Brandon Moore vs. More of the Same
To The Editor:
Democrats in Newtown should plan to attend the caucus at Newtown Middle School on Tuesday, May 26 at 6 p.m. to hear from the two candidates seeking to unseat longtime incumbent Mitch Bolinsky this November. Democrats have two good people running — but only one path that gives us a real chance to win. After seven straight losses to Bolinsky, sticking with “more of the same” is not a strategy. Supporting Brandon Moore is.
Across the country, incumbents running for state house seats win about 90% of the time. They almost always prevail unless:(1) The district shifted politically OR (2)The incumbent faces a scandal OR (3) The challenger is unusually strong — strong enough to overcome the built-in advantages of incumbency.
Newtown is not meaningfully bluer than it was two years ago and Bolinsky isn’t currently facing a scandal. That leaves Democrats entirely dependent on #3: nominating an unusually strong candidate.
This isn’t Rocket Science — it’s Political Science 101. When the environment is static, the challenger must be dynamic. The question for caucus voters is not “Who has run before?” but “Who can change the outcome in November?”
We already ran this experiment in 2024. Michelle Embree Ku, despite being well‑known and previously vetted by Newtown voters, significantly underperformed the Democratic ticket — receiving just 48% of Newtown’s vote compared to Kamala Harris’s 55%. Voters have seen her message, and it did not carry the district.
To win this November — and to best represent Newtown in Hartford — we need a candidate with a demonstrated ability to lead, inspire, and win. Someone who has run successful campaigns for state office, who understands how Hartford works, and who can hold his own in a tough political environment.
That candidate is Brandon Moore, and that is why he will have my support at the caucus.
Arnie Berman
Sandy Hook
Well said. Unfortunately, we are back to more of the same and we know how this will end. However, it gives us an opportunity to question many ways in which the DTC failed residents, voters, candidates, everyone. Brandon Moore was the first candidate to voice interest in running. A strong and well prepared candidate that the town republicans did not want to run against. They made it clear they wanted Ku to be the candidate. We all know you endorse the candidate you have no concerns about. Once Ku decided to try to unseat Bolinsky again, the DTC should have done what it can do and that was choose a candidate or put a good process in place to set up forums and get the caucus over and done smoothly, fairly, and ethically. It did neither. and this is what resulted: The Young Dem Debate became a Ku strategy to claim Ku being victimized, and it backfired; Ku’s previous campaign committee went with Brandon Moore in hopes of finally flipping the seat; the DTC delay in organizing any candidate forums led to an inability to get the information out to all (as we see in complaints from new residents regarding lack of information); the DTC was severely split by the caucus chaos and some did not fully participate as a result; and we are back to square one with the candidate Alex Villamil preferred, and the same old guard and the same chance of flipping the seat.