Three candidates have returned petitions to be on the November ballot as independent candidates for first selectman, and a candidate who bid for the GOP nomination for selectman has also returned petitions.
There also may be a GOP primary, if one candidate — Joe Warren — who asked for petition forms returns them by the deadline. Warren lost his bid in the Republican Caucus to be the party’s endorsed candidate for a seat on the Board of Selectmen.
Rob Werner, Joe Miceli and Chris Noe have all returned signed petitions to be candidates for first selectman, challenging incumbent Jayme Stevenson, who has the Republican nomination. Miceli is a former member of the Board of Selectman; Werner and Noe have run for office before.
Ballot
Darien ballot boxes
Spencer McIlmurray, a GOP candidate for Board of Selectman who reportedly changed his registration from Republican to Independent after he didn’t win the GOP Caucus endorsement, has submitted signed petitions for a seat on the board.
Town Democrats did not endorse a candidate for first selectman and endorsed only two candidates for Board of Selectmen — Marc Thorne and Rob Richards — both of whom are expected to be elected under state law on minority party representation on elected government boards.
Democrats did not endorse more than the minimum number of candidates for any other elected offices, either, so the independent candidates will create the only contests on the town’s November ballot.
The independent candidates will need approval from the Connecticut Secretary of the State’s Office before they can get on the ballot, but Darien Town Clerk Donna Rajczewski said each of the candidates appeared to have enough signatures to get on the ballot. Her office verified the signed petitions (to make sure they had enough names from registered voters in town) and sent them to the Secretary of the State.
Petitions for a GOP primary are handled by the Registrars of Voters office. Republican Registrar John Visi said Warren has until Wednesday, Aug. 12 at 4 p.m. to return his petition with 300 valid signatures in order to be a primary candidate.
On the night of the Republican Caucus, Warren said he was reluctant to force a primary if he were the only candidate, because of the expense to the town of running a primary election — but it appears he is the only candidate who asked for primary petitions.
Updated at 11:55 a.m. with information from Republican Registrar John Visi.