It seems like you mostly endorse Republican candidates. Why is that?
We have only been around for a few election cycles. It’s true that, so far, we have endorsed mostly Republicans. There are a few reasons for this:
- First and foremost, we endorse the neighbors who we believe will do the best job. Most recently, the incumbents have a proven track records of excellence, and many of them happen to be Republicans.
- As a local party, we put candidates on the ballot through petitions, not caucuses. These must be done well before the deadline for the national parties to select and nominate their local candidates.
- In the 2023 election, the Ghent Democratic Committee did not caucus and did not nominate any candidates. Nevertheless, Connect Ghent did endorse a Democrat in that race. We also supported a Democrat for Town Justice who filed after our ballot deadline
- In the 2025 election, the local Democrats held their caucus at the deadline for filing, well after our deadline for ballots. While this meant their candidates were not eligible for the Connect Ghent ballot line, Connect Ghent was successful getting their Highway Superintendent and Town Clerk candidates on the ballot, both of whom were elected.
- For the 2026 election cycle, we formally reached out to the Ghent GOP to speak about their candidates and share our thoughts about who we support. That conversation was fruitful and collaborative. On March 24th, we made this same offer to the Ghent Democratic Committee, (verbatim: “We are reaching out on behalf of Connect Ghent. We’d like to discuss town board candidates for the November election—do you have 30 minutes available next…”). To date, our invitation has not been accepted.
There is a lot happening at the national and global levels. How can you say that political party doesn’t matter?
We believe that party is irrelevant at the local level. The work of the elected officials in the town is very important, and truly has an impact on the residents of the town. Most of the decisions, however, are not steeped in political ideologies or constitutional issues. That said, we never ask anyone to change their party affiliation nor think differently about how they vote at the state and national level. Let’s just keep partisan bickering and gridlock out of Ghent Town Hall.