With the election less than six weeks away, candidates and campaign volunteers for local offices have shifted into high gear to get the word out in an election season that has been dominated for more than a year by the presidential campaign.

Challengers Off to Mixed Start

The Democratic town committees of Clinton, Killingworth, and Westbrook held their 2016 election season canvassing kickoff and hosted the grand opening of the party’s local headquarters at 242 East Main Street in Clinton on Sept. 10.

Showing their support of local candidates Norm Needleman (running for state senator from the 33rd District) and Ellen Dahlgren (running for state representative from the 35th District) were Connecticut Lt. Governor Nancy Wyman, U.S. Representative Joe Courtney, Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen, State Comptroller Kevin Lembo, and former secretary of the state Susan Bysiewicz.

Courtney, Wyman, Clinton Democratic Town Committee Chair Larry Ouellette, state director for Hillary for America Tommy Hyde, and Debra Hauser, head of the Volunteer Leaders Council, urged local Democrats to knock on doors to get the vote out.

“We need to build volunteer capacity, hold house parties, organize grassroots fundraising events, and do phone-banking,” said Hauser. “It’s all-hands-on-deck.”

Dahlgren acknowledged that she has a tough race ahead of her. To qualify for public financing from the state’s Citizens’ Election Program, she needs to raise $5,000 in contributions by Sept. 30, of which at least 150 contributions ranging from $5 to $100 must come from individual residents in her district. As of Sept. 10, she had not reached the qualifying threshold.

“I need grassroots support and contributions. I really need to get over that hump. It’s sucking the oxygen out of the campaign until the funding issue is resolved,” she said.

Norm Needleman’s campaign, Norm for Senate, announced in July that it had successfully raised more than $16,390 from 364 individuals, with 319 contributors coming from one of the 12 towns in the 33rd State Senate District (Chester, Clinton, Colchester, Deep River, East Haddam, East Hampton, Essex, Haddam, Lyme, Old Saybrook, Portland, and Westbrook). The campaign exceeded the required minimum of $15,000 from 300 in-district donors.

Needleman, who is the incumbent third-term first selectman of Essex, owns Tower Laboratories, the largest producer of effervescent products in the United States, which makes denture cleaners, bath fizzies, antacids, and soda tablets. He has three production facilities in Connecticut, including a 42,000-square-foot plant in Centerbrook and a distribution center in Clinton, as well as a plant in Michigan.

Clinton Republicans: ‘We Are Extremely Active’

“We also have joined forces with Killingworth and Westbrook,” said Clinton Republican Town Committee (RTC) member Phil Sengle. “We have a headquarters at 1525 Boston Post Road in Westbrook, a very unique multi-town situation that multiplies our strength.”

While Clinton’s RTC isn’t hosting a formal 2016 election kickoff event, RTC Chairman James Staunton said, “We are extremely active locally and regionally and have a regular monthly meeting every third Thursday at 7 p.m. at Clinton Town Hall. Omar Francis, a prominent Clinton RTC member, held a well-attended and extremely successful fundraiser about a month ago for incumbent State Representative Jesse MacLachlan for the 35th District and incumbent State Senator Art Linares for the 33rd District.”

On Sept. 24, MacLachlan and his supporters were at the Clinton Transfer Station, distributing flyers and yard signs to those who request them.

“The transfer station gets a large volume of residents on Saturday mornings,” said Sengle, “It’s actually really fun.”

Clinton’s Republican Town Committee is also participating in the regional RTC Roads to Victory event at the Riverhouse at Goodspeed Station in Haddam, CT at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 6.

“This will continue our theme of working together and across towns for victory,” says Sengle. “Fifteen towns are participating, along with candidates from six state house districts and three state senate districts. We expect 400 attendees. It can be thought of as a kickoff, but it’s more of a final push event to energize the troops.”

Roads to Victory tickets for Clinton residents can be obtained by calling Sengle at 860-552-4540.