New Castle Residents Head to the Polls for Democratic Primary

Registered Democrats will head to the polls today in the first primary for local town elected positions that anyone can remember. Current 8-year council member Lisa Katz faces off against 3-year school board member Holly McCall in the race for the supervisor slot. Tara Kassal, current first year council member Lori Morton, Angela Sanseverino Galan and Michael Weinberg will compete for two spots for 4 year terms as members of the next town council. Jennifer Bounds will compete with 10-year school board member and current President Victoria Bayard Tipp for the 2 year unexpired term on the town council that was created due to a vacancy created at the end of 2020. Because Tipp replaced a previous candidate who is moving due to unforeseen family circumstances, she is competing as a write-in candidate and has taken on the moniker of "write-in candidate Victoria Bayard Tipp".

McCall, Weinberg, Morton and Bounds comprise the 4 New Castle slate which is supportive of the existing town board's efforts surrounding the Form Based Code ("FBC"). Katz, Kassal, Sanseverino Galan and Tipp comprise the Unite New Castle slate which does not support the current direction of the Form Based Code. All 8 Democrats in this race will appear on the ballot in November as both slates have filed paperwork to appear as independent lines on the November ballot. After speaking with a number of residents, there do not seem to be glaring differences in the platforms of the two slates other than their positions on the FBC.

Despite significant concerns from the local Planning Board, the CCSD (who submitted a letter signed by its President Tipp and its Vice President McCall in March) and hundreds of residents, the current town board has continued to push forward with a downsized plan focused on North Greeley Avenue but which still includes a full study and the issuance of an Environmental Impact Statement on a much larger 72 acres in the hamlet. While the current town board, over the objections of Katz, moves forward with this plan, the 4 New Castle slate has expressed support for the town board's actions while the Unite New Castle slate has echoed the concerns of the Planning Board, the CCSD and hundreds of concerned residents who have submitted written feedback.

Key differences between the two slates exist in acceptable building height limits, the level of ongoing oversight by the town's voluntary boards, including the Planning and Architectural Review Boards, and the level of required parking among other issues. The Unite New Castle slate envisions the best step as a pause in the process to gather additional feedback from residents which has been a challenge during the pandemic.

Also in the mix, no one has a great feel for how many local residents will vote in this first ever local primary. The 4 New Castle slate has the endorsement of the local Democratic committee which may be helpful with voters who are more likely to vote in a primary, but it remains to be seen how committee loyalty stands up to the hundreds of residents who are upset about the FBC and who also have felt that the committee should have let local voters decide the outcome of the primary as is happening in a contested primary in neighboring Bedford. It is also unclear how many of the hundreds of residents who submitted their concerns to the town board are registered to vote in this election. Unaffiliated voters make up a large block of voters in New Castle.

Some of the louder pushback against the Unite New Castle slate has come from certain members of the local committee that endorsed their opponents. Local committee endorsement has not been a consistent factor in recent elections over the last decade. New Castle residents, more than 50% of which are registered Democrats, have shown a significant independent streak in local elections over the past decade despite being very supportive of regional Democratic candidates for other elected offices. County Executive Latimer, Assemblyman Chris Burdick and State Senator Peter Harckham all enjoyed broad support here in recent elections.

With a write-in candidate and an unknown number of absentee ballots, results may not be known immediately, but with all 8 candidates already signed up for the ballot in November, the local political climate bears close watching over the next 133 days until Election Day in November.

Primary voting locations have changed in New Castle for several sites. Please confirm your polling place at the Board of Elections website.