By Rit Carter
Bristol Republican Mayor Jeff Caggiano and the entire slate of Republican city council candidates won reelection Tuesday night with a resounding and impressive victory.
The win gives Caggiano and city councilors Sebastian Panioto, Erick Rosengren, Jacqueline Olsen, Sue Tyler, Andrew Howe and Cheryl Thibeault total control of city government for another two years.
Caggiano, a former pharmaceutical salesman, defeated Scott Rosado, the first person of Hispanic heritage to run for mayor, by a whopping 2,742 votes before absentee ballots were counted. Caggiano won every precinct in Bristol.
With each successive posting of the votes, the cheers grew louder and louder at the Elks Club where the Republicans gathered to watch the results.
An underdog candidate two years ago, Caggiano defeated a popular democrat mayor to become Bristol’s top official. This election cycle though, he played the part of the front-runner, culminating in a confident and polished performance at last week’s Chamber of Commerce debate.
The mayor ran on his record of downtown development and positive messaging.
The Republican’s success even showed up down ballot. Rob Parenti defeated the current treasurer and former city councilman Dave Preleski by nearly 600 votes.
And Jennifer Van Gorder, a candidate for the Board of Education (BOE), who was guaranteed victory due to a quirk in the election process, was battered during the campaign season, garnered 6,137 votes before the absentee ballots were counted. Van Gorder’s vote tally was higher than any of the democrats seeking the BOE.
Addressing his supporters following the vote, he said that it was a historic victory and that he is the first mayor in Bristol to receive over 7,000 votes, “I’m an athlete. I played soccer for 32 years and took a lot of slings and arrows, and I all want to do is say look at the scoreboard. We got the W, and this is a resounding W,” he enthused to loud cheers.
Caggiano told the TBE later that he attributed his party’s success to several factors, “Number one, we had a positive message about what was happening in town. We’ve had great open debate. We’ve been transparent, and we got sh*t done.”
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