When self-proclaimed conservative Republican Judy Szewczyk walked into Bradley School Tuesday to vote in the presidential primary, she had a tough choice to make: Vote for her favored candidate, Rick Santorum, or support the emerging leader in the Republican race?
Szewczyk chose the latter, casting a vote for Republican front-runner Mitt Romney.
“I voted for Romney because you have to start supporting the leader. And I think Romney’s the guy,” Szewczyk said.
Szewczyk suspects many conservative GOP voters chose likewise.
Romney was the clear statewide winner in Tuesday’s primary, with 67.5 percent of votes.
However, in the lower Naugatuck Valley Romney had smaller margins of success over more conservative candidates.
In Ansonia, for example, Romney received 48.7 percent of the vote. That means more people voted against Romney than for him.
In Derby, he received 52.1 percent of the vote.
Keep in mind the total number of votes is small in all the local towns. In Derby, for example 117 people voted.
Article continues after chart, which shows the percentage breakdown of votes across the state, and in the five Valley towns.
Ron Paul
The more conservative candidates, specifically the maverick Ron Paul, fared better at lower Naugatuck Valley polling places than they did statewide.
In Ansonia, Paul took 20.2 percent of the votes — 28.5 percentage points below Romney.
In Derby, Paul received 17.9 percent of the votes — 34.2 percentage points below Romney.
Ron Paul
“You see a lot of Ron Paul signs around,” said David Stocker, the chairman of Oxford’s Republican Town Committee. “Ron Paul’s name always seems to come up. Especially here in Oxford.”
“They call him more of the Constitutionalist than any of the other ones,” Stocker said.
Stocker wouldn’t say who he voted for. He never does.
“That’s between me and myself,” Stocker said.
Szewczyk, meanwhile, said before she voted for Romney, she was supporting Santorum because he was the most conservative.
“He’s the most different from what we have now, and I want to go 180 degrees from what we have now,” she said.
How Conservative Are Valley Republicans?
The Ron Paul numbers in Connecticut, and several other states in New England, caught Politico’s eye after Tuesday’s primary. The website noted Paul’s “unusual regional appeal.”
“He finished second in every state except Massachusetts, nearly won Maine and won about a quarter of the vote in New Hampshire, Vermont and Rhode Island,” Charles Mahtesian wrote in this blog post.
Politico attributed the high numbers to pockets of conservative hold-outs in a sea of blue — specifically in rural and small-town communities.
Szewczyk said it’s that small-town appeal of the Valley that presents a strange dynamic: Some registered Democrats are more conservative at heart, she said.
“Many of them hold onto their Democrat roots, because of their families and the whole Roosevelt thing,” Szewczyk said. “But they like those conservative values. I think they understand hard work. I think they understand you have to work for what you get.”
Others, including Ansonia Republican Town Committee chairman Pat Henri, weren’t so sure the numbers in the Valley reflected more conservative voters, as much as they reflected low turnout.
“The results are definitely tainted,” Henri said. “You can’t derive anything from them because people either came to vote for the person they wanted all along, or they decided Romney is the candidate, and they’re just falling in line with it.”
Mitt Romney
The real problem, Henri said, is that voters felt they had no choice.
“Two months ago, you would have gotten a true picture,” Henri said.
Tuesday, however, candidates were handed Romney as the front-runner.
“There’s not a lot of enthusiasm there,” Henri said.
Seymour Republican Town Committee chairman William Paecht said there were just three political signs posted in the entire town: two for Paul and one for Santorum.
Depending on who you ask, voter turnout for Tuesday’s primary was disappointing, or encouraging.
About 14 percent of registered Republicans across the state turned out to the polls Tuesday.
The turnout by Valley town is as follows:
Ansonia: 12.2 percent, or 158 people
Derby: 12.6 percent, or 117 people
Oxford: 14.3 percent, or 375 people
Seymour: 12.3 percent, or 254 people
Shelton: 18.2 percent or 1,109 people
The raw numbers have some questioning the costs, and the timing of the primary.
“There is some voter apathy, on both sides,” said Peter Pavone, Republican registrar of voters in Shelton.
Pavone said the primary cost about $20,000 to run in Shelton, which has four polling places and about 6,083 registered Republican voters.
In Oxford, town officials said primaries typically cost between $2,500 and $3,000. In Derby, the registrar of voters said the cost is about $4,000 to $5,000.
With only about 1,109 of registered Republicans in Shelton showing up, Pavone said it would have made more financial sense to combine the primary with the U.S. Senate primary scheduled for August, and hold both in June.
But Szewczyk said the turnout was encouraging, considering the typical turnout during primaries, and the fact that Romney had emerged as the clear leader before Connecticut’s turn to vote.
“I find that number quite high,” Szewczyk said.
Szewczyk said the turnout means a lot of Republicans are still interested in the election, and are “very worried about the country.”
