Post Election Thoughts

I believe running for local public office is one of the biggest commitments you can make to serve your community.

When I decided to run I know it was going to be an uphill battle with registered Democrats outnumbering Republicans nearly two to one. As a virtual unknown and having only two months to campaign, I had to get out there and let people know what kind of person I was if I had any chance of getting enough support to pick up a seat.

New candidates are seldom elected. The obstacles I was up against and my chances didn’t stop me from giving it 100%. I made the campaign my focus from Labor Day all the way up to the election. I blogged, attended town events, knocked on over 3000 doors, emailed friends and family in town, and waved to passing motorists in the mornings before work.

I listened to people finding out what their concerns were because I believe an informed official is an effective official. We had momentum and I felt my chances were good until what I call the “Snowpocalypse” happened.

Basically the whole town was without power. For many, the election took a back seat to a warm meal, heat, and getting electricity restored.

By the time of the election the aftermath of the storm could still be clearly seen and felt throughout our community and people were still trying to regain some sort of normalcy after the storm. I firmly believe the election simply fell off some peoples’ radar.

The result was one of the lowest turnouts in over 12 years, which usually favors incumbents. Only 27.3% of voters came to cast their ballots. When the ballots were totaled and even though I came up short, I was surprised to receive the support I did and missed getting elected to the council by a little over 100 votes. I lost the seat to some people who’ve been on the council for a long time and a campaign that was effective in getting the last minute votes out for their party.

I learned some valuable lessons on how to campaign, what we did right, and most
importantly what we did wrong to come up short. I plan to take a hard look at
our recent effort and make the needed changes to ensure the same mistakes do not happen again.

While I did not gain a seat on the Council, I raised some eyebrows in both parties and injected some much-needed energy in the town’s Republican Committee. I’m not going away anytime soon and neither is my resolve to solidify the Rocky Hill Republicans. I plan on being active in town politics and activities; especially the 2012 national elections and the 2013 municipal campaign.

I want to offer a sincere thank you to all the people who supported me and opened their doors to talk and discuss the issues. Some were very vocal about the direction they wanted to see Rocky Hill move toward and I will make sure your comments will be heard by staying active in Rocky Hill politics. Special thanks goes out to my wife Cindy who listened to me, gave me advice, and supported me 100% throughout the campaign and understood the core reasons I decided to run and commit my time to the improvement of Rocky Hill.

Again, thanks to everyone and I look forward to your continued support in future elections.