DERBY, Conn. — The Republican primary in Derby is too close to call and triggered an automatic recount on Tuesday night after a 10-point unofficial margin in the vote.
Final unofficial results showed a tight contest in the race in Derby, a city of 12,400 people.
Republican Mayor Richard Dziekan is attempting to hold a challenge from Alderman Gino DiGiovanni, Jr., who federal prosecutors charged in August with illegally entering the U.S. Capitol during the riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
DiGiovanni held a minor lead Tuesday with unofficial results putting the vote at 202 to 192, a difference of 10 votes out of 394 ballots counted.
Because the margin of victory is less than 20 votes there will be an automatic recount. Town Clerk Marc J. Garofalo said a recount in this race will likely be held Friday.
The total final turnout was 31.17%.
The losing candidate may forfeit the right to recanvass returns within one day after the election.
DiGiovanni, who was elected alderman 10 months after the attack, has acknowledged being at the Capitol that day but has denied any wrongdoing. His presence in the crowd that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, also didn’t cost him the support of the Derby Republican Town Committee, which endorsed him in July over Dziekan, who chose not to seek the party’s backing.
Dziekan has said it would be up to the voters to decide whether DiGiovanni’s arrest disqualified him from being mayor, saying in a statement that “when an individual is observed potentially breaking the law, they can expect to be called upon to account for their actions.”
On Tuesday, he urged voters to “Pick PROGRESS over politics” on Facebook.
Dziekan was first elected mayor in 2017 after unseating Democrat incumbent Anita Dugatto in a rematch of their 2015 contest. The mayor of Derby serves a two-year term.
Regardless of the final Republican primary results, Dziekan has said he will appear on the November ballot as a non-affiliated candidate.
The Republican primary winner will advance to the November general election to face Democrat Joe DiMartino, a former alderman.
In 2021, Dziekan narrowly won re-election over DiMartino by a 48-vote margin. Donald Trump performed well in Derby in 2016, winning the town in the GOP primary with 75% of the vote and outperforming Hillary Clinton in the general election — 52% to 45% — despite losing statewide by almost 14 percentage points.
President Joe Biden won back Derby for Democrats in the 2020 general election with 51% of the vote.
Jennifer Glatz is a digital content producer at FOX61 News. She can be reached at jglatz@fox61.com.
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