Registered Democrats will choose between Mayor Anita Dugatto and Aldermanic President Carmen DiCenso in a primary scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 12.
The winner of the primary will receive the Democratic Party line for mayor on the ballot for the Nov. 7 general election.
The Republicans have nominated Rich Dziekan, a retired police officer, for mayor. He announced his candidacy in March.
Dugatto, the city’s first female mayor, is a two-term incumbent.
DiCenso, one of the city’s highest vote getters, was first elected to represent the Third Ward on the Board of Aldermen in November 2011.
The Issues
The two Democrats are scheduled to record a podcast with The Valley Indy Thursday (Sept. 7).
They’ll ask questions of each other and then take questions from The Valley Indy reporters about the issues facing Derby.
The podcast will be uploaded to ValleyIndy.org late Thursday or early Friday.
Where To Vote
Polling places Sept. 12 are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The polling places are the Irving School on Garden Place in west Derby, and the Bradley School on David Humphreys Road in east Derby.
If you’re registered to vote, the state has a great service in which you can enter your info and find your polling place.
Sample Ballots
The City of Derby has voting information posted on its official website.
Click here to take a look at the sample ballot for Tuesday’s primary.
Why Is This Happening?
The Derby Town Democratic Committee met in July to endorse a candidate for mayor.
The committee voted to give DiCenso their endorsement instead of Dugatto by a 21 – 15 vote.
However, almost immediately after the meeting, Dugatto’s campaign raised procedural issues.
The campaign correctly argued the vote had been improper, since the votes were cast without the committee members’ names attached.
Both Dugatto’s campaign and Derby Democratic leaders said the misstep was not intentional.
State party leaders then suggested the endorsement be tossed and that a primary be held among registered Derby Democrats to pick a candidate for the Nov. 7 general election.
Hence Tuesday’s primary between Dugatto and DiCenso.
The rift within the Derby Democratic Party, though, goes back much further than that, and was first seen publicly within Mayor Dugatto’s first 90 days in office, when the mayor and DiCenso sparred over the Derby parking garage.
Click this link to read every story the Valley Indy has published about this year’s election so far, and be sure to press play on our DiCenso-Dugatto podcast when it posts later this week.
