Early candidate selection. Voter contact and communication. Data.
Those are the basics of winning elections.
And, according to Democratic Town Committee chair Michelle Mechanic, they were the keys to Kevin Christie and Amy Wistreich’s decisive win in last week’s Board of Selectpersons race.
Democrats hold a 2-to-1 advantage over Republicans, in local registrations. (Unaffiliated voters are second — nearly as many as Democrats.)
But although Dems controlled all other town boards, they had lost 3 consecutive selectperson contests — dating back to 2013 — before this year.
One key was to start the nominating process early. Past DTCs had waited until the official July nominating convention — “the 11th hour,” Mechanic says.
This year’s “pre-endorsement meeting,” in late winter — including a round of interviews — identified Board of Education candidate Christie for the top spot.
He promised to campaign “day and night.” And he identified Wistreich — a Planning & Zoning Commission member — as his running mate. The nominating committee then met her, vetted her, and endorsed her to the full DTC.
There was no “grand strategy,” Mechanic notes. More important is “picking good people, and allowing them to be themselves.”
Kevin Christie and Amy Wistreich, at a candidates’ debate. (Photo/Dan Woog)
Communication is another important element. The Democrats spent about 60% of their funds on email newsletters and blasts, high-quality mailers, digital media and robo-texting.
Another element of communication: old-fashioned knocking on “tons of doors.”
The rest went to professional services, like campaign managers.
(As for yard signs: “They don’t win races,” Mechanic says. They are, however, good for name recognition of new candidates. And when placed on private property; they serve as “personal endorsements.”)
The Democratic Town Committee also used its proprietary data base well, Mechanic says. That includes information on who is likely to vote for their candidates; who needs a push to get to the polls — and, during early voting and Election Day itself, who has not yet cast a ballot.
By Election Day, Mechanic was ready for one of 2 outcomes: “either really close, or a blowout.”
In the end, it was close to the latter. Christie and Wistreich earned 52.84% of the vote, in a 3-way race.
Kevin Christie (center, rear), speaking to supporters at Little Barn on election night. (Photo/Catherine Campagnino)
“The rules of politics worked,” Mechanic says. “People found Kevin and Amy authentic and qualified.”
The Board of Education race was trickier. The DTC endorsed 2 candidates; 2 other Democrats gathered 400 signatures, and also appeared on the Democratic Party line.
One of the 2 endorsed candidates dropped out. But because, by Town Charter, one party can have just a bare majority on the BOE, only 2 of the 3 Democrats could be seated.
Abby Tolan
Mechanic consulted with state Democratic Party officials. They said the DTC had some discretion, but their first duty was to ensure the election of the endorsed candidate, incumbent Abby Tolan.
She won. Petitioning candidates Stephen Shackelford and Jodi Harris were close — within 300 votes. Both swamped the leading Republican, incumbent Dorie Hordon, by over 2,500 votes. But only Shackelford — who received 11 more votes than Harris — will be seated.
“Stephen and Jodi ran a great race,” Mechanic acknowledges. She had “a lovely exchange” with Shackelford after results were announced, she says.
The Planning & Zoning Commission race was more straightforward. Three Democrats — incumbent Michael Cammeyer, alternate Bre Injeski, and Craig Schiavone — won handily.
“They worked very hard. They’re very committed to serving the community,” Mechanic says.
Besides Schiavone — with a cross-endorsement from the Coalition for Westport — the top vote-getters in the overall election were a pair of familiar faces: Democrats Elaine Whitney for the Board of Finance, and Sheri Gordon for the Zoning Board of Appeals.
What do last week’s resounding results mean for Westport’s Democratic Party?
“I am thrilled for 4 amazing years of great service with Democratic values,” party chair Mechanic says. “Kevin and Amy are Democrats with a capital D.”
“Every selectman’s cycle, people talk about the DTC like it’s a private club. It’s not.
“I also invite newer and younger residents to attend our meetings and make their voices heard. We are committed to representing every voice, but we need those voices in our processes.
“That said, I believe our elected candidates will serve everyone, in every facet of town life.”
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Hard to understand why the Trump factor seems unmentioned in the reasons for the Democratic sweep…did I miss the reference? The Trump assault one the America our forefathers hoped for and our veterans have fought for, is more than any Democratic Committee genius, or candidate qualification, responsible for the Democrat’s fortuitous and essential win.
It wasn’t mentioned because Dan Woog doesn’t have TDS Dan😜🇺🇸
I don’t have TDS. Trump is a PEDOPHILE. Lock him up!
Anyone who SUPPORTS Trump has TDS.
