In Springfield and Hartford, challenger Domenic Sarno and incumbent Mayor Eddie Perez both achieved victories in yesterday’s mayoral elections. Sarno won with just over half the vote at 52.5 percent, and Perez won with just under at 49 percent.
In Sarno’s case, it was a major upset, while in Perez’s case, the win came as no surprise. But both wins bring with them a great deal of uncertainty, even with a core of perhaps rabid support.
Sarno’s win during the Finance Control Board era means he takes office with curtailed powers. He’ll take one seat of five on the board—a board to which he has positioned himself in opposition, in contrast to Mayor Charles Ryan’s outspoken spirit of cooperation during two terms in office.
In announcing his candidacy for yesterday’s election last spring, Ryan said, “If all we were going to do is have acrimony, chaos, and finger-pointing between the five people who were supposed to straighten out the city, we would have had paralysis. In all too many instances, loud and public criticism was coming from the same people who had been responsible, at least in part, for the mess that had been created.”
With skepticism in the wake of both elections, stern words of caution for both mayor-elects are emanating across the wires as soon as the morning after. For more on the two cities’ election results, click here.
