Four Democratic candidates for the Ansonia Board of Aldermen have dropped out of this year’s election since the party’s nominating convention in July.
The party has replaced one of the candidates and have until Oct. 17 to submit new names for the other three, but the party’s chairman said Tuesday he doubts that will happen.
The candidates who have dropped out are:
- Kevin Blake, who had been running in the Seventh Ward;
- James Hubbard, who had been running in the Sixth Ward;
- Carol Knapp, who had been running in the Sixth Ward;
- Daniel Bachert, who had been running in the Second Ward.
Blake’s withdrawal came Sept. 14 via a letter to Town & City Clerk Janet Waugh two days after he was charged with drunk driving in connection to a July 29 crash.
Letters of withdrawal from Hubbard, Knapp, and Bachert were received by the clerk’s office Tuesday (Sept. 26).
Hubbard’s letter cited family and other commitments. Bachert’s and Knapp’s letters did not cite specific reasons for dropping out of the race.
According to a Sept. 25 letter to from Democratic Town Committee Secretary Jo-Lynn Flaherty, Blake will be replaced on the ballot by David A. Knapp, the chairman of the committee, who is also running for treasurer.
If elected to both positions, he would have to resign from one of them, Waugh said.
David Knapp said in an email Tuesday that while he will replace Blake in the Seventh Ward race, “I don’t think we will find candidates to replace the others.”
The Valley Indy also e‑mailed Tarek Raslan, the Democratic Party’s nominee for mayor, seeking comment.
John Marini, the treasurer of Republican incumbent Mayor David Cassetti’s re-election campaign, declined to comment Tuesday.
