Democratic challengers fall far short of retaking mayor, council seats as Republicans win by large margins

Posted By: David Fortier November 8, 2023

By David Fortier

Dems tackled a difficult task with the 2023 municipal election of retaking the mayor’s seat as well as making inroads with the city council and board of education.

Buildings are going up–ones that the previous Democratic administration got started, an administration that included on its city council this year’s Democratic mayoral candidate.

Road construction in the West End is well-underway, again, a project that started in a previous administration. And a newly renovated city hall, which also got started under the previous administration, reopened just weeks ago.

While these were important considerations and issues Democratic candidates raised during the campaign, it was another set of values that the Democrats pursued and that voters rejected apparently and resoundingly in Tuesday’s municipal election.

Bristol voters re-elected the mayor who would not take a strong stand against racism, white supremacy and antisemitism and a board of education candidate who posted an antisemitic post on her Facebook page as recently as May 2021.

“We will continue to advocate for our most vulnerable population, our children and seniors, and work to provide a culture of inclusivity,” Democratic mayoral candidate Scott Rosado and Democratic Town Committee chair Ken Rasmussen-Tuller said in a joint statement after the results were announced at Democratic headquarters.

“We will continue to listen to our community’s needs and help wherever we can,” the statement said. “We will continue to stand up for what is right when we see things that are not.”

Republican incumbent Mayor Jeffrey Caggiano, with 7,263 votes, defeated Rosado, with 4,621, winning at every polling site across the city. Incumbent Republicans retained their seats in each district, as well as winning every seat, except for those considered minority representations, on the Bristol Board of Education and the Board of Assessment Appeals.

Jennifer Van Gorder, the controversial Republican candidate who posted the antisemitic image on her Facebook page and who was chosen by the Republican Town Committee to run unopposed for a seat on the board of education garnered more votes, 6,137. The other unopposed candidate, Democrat Jill Fitzsimons-Bula, received 5,341.

“Despite the outcome not being what we had hoped, we are extremely proud of the work our slate and volunteers put into this campaign,” the statement said. “We are even more proud that each and every candidate agreed that our work does not stop just because we don’t have the title of mayor of city councilor.”

District 2 Democratic challenger Morris “Rippy” Patton addresses those gathered at Democratic headquarters Tuesday night. | David Fortier

At Democratic headquarters, Rosado announced that the Republicans had won across the board and thanked candidates and campaign workers for their contributions.

“It is what it is,” he said. “We tried to get everyone motivated and mobilized. It just didn’t happen.”

Rasmussen-Tuller, who followed Rosado, said, “The DTC is not going away because we didn’t succeed in this election. We will continue to do good deeds for the city.”

He added, shortly afterwards, “We won’t sit silent when we see things that are wrong.”

In an impromptu speech, District 2 Democratic challenger Morris “Rippy” Patton reminded those gathered at DTC headquarters where Rite Aid had been in North Side Square that the Democratic Town Committee has been making history for years.

“It may not go down in the books,” he said. “Nobody might see it when you look at the election results, but if you look around this room there has never been a gathering of a Democratic Town Committee that looks like this,” referring to the diversity of the candidates.

He added, “Nothing about what we do changes tomorrow morning, right. The only difference is we don’t have the title of city council person. But we all still wake up tomorrow to text messages from our neighbors asking us for help, asking us to show up where nobody else is. And that is what we do.”

The other Democrats who won minority representation were, on the board of education were Maria Pirro-Simmons and, Shelby Rafaneillo-Pons and on the Board of Assessment Appeals, Cynthia Chesky.

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