⚓ DEEP DIVE ⚓ Endorsed Democrats Win All BOR Primaries
DCC-Backed Candidates Claim Victory Across City
STAMFORD — A slate of candidates endorsed by the city’s Democratic Party won all of the six primaries for the Board of Representatives (BOR), according to unofficial results from the Secretary of the State. The group, which includes nine first-time contenders, will now move on to the general election.
The Stamford Democratic City Committee (DCC) endorsed candidates for positions on the ballot this election cycle during a July 20 meeting. However, candidates for the Board of Representatives in six districts submitted enough signatures from voters to require primaries in Districts 5, 6, 8, 10, 13, and 17 to select the Democratic nominees.
Absentee ballots became available to request on Tuesday, August 19, and early voting was held in the Stamford Government Center 4th Floor Cafeteria from Tuesday, September 2, to Sunday, September 7. The Primary Election Day was Tuesday, September 9.
According to the Stamford DCC, turnout was 12% citywide with 1,165 ballots cast in total across all six districts. Candidates supported by the DCC joined the 2025 Endorsed Democrats slate and subsequently won all of their races.
District 5
Newcomers Nicole Beckham, a lifelong Stamford resident and community leader, and Kierra Dorsey, a Connecticut Judicial Branch worker who volunteers with Charter Oak Communities, bested incumbent Bonnie Kim Campbell, who was first elected in 2021.
Beckham and Dorsey received 122 votes and 103 votes respectively while Campbell got 51 votes.
District 6
Neighboring District 6 elected newcomers Ryan Hughes, who works on the state’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Team, and Parker Johnson, who is employed in the energy industry, over incumbent Denis Patterson, who joined the BOR in 2015, and Lindsey Miller, a former BOR member for District 7 who served from 2015 to 2024.
Hughes and Johnson received 149 votes and 130 votes respectively. Miller obtained 33 votes followed by Patterson with 24 votes.
District 8
Theo Gross, statewide scheduler for U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Matthew Yeager, who has a background in the arts sector, won in their district with divisive incumbent Anabel Figueroa losing her second election in as many years.
Yeager and Gross received 87 votes and 85 votes respectively. Figueroa, who has represented the district since 2001 and was defeated in her 2024 State House reelection bid, got 45 votes.
District 10
Voters in District 10 chose Felix Gardner, who works for a software company, and Stephanie Sylvestre, an educator and social worker, over Brittany Lawrence, a local housing activist.
Gardner and Sylvestre obtained 138 and 127 votes respectively while Lawrence got 86 votes.
District 13
In District 13, incumbents Amiel Goldberg, who has served on the Board since 2021, and Eric Morson, who first joined the BOR in 2017, defeated Dave Adams by a margin of more than 11-to-1.
Morson and Goldberg received 284 and 280 votes respectively. Adams got 24 votes.
District 17
First-time candidate Lewis Finkel, a volunteer with local community organizations like the Ferguson Library and Stamford Public Education Foundation, and incumbent Bobby Pavia, who has been on the BOR since 2021, won in their district over Sean Boeger, an incumbent BOR member from District 15 since 2021, and Rosa Colon, a veterinary student.
Pavia and Finkel obtained 168 and 157 votes respectively while Colon got 49 votes followed by Boeger with 38 votes.
Boeger and Colon previously ran unsuccessfully for the DCC in March 2024.
Latest Defeat for Reform Stamford
Most of the losing candidates in the primary have been aligned in recent years with Reform Stamford, a group that gained support after the 2017 Democratic Primary for Board of Representatives but whose power has been vastly diminished after recent elections. The results are just the newest electoral blow to the faction.
In 2023, they vocally backed the controversial charter revision ballot measure that was voted down by city residents by a margin of 57% to 43%.
A few months later, a slate backed by Mayor Caroline Simmons and other local officials won almost every race for the DCC against a Reform-supported group.
In August 2024, community advocate Eilish Collins Main beat incumbent State Representative David Michel, a Reform Stamford co-founder, in the Democratic Primary. Then-Board of Representatives member Jonathan Jacobson defeated incumbent State Representative Anabel Figueroa, an embattled candidate closely aligned with Reform Stamford as a Board of Representatives member, in the Democratic Primary.
Collins Main and Jacobson went on to win their general election races and currently serve in the Connecticut House of Representatives.
General Election Voting Options
In addition to the Board of Representatives, there will also be elections for mayor, town clerk, constable, the Board of Education, and the Board of Finance.
Absentee ballots for the general election will be available starting Friday, October 3. To apply for one online, click here. English and Spanish applications for an absentee ballot can be found here and here respectively.
Early voting for the general election will take place at Stamford Government Center in the 4th Floor Cafeteria on the following days.
Monday, October 20, from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Tuesday, October 21, from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Wednesday, October 22, from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Thursday, October 23, from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Friday, October 24, from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Saturday, October 25, from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Sunday, October 26, from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Monday, October 27, from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Tuesday, October 28, from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm
Wednesday, October 29, from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Thursday, October 30, from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm
Friday, October 31, from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Saturday, November 1, from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Sunday, November 2, from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
While twelve days of early voting will be available from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, the hours will be extended on Tuesday, October 28, and Thursday, October 30, to go from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm.
Election Day will be held at local municipal districts on Tuesday, November 4, from 6:00 am to 8:00 pm. To find your district number and polling location, click here.
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Here in homage to some of the incumbents, this is not a column but my opinion. https://ctexaminer.com/2025/11/28/honoring-stamfords-true-public-servants/
Before even addressing the substance, there is a threshold issue that cannot be ignored. None of the articles published by this Substack carry a writer’s name.
Not one. Since its launch on January 1, 2024, the content consists almost exclusively of city events, DSSD activity, and Chamber of Commerce–adjacent coverage, all presented without attribution. That raises an obvious and legitimate question. Who is writing this? And for whom? When a publication consistently amplifies the executive branch and its allied institutions, while remaining entirely anonymous, it is fair to ask whether this page is being run by someone working in, or closely aligned with, the mayor’s office. Transparency is not optional if one wishes to be taken seriously as a journalistic outlet.
This particular piece reads less like journalism and more like marketing copy for the executive branch and DCC insiders. That is not illegal, but it should be disclosed. What is missing throughout is accountability, a named author, a responsible editor, or even the pretense of balance.
Paragraph after paragraph offers glowing, vague praise of “the winners”, while offering not a single substantive word about the work, legislative record, or service of the defeated incumbents. That omission is not accidental. It is how bias operates, quietly, selectively, and always in one direction.
I am also genuinely curious about the language used. What, precisely, qualifies the state representative who replaced me as a “community advocate”? Which community? By what work, what organizing, what legislative leadership? Is this truly the strongest candidate the mayor and the governor could find to replace someone who consistently confronted special interests, developers, and executive overreach? Or was proximity, loyalty, and personal familiarity the more relevant qualification?
No one contacted me before publishing my name, no request for comment, no attempt at balance. That too tells us something.
As for the publication itself, I cannot help but note the irony of its name. As an actual sailor and licensed keelboat captain, I was taught that currents deserve respect, not blind trust. When a channel runs in only one direction, and always carries the same political cargo, experienced mariners know to check the tide tables, the wind, and who is steering. Otherwise, you are not reporting on the current, you are being carried by it.
Sunlight matters. Accountability matters. And journalism, real journalism, requires names, questions, and a willingness to scrutinize power, not sail comfortably alongside it.