Despite a strong push by a break-out group from the town of Milton’s Republican Party, incumbents ruled the polls at primary elections Tuesday, Sept. 18.
Calling themselves the Committee for Responsible Government, the challengers earned enough votes from registered town Republicans to serve as a message to town officials there is support out there for newcomers.
Town Supervisor Frank Thompson received 968 votes, while challenger for the party nod John Cromie earned 729.
Cromie said the results hinged on voter turnout, and he was disappointed in the number of people heading to polling places Tuesday.
We just didn’t get enough people as we needed; there were less than 1,600 and we needed 2,000 voters out there to swing the vote, said Cromie.
Cromie said with the primaries over, he will be actively supporting the Republican incumbents in the November elections.
`We’re all Republicans, and we didn’t ever change that,` said Cromie. `We’re all working within the party, and that’s the most important thing. A lot of the incumbents have taken up our issues as their own, such as a zero town tax and promoting agricultural uses in residential areas. This was our goal; to open some dialogue on important town issues.`
Town council Republican incumbents held a strong lead over challengers, with Joseph Miranda earning 1,021 votes and Allison Saul earning 832 votes. Committee for Responsible Government candidates Doug Bennett earned 702 votes, and Shane Flint earned 661 votes.
In November, Miranda and Saul will face opposition from one of the first Democratic candidates in recent years. Meg Stevens announced her bid for a town council seat in June. The Dems held their first caucus in years in July to endorse Stevens as their candidate for a town council seat.
Miranda said he was pleased with the outcome, and also somewhat relieved to have the primary race over and done with.
`I’ve been personally involved in two primaries, and this one was intense,` said Miranda. `It was very competitive. We all did a lot of work door-to-door and with campaign literature to get the issues out there. No one wins on their own, and our campaign team was tireless.`
Miranda said his campaigning is far from over.
`With Democrat Meg Stevens in the running, we can’t go to sleep now, we have to keep running,` said Miranda. `But overall, the primaries do show some faith in the town board that we’re on the right track.`
In the race for the town clerk endorsement, incumbent William Mevec received 966 votes; Martin Nardella received 728.
Dave Forbes, the town’s highway supervisor, garnered 1,150 votes against challenger Mark Uebrick, who clocked in with 583 votes.“