🤩🤩🤩🤩
Dan, 100% the Trump factor played a huge role in the outcome of our local races, CT, and other states.
Kevin, Amy, Don, Andrea, and David all worked very hard. I don’t think one or two candidates worked harder than any of the others.
The mid term elections should should prove to be the same. It seems both parties can’t help themselves when in control of Washington.
Finding common ground and common sense legislation across party lines has currently taken a sabbatical.
In my 16 years involved in local government, this is the first time I have seen our State Democratic elected officials actually have an effect on local politics.
They endorsed Kevin and actually showed up, add in the Anti King protests before Election Day, and you have all the makings of a Democratic Party sweep.
I just hope our local DTC will stop supporting Ceci Mahar, Dominque Johnson and other Democrats who are hell bent of a “once size fits all zoning” state.
Remember 8-30g and HB5002 is all on the Democratic Majority which has controlled Hartford for 30 plus years.
Local Dems, you have the numbers and power in Hartford, let’s stop being “spectators to state issues” and jump on your peeps…Hartford needs a cleansing.
Looking forward to seeing how this all plays out with all this development being shoved down our throats with no recourse.
In agreement with Dan Katz to the degree that voter turn out was a key factor reflecting how Trump was a influence in this critical election.
A surprisingly high number of mid-term votes were cast in Westport… as well through out the entire country.
And the week of early voting clearly helped to produce the turn out that elected Christie and others to the Democratic victory.
They are being generous by not mentioning dissatisfaction with the current admin and the serious character concerns raised by anyone who’d change affiliation to align — even in name only — with the party of fascism for comparatively trivial rewards. That factored heavily in my decision.
Michelle Mechanic here: I absolutely acknowledge the Trump factor. That said, we had a 3rd party candidate in the Selectman’s race. Trump helped, but if Kevin and Amy hadn’t worked so hard on the doors, we could have easily lost this race by a handful of votes.
I voted for the wonderful third party candidate, David Rosenwaks, for many reasons. I am still happy Democrats won over Republicans. I still believe in third parties and always will especially at the national level where I feel homeless bc both are showing some extremism of different sorts. Democracy does entail being able to run for office or vote for a third party.
It was an exciting fall. With Robin Weinberg at the helm of the Christie Wistreich campaign, we ran a focused campaign with some big highlights along the way. The blue wave certainly helped a great deal. Very proud to have worked with Robin and crew on this big win.
Nice story as to positive steps taken by Democratic candidates. It was probably overly generous not to allude to the possible impact of President Trump and aspects of the O’Day/Moore candidacy. For me two such aspects were association with the present Tooker Administration and strong feelings about the demolition of The Community Gardens.
Is everyone here saying the entire voting town has TDS? and that’s what won the election?
Or just the commentators have it? and not the entire town ?
TDS is permeating this blog and the Town.
Westport has lots of shrinks. They must have a cure.
Rage on🔥TDSers‼️you are hilarious 😜🇺🇸
Goose-stepper.
There are certainly national policies that impact local races.
Attacks on our universities by the current administration are attacks on education, so it should be easy to translate those attacks in BOE races. (Of course, by State law, Town boards have set-asides for losing parties.)
Many national issues do not trickle down to local politics, but many do. And, of course, when someone runs under the GOP banner they are sending the message that “these are my values.”
Which is why the Westport GOP has lost a lot of respected local figures and finds themselves running some, well, for lack of a better term, crazies, or (in this year’s BOS race) running a long-time Democrat because because their brand is so tarnished in these parts.
What does “goose stepper” mean Chris ?
I’m surprised you don’t know, Tom.
Though, if you lived in Germany in the ’30s, I’m pretty confident you’d have been saying “HDS” for months on end.
Spare us the “I served my country,” virtue signaling, when you reply.
TRUMP IS A PEDOPHILE!!!! IT ALL CAME OUT IN THE EMAIL RELEASE!! STOP WITH THE TDS BS!!!!!!! LOCK TRUMP UP ALREADY! ENOUGH OF THE EXCUSES!
Tom,
History books (even the one’s that will be approved for use in Texas) will not treat this administration and its supporters well. The shedding of common decency and destruction of basic societal/political norms by those in power, will be seen as a low point in US history…..
John
John are you reading Tarot cards or is it clairvoyance?😆🇺🇸
No, just my faith in the American people…..
I am shaking my head in dismay over the strategy expressed by Ms. Mechanic.
Robo texting? Seriously? Most everyone hates “robo” anything (texts/phones/email/etc.).
I received many emails from some of the candidates. I never subscribed to any campaign for their emails. Quite a few times I would tap reply and ask how they got my email address? I did not receive a single reply email.
