DeLuca and Dafis Emerge as First Two Democratic Contenders for Maplewood TC, Larrier Not Seeking Re-Election

So, it looks like Mayor DeLuca and newcomer Dean Dafis are the likely Democratic Township Committee candidates this year. DeLuca seems like an obvious choice, and Dafis seems to have gotten very involved in the community over the past few years. Especially if they run together, they probably will be very hard to beat. Nonetheless, with India Larrier stepping down, I am somewhat surprised that more contenders have not already thrown their hat in the ring. But perhaps more will step forward in the coming weeks before the deadline.

Given what happened in her last election, it doesn't seem like a big surprise that she is not running again. She almost certainly would have been primaried, had she even received the Maplewood Democratic Committee's endorsement. Also not a surprise that a member of the LGBT community is running to take her seat.

I will be curious to see if any other candidates come forward to seek the Democratic nominations, and also to see if Mike Summersgill runs separately or with a Republican running mate since there are two seats up this year. If anyone has any thoughts on the above and what it all might mean, I'd enjoy hearing them.

yahooyahoo

Feb 10, 2017 at 2:01pm Edited

Dean Dafis publicly stated that he has the support of every TC member except India. Why would any other Democrat come forward at this point?

The MDC will endorse DeLuca and whomever he wants as his running mate.

yahooyahoo

Feb 10, 2017 at 2:03pm

From Dean's statement:

"I’m deeply grateful to have the support of TC Committee members, Greg Lembrich, Frank McGehee, Deputy Mayor Nancy Adams and Mayor Victor De Luca, as well of previous TC members, former Mayors and other community leaders."

tomdevon

Feb 10, 2017 at 3:04pm

yahooyahoo said:

Dean Dafis publicly stated that he has the support of every TC member except India. Why would any other Democrat come forward at this point?

The MDC will endorse DeLuca and whomever he wants as his running mate.

You are probably right. Good for him for lining up support from so many influential local leaders before declaring his candidacy. Assuming you're right, this will be the second straight year that the Maplewood Democrats unite behind a relative newcomer. Given the sometimes turbulent primary in 2015, in which the local party seemed very divided, I would not necessarily have predicted that. I wonder if this means that the factions have reunited or if one side or the other is just winning. I guess we will see in time.