SIMMONS SWEEPS
By overwhelming numbers, the state rep. held off Martin
STAMFORD — It was a sweeping victory for state Rep. Caroline Simmons.
Not only did she hold off incumbent Mayor David Martin in the Democratic mayoral primary Tuesday, she beat him at the polls in every district, according to Simmons’ spokesman Arthur Augustyn. Augustyn said her lead at the ballot box was greater than all the
absentee ballots turned in by Stamford voters.
Shortly after 9 p.m. Tuesday, Simmons walked into a room of jubilant supporters at Third Place by Half Full Brewery just after news of her win began to spread. The crowd parted for her and began shouting her name with a fervor more suited for a football stadium.
According to unofficial results from Martin’s campaign, Martin nabbed 2,404 votes, including absentees. Simmons’ was almost double with 4,154.
After Simmons, 35, won the endorsement of the Democratic City Committee in a tight vote
this summer, Martin, 68, submitted enough signatures from registered Democrats to force a primary election. Martin was first elected mayor in 2013.
The Stamford mayoral election, and elections for other municipal offices, will take place Nov. 2. After Republican candidate Joe Corsello dropped out last week, the only other candidate in the mayoral race is former Major League Baseball manager Bobby Valentine, who is running as an unaffiliated candidate.
“I want to say to the mayor and to all the mayor’s supporters: we need you, and I will be honored to earn your support in this race that we can come together as Democrats and take on Bobby Valentine,” Simmons said.
Only about an hour after the polls closed, Martin said he called Simmons, congratulated her on her victory and told her he would support her in the general election.
“Although we have some difference of opinions about what it takes to run this very complex and diverse city, nonetheless our agreement about some of the values that we share and the vision we have for this city and the need to make certain that we move forward in a positive way rather than sort of moving backwards with the gentleman who, despite all his celebrity status, is not the guy that I believe ... should be running this city, so we’ll be moving forward in that regard,” Martin said.
Beside the mayoral race, Democrats in Districts 5 and 19 of the city also voted on candidates for the Board of Representatives.
According to Simmons’ campaign, challengers Bonnie Kim Campbell and Melinda Punkin Baxter secured spots in District 5, defeating incumbent Reps. Gloria DePina and Lila Wallace.
Stefanie Markham, who cast a vote for Campbell and Baxter, as well as Simmons, said she felt Stamford is in need of “some new blood.”
Markham, whose family has lived in the city for decades, said she felt the incumbent Democrats weren’t doing enough to address the issues facing longtime Stamford residents.
“There are high rises going up everywhere, the rents are skyrocketing, there’s not enough affordable housing and (Martin) isn’t really doing anything to help us,” Markham said at the Yerwood Center Tuesday morning.
In District 19, voters backed Jennifer Matheny and Don Mays, rather than Pina Basone and John Pelliccia, according to unofficial results from Simmons’ campaign. The DCC has endorsed Mays and Pelliccia.
The current representatives of the district, Bob Lion and Raven Matherne, decided not to seek reelection this year.
Simmons, who has represented the 144th District since 2015 and previously worked for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, had said that she believes residents are yearning for a new leader with fresh ideas. If elected mayor, Simmons would be the first woman in Stamford’s top office. As of the end of June, her campaign had raised more than three times as much money as Martin’s.
On Tuesday afternoon, on a grassy patch in the parking lot outside of the the Old Rogers School, now home to Domus Kids, Kyle Houser stood with a bright blue “Caroline Simmons for Mayor” sign. All around him, placards heralded both Democratic candidates, Simmons and Martin.
Regardless, he’d come specifically on behalf of the Stamford Professional Fire Fighters Association. The union of 250 firefighters threw its support behind Simmons early in the campaign.
“Her voting record on fire issues is impeccable,” Houser, 39, said. The union advocates for growing the fire department to meet the demands of a burgeoning Stamford and is confident that Simmons could help them achieve their goal.
Houser pointed out that, even though Stamford is now the second biggest city in the state, it has the “fourth-largest full-time fire force,” which he said could put residents at risk.
He added: “We’ve seen an effort to grow the city... but not its public safety.”
Across town at Springdale School, Katherine Velez also cast a vote for Simmons.
The state representative caught Velez’s attention because of her campaign promise to rebuild the faltering infrastructure at Stamford Public Schools.
“The mayor has been in office for years now,” Velez said, her infant daughter perched on her hip. In her mind, Martin had failed to make meaningful progress in the schools, and his opponent was exactly the change the city needed, she said.
Though both candidates have pledged to maintain Stamford’s momentum and remedy the ills of administrations past, Simmons voter Tim Nash said he understood that both of the day’s contenders were fundamentally similar candidates.
The real difference, he suggested, lay in their experiences.
“It’s a classic case of traditional politics versus the progressive way of thinking,” Nash quipped.