The podcast is sponsored by Valley Gives Back, a new initiative from The Valley Community Foundation.
Scroll down to learn more.
In this very special podcast, reporters Eugene Driscoll and Ethan Fry ask Seymour’s Stephen Behuniak and Derby’s Chris Larocque to give their post-mortem reports on Tuesday’s municipal elections.
Behuniak was re-elected to a second term on the Seymour Board of Selectmen while Larocque is a member of the Naugatuck Valley Young Democrats.
The podcast starts off with Larocque’s take on what impact President Trump had on the Derby race, which saw GOP challenger unseated Democratic Mayor Anita Dugatto.
Did Trump’s base help defeat Dugatto, or is the answer much more complicated?
Fry asks why Democrats in the Valley — and in the state — seem to have lost blue collar support.
Then Behuniak reacts to Seymour First Selectman Kurt Miller’s announcement that the four-term incumbent plans to seek higher office.
(Click here for a 40-minute conversation with First Selectman Miller about his announcement)
The conversation swerves back to the Derby race, and whether xenophobia is fueling opposition to a proposal to convert a former nursing home in east Derby to a dormitory for foreign-born high school students.
The second part of the podcast — starting at roughly the 32 minute mark — Derby native and state Republican Party Chairman JR Romano gives his take on the Derby and Ansonia races, arguing that the national conversation really had no impact on how voters made decisions Nov. 7.
Finally, Drew Baklik, Rich Dziekan’s campaign manager, makes his first appearance on the ‘Navel Gazing’ podcast at about the 43-minute mark.
Baklik talks about Mayor-elect Dziekan’s transition team, and shares his thoughts on Election Day.
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The podcast was sponsored by The Valley Gives Back, a new initiative from The Valley Community Foundation.
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Learn more at ValleyGivesBack.org, an initiative of the Valley Community Foundation.
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Andrew Baklik, left, and Derby Mayor-elect Rich Dziekan.
