Democrats Have a Candidate For Mayor

Ledyard Democrats have a candidate for mayor. He’s well-known, well-liked, he has experience in town government and lots of great ideas, according to DTC chairman Ed Lynch.

He even has a name, but Democrats agreed not to identify the candidate until tonight’s caucus, which begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Town Hall Annex.

“He is a Democrat,” Lynch said, when pressed for more details. “He’s very electable and we’re very excited about him.”

And then there were four

With a Democrat on the ballot, the race for mayor of Ledyard would appear to have four candidates.

Republican incumbent Mayor Fred B. Allyn Jr. announced in March he would seek a second term. In May, Republicans passed over Allyn and endorsed John Rodolico, who was nominated at last week’s Republican caucus.

Allyn, meanwhile, announced he would run as a petitioning candidate.

A third candidate, Village Drive resident Robert Lawrence, formerly a member of the Green Party, has been gathering signatures to appear on the ballot as an unaffiliated candidate.

Lynch said the DTC’s  nominating committee received confirmation from their mystery candidate on Saturday night – two nights before the Democratic caucus. He said members agreed not to release the name because many on their own committee had not yet heard the news.

As recently as this Friday, Democratic Town Councilor Bill Saums said he had not heard about a Democratic candidate. Nor was he convinced it was necessary to have one. 

“We’ve had a lot of discussion about what could happen. I have to tell you I’m really torn,” Saums said Friday. “On the one hand, we have a responsibility to present a candidate to the voters, but how far do you take that? We weren’t willing to endorse Mayor Allyn. We don’t want to have a candidate just for the sake of having a candidate.”

Lynch said Sunday those concerns have been more than put to rest. He acknowledged that the search for a Democratic mayoral nominee went down to the wire. But, he added, but good things sometimes happen to those who wait.

“It’s like we were in the last inning with two outs and two strikes, and we hit a home run,” he said.