This past November Easton’s municipal election was historic and unprecedented. Never in the 178 year history of the town has a Democratic first selectman been elected three times. In fact, prior to the 2019, election of First Selectman David Bindelglass only three other Democrats had ever been elected first selectman of our town. And only one of those three – who happens to be the only woman to ever hold that office – was elected twice. David is one of a kind in so many good ways.
That is just the beginning of the story of this amazing election. Never has the town elected a
Democratic majority to the Board of Selectmen three times. Indeed, no prior Board of Selectmen had been majority Democratic for even a second election. In addition, this is the first time in history the Board of Finance has had a Democratic majority. There were two prior terms when the Board of Finance was split 3-3 but never before has it been 4-2 Democratic. But wait, there is more! Never have the Democrats won both seats on the Region 9 Board of Education in one election. Finally, our Democratic candidates won contested seats on the Board of Assessment Appeals and the Zoning Board of Appeals for the first time. And they did it by defeating two incumbent members.
The fact is that prior to 2017, there were a very small single handful of elections scattered across the decades where Democratic candidates defeated Republican candidates in contested elections. The default election result most common during this long history resulted in the Republican candidate winning about 60% of the vote and the Democratic candidate winning about 40% of the vote. This year the lowest performing Democratic candidate garnered 46% of the vote!
This year’s result is due to the terrific slate of candidates our party presented to the voters and to the incredible effort those candidates made to convince those voters to support them. In addition, we had an amazing team of supporters working tirelessly behind the scenes on behalf of those candidates. But most importantly, we had you, the voters who tuned in to our message, turned out at the polls and made history with your vote.
Thank you to everyone who made this historic and unprecedented victory come to pass.
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