Dziekan (left) and DiMartino
DERBY — The incumbent mayor and his would-be challenger have launched new social media accounts to promote their candidacies.
Mayor Rich Dziekan now has a presence on Twitter, with @DziekanforMayor.
Dziekan, a Republican, filed paperwork June 3 to register as a candidate.
Joe DiMartino, a Democrat currently serving as the president of the Board of Aldermen/Alderwomen, announced his intention to seek his party’s endorsement for mayor in March.
DiMartino launched a Facebook page to promote his candidacy. Click here to visit his page.
In Derby, the local Republican and Democratic party committees usually meet in July to formally choose candidates.
Dziekan, a retired Hamden police officer now working as a part-time constable in Bethany, was elected mayor in November 2017, defeating two-term incumbent Mayor Anita Dugatto. The vote was 1,802 for Dziekan, and 1,295 for Dugatto.
Dziekan was re-elected in November 2019, besting Democratic challenger Brian Coppolo by 38 votes (1,446 to 1,408), according to archived results from the Secretary of State’s website.
Dziekan received 58 percent of the vote in 2017, and 50.6 percent of the vote in 2019.
DiMartino represents Derby’s Second Ward on the Board of Aldermen/Alderwomen. He has worked at the Derby Department of Public Works for more than 30 years. He just finished his last season as the Derby High School softball coach, a position he held for more than 30 years.
He and his wife, Lori, have four daughters.
Derby’s Second Ward leans toward Democrats, but DiMartino was first elected to the Board of Aldermen as a Republican under Republican Mayor Anthony Staffieri’s administration in 2009. He lost a re-election bid in 2011, but was appointed by the Republicans to fill a vacancy on the board in May 2012.
He lost a re-election bid in 2013, but was again appointed by Republicans in 2014 to fill another vacancy.
DiMartino was re-elected to the board in November 2015 after joining the Democrats four months earlier.
He was re-elected as an Alderman in 2017 and 2019. His brother, Jim, is a member of the Republican Party and represents Derby’s Third Ward.
There are more registered Democrats in Derby than registered Republicans, but unaffiliated voters take up the majority.
Election Day is Nov. 3. Residents can follow local campaign finance reports on the Derby City website.
