Town Hall will remain in Republican hands.
Though the Secretary of the State has not yet announced official results, incumbent 2nd selectwoman Jennifer Tooker and running mate Andrea Moore of the Board of Finance appear to have defeated State Representative Jonathan Steinberg and running mate Candice Savin of the Board of Education.
Tooker — who served in the second spot during 1st selectman Jim Marpe’s second term — will be the first Republican 1st selectwoman in Westport history. Three predecessors — Jacqueline Heneage. Martha Hauhuth and Diane Goss Farrell — were all Democrats. This is also the first time in town history that the top two offices are held by women.
She, Moore and Steinberg — who joins the board as 3rd selectman — take office later this month.
Westport’s new 1st selectwoman Jen Tooker (right) and 2nd selectwoman Andrea Moore
Steinberg and Savin ran behind most other Democrats. In one of the few contested races, Planning & Zoning commissioners Danielle Dobin, Michael Cammeyer and Neil Cohn outpolled Republican Jack Whittle — making a bid to return to the post he once held — and Coalition for Westport candidate Ron Corwin.
The Board of Education was uncontested, until independent Alma Sarelli mounted a late write-in campaign. She received about 3% of the vote, far behind Democrats Kevin Christie and Christina Torres and, behind them, Republicans Robert Harrington and Dorie Hordon.
In the uncontested Board of Finance race, Democratic incumbents Brian Stern and Lee Caney outdistanced Republican Michael Keller.
What a great day for Westport. The Tooker-Moore team has proven greatness and experience for years. Also the Dobin-Camm-Cohn team has done great things for Westport. Politics stink because people think they have to attach themselves to a party. Westport won last night! Its easy to not care about politics until you have kids and want equality and safety and good times for your community. The best people for the jobs won last night!
Thank you for the election updates. We are in great hands with Jen Tooker at the helm. While the town has many pressing issues, I do hope we can ameliorate traffic and continue to revitalize downtown. I’m not expecting miracle fixes to these two issues which have lingered but a medium term plan fully executed would be nice. Godspeed to all elected officials and town employees.
🎉🎉🎉
Stamford got a real mayor. We get cardboard cutouts.
this is not a good look
You can’t just say congratulations and move on? Instead you take cheap shots at two women that prevailed in an election? Seems almost…misogynistic.
As a somewhat disinterested observer, perhaps if the Democratic Party had nominated a progressive candidate, they would have better energized the base. Perhaps that part of the electorate didn’t see much difference between the two candidates. The way Mr. Steinberg was positioning himself, might as well have nominated Joe Manchin. I was really a bit surprised the party went that way given the general wokeness of Westport.
I might also add the airing of Mr Steinberg’s dirty laundry in the lawsuits probably didn’t help. Somewhat surprising the party plowed ahead with a potentially wounded candidate after that rather than settle on someone with less obvious baggage.
In any event, congratulations to all the election winners, irrespective of party.
Rozanne, it’s amazing that you don’t even have the capacity to say congratulations or even something even remotely kind. Instead you hijack Dan’s comment section with cheap shots. I would have liked a Dem to win as well, but will let consideration and kindness prevail for the sake of unity and our town. Congrats to Jen and Andrea on your win!
U are disgraceful and should leave town. We are lucky to have two incredible women at the helm.
You wanted a career politician who faked a private sector career instead?
Read the Steinberg lawsuit: https://www.westport-news.com/news/article/Lawsuit-Westport-first-selectman-candidate-lied-16307521.php
I am glad we have two great administrators in charge. Hope national politics stays out of town.
Rozanne — that snide comment was unnecessary and totally beneath you.
Your comment seems you maybe in need a refresher course in graciousness and civility.
Jen and Andrea a great team for Westport! We are truly fortunate for their success.
Yes!!!! They are amazing!!!
Those cardboard cutouts Rozanne could’ve done a better job in NYC over the past 8 years…Just say n’ Congratulations Jen and Andrea, you both made history, focused your campaign on Westport issues and like Jim Marpe will deliver for Westport. Thank you all the candidates on both sides of the aisle for participating in our democracy.
What I find more worthy of consideration is why only 14% voted in this election. In the past, Westport has had over 60% voting. Of course, that was in a Presidential election, but local elections affect the lives of all its residents.
It was about 45%.
Sorry if I’m mistaken, but I vaguely remember Westport winning some kind of award for having the highest turnout in the state. Maybe from the LWV?
Off-cycle local elections in odd-numbered years where there are fewer offices at stake, and no State-wide or national offices in play — have exceptionally low turnout everywhere, not only in Westport, Turnout for local-only elections averages somewhere around 15 to 25%, with some places in the country having turnout in the single digits. So, comparatively, Westport is crushing that statistic and outperforming the national average by more than 20 points.
Apologies for the abysmal editing of my last comment.
This tight election is a testament to the strength of the two slates. Our town is lucky to have such qualified and passionate residents committed to public service, and I hope all of the candidates will continue to contribute their talents and voices. Westport has some challenges ahead, especially in terms of Town infrastructure, that solving will likely strain our Town budget. The more people engaged to find creative solutions, ideally realizable with minimal residential tax increases or the sacrifice of other Town services, the better.
Regardless of the party affiliations of our leaders, I’m proud of our town and the accomplishments, large and small, we make each day. Keep going Westport! And special congratulations to Jen and Andrea
Congratulations to these two wonderful women. They certainly represent my values. It was awful to see the Hartford Hack and the Lyin’ RINO slander them so— and comically assert moral superiority. The gals prevailed in the end.
Please fix our traffic issues once and for all – no more excuses !