Change in New Canaan. Dionna Carlson trounces First Selectman Kevin Moynihan at caucus of 1,200 Republicans.

It was not close. New Canaan Republicans have a tradition of high-turnout caucuses to nominate municipal offices. Tuesday’s festival of democracy saw 1,200 party members gather to dump incumbent First Selectman Kevin Moynihan in a contest without mercy.

Challenger Dionna Carlson won the party endorsement with 724 votes to Moynihan’s 266. A third candidate, Kimberly Norton received 217 votes. Carlson, a former chair of the Board of Education, announced her candidacy in May. Moynihan was seeking a fourth term.

Carlson’s margin of victory–with nearly 60% of the vote–indicates that Moynihan would struggle to convert his 22% of the vote into a September primary victory. A 24% turnout of party members at a July caucus is likely an accurate indication of a primary result.

New Canaan Democrats nominated Board of Education member Amy Murphy Carroll for the town’s top job.

New Canaan was one of Connecticut’s most reliably Republican towns until 2016. Hillary Clinton won the New York suburb that year. The Biden-Harris ticket took it by thousands of votes over Donald Trump in 2020. Last year, Governor Ned Lamont, a Democrat, received 500 more votes than Republican Bob Stefanowski. Lamont was so pleased by his New Canaan win that he made a curious reference to it in his inauguration address to the General Assembly in January. Governors have traditionally declined to recite election returns on a day reserved for looking ahead. That is the power of a tony Fairfield County town over a Greenwich Democrat.

Published July 26, 2023.