Perillo beat out Parkins by a 1,051 – 109 margin, according to unofficial results from Perillo’s campaign.
Perillo will now face off against Democrat Adam Heller, a member of the city Board of Apportionment and Taxation, in November’s election.
After hearing the news about 8:20 p.m., Perillo thanked about 30 friends and family gathered Tuesday at Caloroso on Center Street to hear the results — after noting it was his wife, Becky’s, birthday.
“And election night in November is our anniversary,” he added.
Perillo, the interim executive director of the Valley Emergency Medical Services and the grandson of previous Shelton Mayor Vincent Tisi Jr., thanked volunteers from Shelton and throughout the state for helping out with his campaign.
“We know what teamwork is and we know how to win,” he said.
At Elizabeth Shelton School, Perillo won by a margin of 422 to 60, according to numbers from his campaign.
At Shelton Intermediate School, the gap was 552 to 44 in Perillo’s favor. He took absentee voters 77 to 5.
Speaking afterward, Perillo said he thought he was the favorite to win the primary, but did not expect his margin of victory — he took 90.6 percent of the vote — to be so big.
“I did not think 90 percent was mathematically possible,” he said. “I didn’t see how the numbers could work out like that.”
He congratulated Parkins for running.
“It’s always very difficult to put your name forward as a candidate,” he said. “It takes courage and I think we need to recognize that.”
Parkins was supported in the primary bid by 13-term Mayor Mark Lauretti.
Many other prominent Shelton Republicans lined up behind Perillo, like Anthony Simonetti, the Republican Town Committee chairman, who was at Perillo’s victory party.
Click here for more background on the race, and an email Q&A with the candidates.
Perillo tried to downplay talk of a schism in the Shelton GOP, saying Tuesday’s results don’t show much of a split at all.
“I think those numbers are pretty convincing,” Perillo said.
“Tomorrow’s another day,” he went on. “So you do what any group of people does: get through the day, pick yourself back up, get yourself on the same page, and move forward. That’s what we’re going to do.”
Perillo shared a similar message to supporters during his victory speech.
“Primaries can be divisive but not this one,” he said. “Not this primary. This primary is going to unify this party so we can do what we need to do for Shelton, what we need to do for Connecticut.”
In an email Parkins said she knew challenging Perillo would be tough.
“We knew going into this that it would be an uphill challenge against an incumbent, but we worked hard and accomplished our goal of giving voters a choice and getting them engaged,” she said. “I believe the 29 percent (1,077 out of 3,600) reached was a fairly good turnout. As the results clearly show, the majority of those who came out to cast their vote did so for the incumbent indicating they are not looking for change.”
“I extend my appreciation to all who participated in this primary — especially my supporters and those who worked the polls throughout the day,” Parkins said.
