The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Gennaro claims GOP victory in 100th
MIDDLETOWN — Republican voters have chosen Middletown Police School Resource Officer Anthony Gennaro by an estimated 66 percent of the vote to face off against the city treasurer in November’s election in the city’s 100th Assembly District, according to unofficial tallies.
Gennaro garnered 411 votes to Republican Planning and Zoning Commissioner Tyrell Brown’s 211, with one district — Spencer Elementary School — yet to report the outcome.
“They’re over here partying already,” said Gennaro, 41, just before 9 p.m. from Fiore 2 Restaurant on Main Street, where his team was compiling results. “I’m a cop, so I never feel confident until I’m done. This is unbelievable.”
“I congratulate my neighbor for the hard work he put in, and thank the support of my volunteers. I hope everyone can find a way to pull this together. We are in serious trouble [in Hartford] — we need to get the right people in,” Brown said at 9:15 p.m. from Madison.
He planned to call Gennaro to concede shortly.
Gennaro will compete against Democratic city Treasurer Quentin Phipps on Election Day for the House seat now occupied by Democratic state Rep. Matt Lesser of Middletown, who has served the district since 2008.
Lesser is vying for the Democratic nomination for state Senate in the 9th District. He prevailed over state Rep. Tony Guerrera, D-Rocky Hill, according to preliminary results.
Brown, a financial planner whose party chose him 3 to 1 over Gennaro, began Tuesday like any other day — he grabbed a coffee and went to work. He voted mid-afternoon and visited the polls early evening.
“I’m taking a very unconventional approach to this primary. One, I’m not going to get nasty with anyone: I don’t think it’s really called for. Obviously, I do want to win, but I don’t think it’s really necessary to get nasty.”
“The thing I am most excited about is I am the endorsed candidate. When people go into the polls, let’s say they don’t know Tony or myself, they’ll see me at the top. A lot of people vote like that — they just go on down the line,” Brown said earlier in the day.
“As an outsider, as the underdog in this election, I am totally ... astonished, amazed, humbled, overwhelmed at the support we got. I think that says a lot. I grew up here, I have a lot of friends and family here, and this is home,” Gennaro said mid-day Tuesday.
Being a lifelong city resident has been paying dividends in this election, he added.
“Everybody I talked to, everybody that supported me, there was a connection one way or the other. When you’re running something like this, especially as a new person, when you see that, it shows how much more important it is to get [to Hartford] and start making things better for everybody because I’m so invested here,” Gennaro said.
Gennaro acknowledged that juggling a campaign with a young family — three children and a wife — as well as a full-time job investigating serious abuse cases and juvenile crime, has been a challenge.
“For me, win or lose, this has been a totally different experience. I have a totally different outlook on politics. I’ve done things the way I always thought politicians should be doing things,” Gennaro said.
Despite being lifelong Democrat, Gennaro said he doesn’t view the world through the lens of politics.
“I’m open to anybody. That’s just how I am, and I hope that I can work with everybody, and come to conclusions that make sense, and that are the the right thing to do for everybody,” Gennaro said.
“Nothing worthwhile is every easy, so I’m ready to put that work in.”
According to Republican Registrar of Voters David Bauer, there are 26,068 registered voters in Middletown: 11,658 Democrats, 4,133 Republicans, 9,804 Unaffiliated and 473 minor party members, such as Working Families, the Green Party and Libertarians.
There are presently 2,500 inactive voters in Middletown.