By Albert Huang
The three way race for 36th District state Senate seat came to a close Aug. 17 with Ryan Fazio reclaiming the seat for the GOP. In Greenwich, voter turnout for the special election was just shy of 30%, far exceeding the typical 13% for a special election. Just 13 of the 36 state Senate seats are now held by the Republican party, which means that Democrats no longer hold a supermajority in the state Senate.
The 36th district special election kicked off after Alex Kasser’s resignation in late July citing her divorce. The Democratic Town Committee unanimously nominated Alexis Gevanter to run for the empty seat. Fellow Democrat John Blankely earned enough signatures to become a petition candidate. The Republican party selected Fazio over state Representative Harry Arora and Republican stalwart Leora Levy.
Since Kasser’s resignation, the candidates spent countless hours canvassing, phonebanking, and interacting with district residents to run what is normally a six month campaign in only six weeks.
Residents watched the three candidates closely through three different debates hosted by My Voting Power, the League of Women Voters, and the Round Hill Association.
In the debates, Gevanter stayed true to her main issue of gun control and her campaign message of three P’s: public safety, prosperity, and progress.
Blankley campaigned on his experience in business and local Greenwich politics. He offered solutions to mitigate I-95 traffic by shifting shipments from road to sea utilizing ports. As major party candidates, Gevanter and Fazio each received public funding of their campaigns givng them a significant financial advantage over Blankley.
Meanwhile, Fazio spoke of improving education, reducing taxes, and protecting local control. He presented himself and his policies backed by research and rapidfire statistics.
Overall Fazio defeated Gevanter and Blankley winning just 50.1% of the vote. Gevanter held 47.1%. The difference between them was 456 votes. Blankley took 407 votes in total.
In Blankley’s concession he thanked his wife and old political friends for guiding him through the process of running as a petition candidate. He specifically thanked supporters for contributing to his campaign, petition signatories, and Alpha Graphics in Stamford for producing his cards and signs.
“This campaign should now be seen as an indication that there are voices that want to be heard and who are not properly represented by either of the major parties,” said Blankley. “…There is room for a third force in our politics and I hope I have shown the way.”
In Gevanter’s concession speech she thanked all of her supporters and said she looks forward to finding “opportunities to champion public safety, prosperity and progress on behalf of our communities.”
She gave a specific warm thank you to her student volunteers.
“Watching you live your values by giving your time, was so heartening. Your futures are extremely bright and our community is fortunate to have such wonderful young leaders,” said Gevanter.
“Every single vote does matter,” said Caroline Vincent, a student volunteer on Gevanter’s campaign from New Canaan. “It was such an empowering experience to be a part of such a big operation.”
“My friends think because they’re too young to vote, they can’t do anything. But I emailed [Alexis’s campaign], joined, and just started showing up,” said Nicole Orlofsky, a student volunteer from Greenwich.
In victory, Fazio thanked his opponents for their campaigning efforts.
“Civic engagement makes our community and state stronger and for a special election, our voter turnout was twice as high. It’s part of what makes our community great.”
Fazio also extended thanks to his volunteers, specifically Michael, Lexi, Talia, Ryan, Tristan, David, Austin, and Nikhil.
“Our community is as lucky to have them. Their engagement and earnestness represent the best of our district and make me optimistic.”
Michael said his experience in the campaign changed his interest from federal politics to local politics.
“I’ve always seen federal politics as the most exciting, but when I got involved with Fazio’s campaign I saw that local politics gives you a lot more of a chance to get involved and make a difference.”
Fazio’s said that his first official work as state Senator will be attending special sessions in the fall to help allocate federal stimulus money and tht he would oppose efforts to extend state government emergency powers.
Fazio said he also wants to call a special session to address juvenile crime and car thefts. While on a call with the New Canaan police chief, he told Fazio that car thefts so far this year in New Canaan are up by 100%.
“Now that the campaign is over, it is time to bring people together to solve the big challenges that face us and create hope for the future,” remarked Fazio.
Fazio was officially sworn in on Thursday.
