Following his victory in a Republican Primary on August 9, former Bethel Probate Judge Daniel O'Grady said he would continue to stress his experience and ability to immediately dig into work at the Northern Fairfield County Probate Court if he is successful in besting Democratic challenger Attorney Sharon Dornfeld of Ridgefield in the general election November 8.

"Today, I really want to thank my wife, my family, anybody who volunteered, and all the supporters who turned out to vote [August 9] in Newtown, Ridgefield, Redding, and Bethel," Mr O'Grady told The Newtown Bee.

Republican primary voters supporting Mr O'Grady outpaced those endorsing opponent Patrick Walsh across the district, and Mr O'Grady claimed victories in his hometown of Bethel, and in Redding and Newtown. Mr Walsh's supporters only carried the day in his hometown of Ridgefield.

In Newtown, Republicans supported Mr O'Grady by a wide margin, with 334 votes to 105 cast for Mr Walsh. Newtown currently has 5,475 registered Republicans, with about eight percent turning out to cast primary ballots.

Current Probate Judge Joseph A. Egan is leaving office in late October when he reaches the mandated retirement cap age of 70. That leaves an open seat for the court, which serves approximately 80,000 persons in Newtown, Ridgefield, Redding, and Bethel.

In a pre-election profile, Mr O'Grady, who is Bethel's current town treasurer, said he has continued working countless probate cases through his own legal practice since the four town probate courts were consolidated and he lost the regional seat to Judge Egan.

"As a judge in Bethel, I was called to cover vacations and other absences for probate courts in Danbury, Newtown, Brookfield, and New Milford," Mr O'Grady said in a recent interview. "So if I'm elected I can step right in and get to work with no learning curve the morning after election day."

Mr O'Grady also offers probate voters significant experience in municipal matters serving as Bethel's town counsel, assistant town counsel, as an Inland Wetland commissioner, and on the town's Zoning Board of Appeals. He has also been called to serve as a special public defender, and a Connecticut state magistrate.

Mr O'Grady told The Newtown Bee he is already looking toward the future with hopes of back-to-back probate election victories, stating that one of the things he will do if taking on the regional probate seat is bring a heightened awareness of the court, its functions, and responsibilities to constituents across Northern Fairfield County.

In the meantime, he said he would be expanding his availability throughout the district, meeting residents of all political affiliations with an eye on securing their votes in November.

"I'm looking forward to participating in Newtown's Labor Day Parade, and will be coordinating in the coming days with the Republican Town Committee to arrange for other opportunities to meet Newtown voters face-to-face," he said. "We'll continue to deliver our message of experience through media, literature, and door-to-door campaigning."

Mr O'Grady expects voters to pay as much attention to local and state races as to the candidates they will be supporting in the presidential race.

"Voters are going to make a choice as to whether they are going to stay with their incumbents, or make a different choice," he said. "It's fortuitous for me to be running on tickets with so many great incumbents."

Mr O'Grady said he won Bethel by more than 500 votes, Redding by about 90 votes, and all Newtown's districts, while Mr Walsh bested him in Ridgefield by about 400 votes.

"Bethel has about half the number of Republicans as Ridgefield, but we had an excellent get-out-the-vote initiative," he said.

Turning his attention to November, Mr O'Grady said, "I've got a lot of hard work ahead of me."

Learn more about Mr O'Grady by visiting www.electogradyjudge.com, or on his candidate's Facebook page.