Josh LaBella
Voice Reporter
Mayoral candidates Ed O’Brien and Debbie Collins have each turned in their petitions to primary for the Democratic nomination for the office.
Collins said all together she got “over 2,000” signatures, well over the 743 required to enter a primary. She said through the effort of volunteers and candidates on her ticket they got the signatures during the hottest July on record.
“We’ll definitely on the ballot and I have secured row B,” said Collins. “We did it really quickly. All hands were on deck.”
Collins said she will continue to run a grassroots campaign – of which door knocking will be a central part of the process. She also said her campaign is trying to host a golf tournament on Aug. 16 but is still finalizing the details.
“Then we are going to do something at the beach, a breakfast, we’re doing another dinner,” said Collins. “But those dates are kind of up in the air.”
Collins said she is “feeling good” about her chances of winning the primary. She added that she got a good response from the community when they ran their “sign blitz” this past weekend and put up more than 400 signs on the yards of those who ordered them.
O’Brien also said the major heatwave made the effort to get signatures “tough” but that he and his team managed to get around 1,200 voters to sign the petition before turning it in – with many others signing afterwards.
“We had a great group of volunteers,” said O’Brien. “We had door knocking. We also had what we called Signature Saturdays. A lot of people showed up on the two Saturday mornings to sign. It was really a grassroots effort and I’m proud of the team.”
According to O’Brien, a lot of the people helping his campaign are new faces in the political realm of West Haven. He said people who want to help or come talked to him can come visit his office, which opens at noon and stays open until 9 or 10 at night.
The former mayor said he campaign events coming up which include a happy hour a JR’s Place and a breakfast at Off Shore Restaurant on Sept. 8. He said he wants to talk to as many residents as possible.
“We’re getting an overwhelming response,” said O’Brien.