Official Results Indicate Landslide for Democrats United in DCC Primary
Lack of support for “Responsive Government” slate visible across the city
STAMFORD — Despite cold and rainy weather, Democrats citywide showed up for the Democratic City Committee primary to select the Party’s 2024-2026 membership. The outcome on Tuesday, March 5, sent an unequivocal message in favor of Mayor Caroline Simmons’s tenure and a rebuke of the divisive behavior conducted by the Reform Stamford group.
According to results from the Stamford Registrars of Voters, candidates affiliated with the Democrats United for Stamford slate won nearly all their races.
Democrats United for Stamford Chair Michael Hyman, who also serves on the Board of Education, reacted to the slate’s massive victory in a statement emailed to the Stamford Current, calling it a “great night for the city's Democrats."
Tuesday’s "vote affirm[ed] two things," Hyman stated. "First, that Mayor Simmons has wide and deep support across Stamford for the work that she is doing. Second, our Democrats United for Stamford slate ran to ensure that we bring sanity and reason to every decision that we make. The voters heard that message and voted positively for a unified party that can focus on the real issues. I am hopeful that the Reform Stamford leaders heard and understood that message as well."
The primary outcome in District 4 was so close that it required a recount, which was held on Thursday, March 7, at Stamford Government Center. Tracey Bass, a Stamford educator for nearly five decades, won by a single vote over one of the “Dems for Responsive Government” candidates.
After roughly an hour of elections officials carefully reviewing absentee and in-person ballots, the result was confirmed without any difference from Tuesday.
In Districts 10, 11, and 12, only two candidates qualified to run in each district, so no primary was held. All six of these individuals were affiliated with the Democrats United for Stamford slate.
Thirty seven candidates in the DCC primary ran with the United for Stamford slate, which was endorsed by Simmons, Attorney General William Tong, and several state and local legislators representing parts of the city. All but four of them won their races. The new DCC membership will include four members of the Greater Stamford Young Democrats, representing 10% of all DCC members for the 2024-2026 term. Additionally, 62.5% of members for the new term are women, and 42.5% of the members are people of color.
"Stamford Democrats made it undeniably clear what they expect from their party: to continue to move our city forward, under the leadership of Mayor Simmons, and put the unethical practice of double dipping behind us," Stamford DCC Chair Robin Druckman, who supported the United for Stamford slate, said in a statement to the Stamford Current. "For the second time in the past five months, voters overwhelmingly rejected Reform Stamford's agenda, underscoring that their minority views are out of touch with Stamford voters."
It was a rejection of a former longtime Republican official, an election denier, and the overall group funded in part by a recent Republican Town Committee leader — yet again.
Prior to the DCC primary, the group was most recently behind the charter revision ballot question last fall, which included nine parts and was supposed to summarize 195 pages of language and details. If the referendum had passed, it would have brought additional taxes, increased bureaucracy and gridlock, and an unbalanced level of power for the Board of Representatives. However, it failed by a 14 point margin and more than 2,600 votes.
Since the DCC primary concluded, Reform Stamford leader and Board of Representatives Majority Leader Nina Sherwood insisted to the Stamford Advocate that her “Responsive Government” slate was unable to compete against the “United for Stamford” group because, in part, her candidates could not sufficiently fundraise.
Fundraising is a key aspect of the DCC operations. It is a priority in order to print walk cards, lawn signs, and mailers, so a voter database can be used to contact supporters and identify new ones, and similar campaign tasks are frequently undertaken during each election cycle. As well, knocking on doors, calling voters, and writing newspaper commentary in support of a candidate are other common actions taken during a campaign. They are also ones which the “Responsive Government” slate, in comments to the Connecticut Examiner, sought to flip into a criticism of the “United” slate who reportedly reached thousands of Democrats throughout the last several weeks leading up to the primary election.
With elections for president, U.S. senator, and U.S. representative on the ballot alongside many state legislative races for Stamford later this year, the DCC will soon be selecting members to attend nominating conventions and plan strategies to get their nominated candidates elected.
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