Aurelia Retains GOP Registrar Seat—

Local Voters Endorse McMahon, Esty, Murphy

By John Voket

In local primary action Tuesday, Republican voters awarded incumbent Karin Aurelia another four-year registrar of voters term, while GOP faithful supported Linda McMahon for the US Senate and Mark Greenberg for the Fifth US Congressional District race.

Local Democrats turned out for primary voting on August 14 as well, giving Fifth District challenger Elizabeth Esty a shot at a two-year term in Washington, and Congressman Chris Murphy an opportunity to advance to a US Senate seat.

Voters converged on Reed Intermediate School, the site of all local balloting for this year’s primaries. The only local contest was a race between Karin Aurelia, the incumbent registrar, and the party’s endorsed candidate, Carey Schierloh.

In that contest, Ms Aurelia received 846 votes to Ms Schierloh’s 653 votes.

Registrar LeReine Frampton is the sole Democratic candidate seeking reelection, and was not facing a challenger in the primary.

Voting in the Reed cafetorium was light but steady throughout the day, according to Ms Frampton.

Democrats heading to the primary polls were asked to choose a US Senate candidate between current Congressman Chris Murphy and former Connecticut Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz. Locally Mr Murphy earned 849 votes to the 161 cast for Ms Bysiewicz.

Newtown Democrats were also asked to endorse a Fifth District congressional candidate from among a field of hopefuls that included Ms Esty, who captured 421 votes to State Representative and former House Speaker Chris Donovan’s 331 and Dan Roberti’s 245.

Republicans had an even larger field from which to choose, with four Fifth District challengers including Mr Greenberg, who received 594 votes to Justin Bernier’s 339, Connecticut Senator Andrew Roraback’s 330, and Lisa Wilson-Foley’s 276 votes. Republican voters locally overwhelmingly backed senate candidate Linda McMahon who captured 1,188 votes versus former Congressman Chris Shays with 387.

After the numbers became clear, The Connecticut Mirror reported that Mr Roberti immediately threw his support to Ms Esty.

“I will do everything I can to elect Elizabeth Esty to the US Congress,” said Mr Roberti, who attended Ms Esty’s celebration at the CoCo Key Water Resort in Waterbury. “We had a spirited debate; now it’s time to come together.”

Mr Roberti’s appearances at his own headquarters and Ms Esty’s party were his first public events since the death of his mother Saturday after a long illness. He suspended campaigning two nights earlier.

Back In The Spotlight

The victory for Ms Esty is a comeback: she exited the House after a close loss in 2010 to the Republican she unseated in 2008, Al Adinolfi. She characterized herself as both the “long shot” candidate and a “feisty woman” She said those traits will help her in November.

“This is a purple seat… We have our work cut out for us,” she told about 200 supporters. “There is so much at stake.”

As the nominee, Ms Esty is one-half of a power couple in Connecticut politics: she is married to Dan Esty, a noted Yale professor and author named by Governor Dannel P. Malloy as his commissioner of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. She graduated from Yale Law School and received her undergraduate degree from Harvard.

Sen Roraback celebrated his victory at the Backstage Restaurant in Torrington, touting the attribute Ms Esty also claims to possess: electability.

“Voters in the Fifth District today send a message that they have got that one candidate in the Republican Party who can win the race in November,” he said amid cheers and applause. “...One congressperson who will serve them honorably and with integrity.”

For 12 of his 18 years in the state legislature, Sen Roraback represented the sprawling 30th Senate District, which stretches south from the northwest hills of Litchfield to the outskirts of Danbury, giving him regular exposure in the Fifth District’s daily and weekly papers.

Like Ms Esty, Sen Roraback is a graduate of Yale, attending as an undergraduate. His law degree is from the University of Virginia.

Ms McMahon’s win was a stark contrast with her own 2010 primary win, also for the Republican nomination for US Senate, when the co-founder and owner of the Stamford-based World Wrestling Entertainment carried less than half the vote, though won a plurality over two other candidates.

Targeting Murphy

And after Tuesday’s win, Ms McMahon wasted no time shifting her focus to the general election and her showdown with Rep Murphy.

“The issue that will decide this election is who is best able to address the economic crisis that threatens our future and who best understands how to create jobs for the over 150,000 people in Connecticut who wake up every morning without a job,” said Ms McMahon.

The Greenwich businesswoman lent her campaign $4.2 million last month, for a self-funding total of about $12.5 million for the primary. She has spent about $12 million and had more than $2 million left in her campaign fund July 25.

Rep Murphy wasted no time Tuesday evening launching what is sure to be an expensive, highly charged race against Ms McMahon. The three-term representative quickly portrayed himself as the champion who understands the struggles of the middle class and criticized his opponent’s wealth and former position as with the WWE.

“I’ve spent the last ten years fighting for that out-of-work dad who’s got to get back to work, for that hungry kid who just wants three meals a day, for that homeless veteran who wants a roof over his head,” Rep Murphy told about 500 buoyant supporters at the Omni New Haven Hotel following the primary. “During that same time, Linda McMahon has spent every ounce of her being fighting for profits at the expense of her workers and at the expense of Connecticut jobs and at the expense of common decency.”

(Parts of this story originally appeared at CTMirror.org, the website of The Connecticut Mirror, an independent, nonprofit news organization covering government, politics, and public policy in the state.)