5 Danbury-area unopposed first selectmen cruise to victory
Facing no challengers, a handful of area first selectmen eased to victory Tuesday night.
No Republican nor candidates petitioned for the first selectman seat in Bethel, New Fairfield, Sherman or Bridgewater, securing another term for each of the towns’ Democratic leaders. Newtown First Selectman Dan Rosenthal, running on a third-party line, ran unopposed as well.
Bethel
Going into his seventh term as Bethel’s first selectman, Democrat Matthew Knickerbocker said expanding the town’s renewable energy system will be one of his top priorities.
His running mate, Rich Straiton, said budget control and improving the town’s finances and infrastructure will also continue to be a main focus.
Knickerbocker has been the town’s first selectman for more than a decade and served 10 years on the town’s Board of Education.
In 2019, he was sworn in for a sixth term after defeating
Republican Pat Rist — one of the Republican-endorsed candidates for Board of Education this year — and petitioning candidate Bill Ochs.
New Fairfield
Democrat Patricia Del Monaco will be sworn in for a third term after running unopposed for New Fairfield’s highest municipal
office seat.
The Republican Town Committee did not nominate a candidate.
Del Monaco — who was elected New Fairfield’s first selectman in 2017 — defeated Republican John Hodge in 2019.
She declared her intentions to run for a third term in June with fellow Democrat Khris Hall as her running
mate and economic development, school building projects and recreational opportunities among her top priorities.
Sherman
During his third term as Sherman’s first selectman, Democrat Don Lowe said his priorities will include ensuring “strong fiscal management and continued responsiveness to Sherman citizens’ health, well-being and lifestyle.”
He said he also hopes to see a new senior center facility constructed in town in the next two years.
“Another issue of focus will be better management of the maintenance and upkeep of the Sherman School building (as well as) more park and recreation programs, especially for active senior adults,” Lowe said.
Before defeating Republican incumbent Clay Cope in Sherman’s 2017 first selectman race, Lowe served three terms as a selectman and two years on the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission.
He also chaired the town’s Land Acquisition Fund and was a board member of the Sherman Chamber Ensemble and the Sherman Higher Education Fund.
Newtown
This year, Newtown had no campaign drama nor election night suspense at the top of the ticket, where the three-member Board of Selectmen ran unopposed.
Two-term First Selectman Dan Rosenthal, who was elected to a third term Tuesday night, surprised Newtown when he announced in July that he would break with traditional politics and run on a minor party line called the Serve America Movement.
Rosenthal, a fiscally conservative Democrat, said the coronavirus crisis and the corrosive 2020 presidential campaign left him with a conviction that if he was going to seek a new twoyear term, it would be as a nonpartisan candidate who tried to “center the conversation as much as possible.”
Rosenthal said his decision was not a political protest but “a commitment to principles of transparency, accountability and problem-solving.”
Bridgewater
Democrat Curtis Read has served as Bridgewater’s first selectman since 2013 and will enter his third four-year term in office.
Read said his priorities include continuing to maintain and improve the town’s infrastructure and protecting “the unique quality of life via an inclusive and non-partisan cooperation of residents and local officials.”