AFTER PRIMARY, DEMOCRATS UNITE
Simmons and Martin take aim at November election — and Valentine
STAMFORD — As it became clear Tuesday night that Mayor David Martin had lost the Democratic primary to state Rep. Caroline Simmons, both candidates wasted no time in pivoting toward the general election and taking aim at unaffiliated candidate Bobby Valentine.
Simmons described the
former Major League Baseball manager’s bid for mayor as a “vanity project.”
“We’re running against a candidate with a household name, but I know that together we can win and that our campaign has the winning values,” Simmons said to supporters at Third Place by Half Full Brewery on Tuesday. “This fall, there’s a clear choice for Stamford voters. Our opponent’s campaign is about himself. Our campaign is about the people.”
After conceding Tuesday, Martin said he would do whatever he could to help
Simmons win in November.
“My administration has worked too hard for too long to turn over the future of our great city to Bobby Valentine,” Martin said in a statement. “Bobby Valentine may be a fun celebrity with lots of great stories, but governing the second largest city in Connecticut is not a game.”
On Wednesday, Valentine fired back, saying the low turnout in Tuesday’s primary “speaks to the lack of enthusiasm for both Democratic candidates.”
Citywide, about 31,000 people were eligible to vote in the Democratic primary. About 6,600 did vote, meaning turnout was about 21 percent, according to unofficial results posted to the Secretary of the State’s website.
About 1,300 people voted by absentee ballot. Voters could use COVID-19 as a reason for requesting one.
In Tuesday’s election, Simmons won 4,156 votes, or about 63 percent of the total, compared with Martin’s 2,412, according to the unofficial results.
Simmons not only won the most votes overall but also won more votes than Martin in each voting district, with both in-person votes and absentee ballots included, according to information provided by the Registrars of Voters. She won by the biggest margin — 276 votes — in District 16, which covers part of the Turn of River-Newfield area and is at the heart of Simmons’ state House district.
Martin has been mayor since 2013. He failed to secure the Stamford Democratic City Committee’s endorsement this year in a close vote between him and Simmons.
“David dedicated 35 years to public service, yet was ousted by his own party,” Valentine said in a statement. “That game of political maneuvering is why I’m running unaffiliated.”
Valentine was previously a registered Republican. There is no longer a GOP candidate in the mayoral race after Republican Town Committee-endorsed candidate Joe Corsello dropped out last week and declared his support for Valentine.
Simmons, a Greenwich native who has lived in Stamford since 2014, “has no sense for my connection with the people in this community,” claimed Valentine, a Stamford native.
“This understanding of our community is what will propel us into the future,” he said. “This isn’t a stepping stone in a political career, and I don’t have to embellish my credentials to sound experienced. I’m a proven team builder that can bring us together, and a problem solver that will address the many challenges I will inherit as Stamford’s next mayor.”
Martin wasn’t the only incumbent to lose in Tuesday’s Democratic primary. He was joined by two members of the Board of Representatives.
In District 5, challengers Bonnie Kim Campbell and Melinda Punkin Baxter defeated city Reps. Gloria DePina and Lila Wallace. DePina was first elected to the Board of Representatives in 1989. Wallace has served on the board since 2009.
Baxter and Campbell won 170 and 166 votes, respectively. Wallace earned 147, and DePina won 138.
The only other primary contest was in District 19, where the current representatives, Raven Matherne and Bob Lion, had decided to not seek reelection. The Stamford Democratic City Committee endorsed Don Mays and John Pelliccia in July. Jennifer Matheny and Pina Basone challenged them together.
Mays and Matheny won the most votes: 320 and 319, respectively. Pelliccia won 292. Basone earned 286.