It is funny that candidates for zoning still have campaign signs all over town, in violation of Westport regulations.
Any chance either party would like to pick up all the leftover yard signs on town/public/state property? If they don’t win races, why bother? One solution: take the money spent on the signs and give it to a local charity and promote that via a different platform?
Shall I base my vote on issues or the amount of signs on each corner?
As for me, I voted early and I did not base it on total quantity of signs.
I know you are at least being half funny, but if this election told us /anything/, it is that yard signs don’t matter.
The giant O’Day signs were designed well, you could read them (each party should run candidates with short last names!). The Rosenwaks signs were pretty good. But the Christie signs were extremely hard to read and somewhat muted.
One can hope the lesson learned is to not waste so much money on yard signs, but I fear that will not take!
“Every selectman’s cycle, people talk about the DTC like it’s a private club. It’s not.”
Sounds a bit tone deaf….
These posts are dumb, must be a slow news day.
CT is a bright blue state, and Westport is a bright blue town. The only red influence is all the poor suckers on the early am trains to Wall Street. But it’s a rounding error.
What’s ironic though, is that for the rest of the year, you’ll all complain about bad State policies and poor Town decisions, yet Democrats control just about every decision.
Don’t overly celebrate anything related to Epstein / Diddy / Weinstein (local resident until well, you know) stuff. Fun to catch Trump, but it’s also Clinton and Obama, Gates, and a ton of influential politicians and some famous Jews are all guilty.
Yes, slow news day….yet here you are posting on a town blog for a town you left because it didn’t live up to your standards…..I hear Fairfield Patch is quite acrtive…..
Grow up kid, I was there from 67-77, and 00-17. By my math that’s 27 years, pretty sure it’s ok I have a voice.
F off.
Hi Mr Lofredo- you have now simply drawn many into the Epstein web- to join President Trump. But you do nothing to define, explain, or excuse in anyway what President Trump may or may not have done. There are files that would clarify who did what and when or did not do anything to junior high school girls and/ or young high school girls while visiting the Epstein Island. We know the consequence to Prince Andrew of his visits. And Maxwell is sitting in prison – now getting breaks from the Trump bureau of prisons and even asking for a pardon. So let the files be released to prove who participated in this child sexual trafficking.
And while I’m calling you to task- I find it interesting that you would point out “some famous Jews are all guilty”. You are casting aspersions on some unknown “famous Jews”. Would you like to be more specific? Is it one or many Jews? Did the Jews do something that merits special attention?
Why didn’t you just say Famous Politicians, Famous People, , Famous Princes, Famous Businessmen, many Famous Christians and possibly some famous Jews?
Bottom line- I read your post as a combination of your TDS and your need to point out somehow Jews are especially involved. Why not just ask that the files be released unredacted to get the facts.
David’s comment reads like something from the NY Times Pitchbot satire site.
“If Democrats release files showing that Trump was complicit in Epstein’s pedophilia, and Trump tries to distract from it by starting a war with Nigeria or Venezuela, then Democrats will have blood on their hands.”
Thanks Steve, you make good points, worthy of a reply since these things get quickly buried.
First to my stalker townies, I live on the UWS now, update your files. It’s ok to live in and experience other things. Doesn’t mean you can’t also be passionate about your hometown and the town where you created and raised your family. It’s a big world out there, you boys need to get out more.
Steve, the “Jews” comment was intentionally provocative. Weinstein, Epstein. You missed Diddy, he’s apparently a Catholic.
Overly focusing on Trump and this list is a false flag. No doubt he’s guilty. Clinton will be exponentially worse if you care about politics, and Dershowitz might be one of the OG’s, along with Gates.
I wrote “Jews”, because not only were JE and HW high profile members, and AD, whoa, there’s no high road here which some segments of society continually try to take whenever there’s an uncomfortable controversy.
Hope that helps, always happy to chat.
No points to score in this game of back and forth.
The only thing that matters is that the Epstein files are released unredacted and in their entirety. This is a child sex trafficking case involving many rich and powerful men.
No one should be above the laws of a decent society.
I agree with you in totality.
No one should be above the law but most politicians have achieved that state due to their own self-serving effort. Release the Epstein files (and others such as the full JFK, RFK and MLK assassination records) and let sunlight provide the disinfectant. Beyond that, term limits for Congress and enhanced ethics scrutiny should proceed by a joint commission such as the Warren Commission did with JFK. In addition, a constitutional amendment should be added specifying that people on the public payroll should be subject to each and every law that applies to the everyday citizen to include healthcare, conflict of interest and social security.