DERBY – Alderman Gino DiGiovanni Jr. defeated incumbent Mayor Rich Dziekan to win the Republican primary for mayor on Tuesday.
The vote was 202 to 192 in favor of DiGiovanni, according to results from Derby City Hall.
The margin of victory is close enough to trigger an automatic recount, Derby officials said. The recount has been scheduled for noon on Friday, Sept. 15, according to information sent from the town clerk.
Voter turnout was roughly 31 percent of registered Republicans.
The win means DiGiovanni’s name will appear under the Republican line on the ballot during the general election, scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 7.
“All the things we went through, just today alone let alone the last couple of months, but thank all you guys for coming, and for being here,” DiGiovanni said to about 25 supporters inside a second-floor office on Plaza on the Green off Elizabeth Street.
Gino DiGiovanni, Jr. celebrates with his wife, Heidi.
“It feels good that it paid off today. Finally Derby wants to make a change in the city’s future,” DiGiovanni said.
Click the video above to watch DiGiovanni address the crowd.
DiGiovanni currently has federal misdemeanor charges pending against him for allegedly illegally entering the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection. He was charged in August, and his next appearance is Nov. 9 – two days after the general election.
Although Dziekan lost, pending a recount, his name will still appear on the ballot in November as a petitioning candidate.
Dziekan did not concede as of 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, citing the unofficial tally and an expected recount.
Background
The primary in Derby was unique because of DiGiovanni’s pending federal charges, which drew statewide media coverage after polls closed Tuesday.
Sam Pollastro, a veteran Derby politician and current vice chairman of the Derby Town Republican Committee, said he didn’t think the Jan. 6 arrest would hold sway with Derby voters moving forward.
“People know that’s smoke and mirrors. I question the timing of the charges,” Pollastro said. “When did they charge him? Right after he said he was running for mayor, three weeks before an election.”
DiGiovanni said he didn’t destroy property or engage in violence on Jan. 6, but simply walked through the Capitol as a police officer held open a door during the protest.
There hasn’t been a GOP mayoral primary in more than 15 years. The Derby Republicans backed Dziekan for mayor in 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2021.
But this year the committee opted to give DiGiovanni the party line instead of Dziekan, a three-term incumbent.
Dziekan said it happened because DiGiovanni “stacked” the committee with friends.
Pollastro, a former Dziekan campaign manager, said the committee lost faith in Dziekan because he stopped attending Republican meetings.
Dziekan, running as a Republican, won 58 percent of the citywide vote in 2017, 50.6 percent in 2019 and 50.8 percent in 2021.
Four Candidates For Derby Mayor
But now there are now four candidates in the race: DiGiovanni on the Republican ticket; former Alderman Joseph DiMartino on the Democratic line; along with Dziekan and retired law professor Sharlene McEvoy (a lifelong Democrat) running as petitioning candidates.
Derby has 6,572 registered voters (as of Sept. 11). Of those, 35 percent are Democrats while 19 percent are Republicans. Almost 44 percent of Derby active voters are not registered to either major party.
The question is now whether having two Republicans in the race will dilute the GOP vote and benefit DiMartino, the Democrat who previously served on the Board of Aldermen and coached softball in Derby for generations; and who lost to Dziekan by 48 votes two years ago.
Pollastro called on Dziekan to drop out of the race and unify the Republican Party around DiGiovanni.
DiMartino could have an advantage if the Democrats can get out the vote and win over some unaffiliated voters. A wildcard is whether McEvoy, also a Democrat, can mount an effective independent campaign and get her message out.
However, DiMartino and his campaign will have to do a better job in the next few weeks to get Democrats to the polls. His vote tally in 2021 was actually less than Coppolo, the Democrat who unsuccessfully challenged Dziekan in 2019.
“Tonight‘s primary highlights the fact that people are dissatisfied with Rich Dziekan and his administration. To watch a three-term mayor fail to gain his party’s nomination sends a strong message that the citizens of Derby want change,” DiMartino said in a prepared statement. “I am confident that I am the strongest candidate with the best ideas to lead this city with competence, dignity and professionalism. We must turn this city around and recover from the serious damage that Rich Dziekan has done over the last six years. I look forward to continuing to share my vision with the voters.”
