CT Blue

What it is, ain’t exactly clear, but let me go on.

I’m the treasurer for our local town committee, and recently our town chair asked me to prepare spreadsheets to tally the results on election night. She sent me a ballot containing the names of each candidate running for each office. These are local elections, and the offices at issue are Town Council, Board of Education, and Representative Town Meeting (RTM) members.

The ballot confirmed something I had provisionally concluded based on my observations during my daily bike rides around town. The Republican Party was unable to get enough people to run under its banner to come close to filling all the available slots. It’s not unusual for one or two RTM slots to be vacant, but the Republicans didn’t even come close to nominating a full roster of Town Council or Board of Education candidates, not to mention the fact that the number of candidates they’ve fielded for RTM guarantee they will be in the minority even if each one of their candidates is elected. A number of their candidates are clearly placeholders. Their town chair is running for Town Council, Board of Education, and RTM. Even if he’s elected, which I doubt, he can only serve in one of those capacities.

This was no surprise to me because during my bike rides around town I have seen signs (and not that many) for only one Republican candidate, plus a single sign for another Town Council candidate. That particular candidate was a town councilor years ago, and judging by the sign I saw, I suspect that it was a remnant from a campaign years ago. There are signs for Democrats all over town, and I know there are plenty out there because I paid for them.

Prior to the advent of a certain very stable genius, our Town was governed by Republican majorities for most of the thirty or so preceding years, and probably even further back, though I can’t say for sure. It wasn’t unusual to have a Town Council consisting of all Republicans, and it goes without saying they had no trouble finding candidates. Democrats were often represented largely because of minority party requirements on the Board of Education and the RTM.

That changed after the genius took office. Shortly after he arrived the balance of power shifted decisively, and my impression is that many of the old line Republicans either dropped out or were pushed out by the whackos that made their way in.

I’m wondering if this is a phenomenon that is taking place broadly throughout the blue or blueish states, and perhaps in some of the purple ones. The current chaos in Washington can’t be helping things, nor can the Republican insistence that an obvious criminal should be its next candidate for president.

The downside here in Groton is that we have an “Independent” party on the ballot this year, our version of the “No Labels” group, whose candidates consist mostly of the old line Republicans I referenced above, plus at least one Democrat whose motivations I won’t characterize. The signs for them proliferate throughout town, so it would appear that, at least here in Groton, those who once voted Republican are looking for an alternative. The Independents are only running candidates for Town Council, so they aren’t a threat to the Democratic majorities in the other two bodies.

So, it would be interesting to know if this is a common phenomenon on the local level these days. I suspect that it is, but it’s entirely possible this is a more or less isolated event. Still, it’s nice to know that it’s almost guaranteed that the Republicans will be a minority here for a while.