on Thursday, McMahon collected 1,939 votes, or 57 percent, compared to 1,473 for Shays, excluding absentee ballots.

About 24 percent of the 12,882 registered Republicans in town showed up to vote, according to the registrars' office. That's significantly more than the 14.3 percent who voted in the April 24 presidential primary.

It was the opposite in Tuesday's Democratic Primary: In Greenwich, current Congressman Chris Murphy (D-5) trounced former Connecticut Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz, picking up 1,180 votes to Bysiewicz's 219, or 84 percent — a significantly wider margin than statewide results, which showed Murphy victorious with about 67 percent of the vote.

Locally turnout at the polls was light for the Democrats, with only 1,282 out of 8,253 registered voters — or about 16 percent – showing up to vote.

McMahon, who spent $50 million of her own money on her 2010 Senate campaign only to lose to former CT State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, next squares off against Murphy in the general election in November. Each has promised a in the race for retiring Sen. Joe Lieberman's seat.

This is the second time in two years that the state has had an open seat for the U.S. Senate: In 2010, former Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd decided not to run for re-election.