Elected candidates are shown in bold—note: we are still checking some details. These results are from the Connecticut Secretary of State’s Office.
First Selectman: Martha Shoemaker (D): 1938 John Mesham (R): 1808(Mesham lost the First Selectman contest but takes a spot as Selectman on the BOS because he gained the third highest number of votes out of the four candidates running for the board of selectmen.
Selectman: Jim Lampos (D): 1947 Jude Danenhower Read (R): 1795
Town Clerk Vicki Urbowicz (R): 2462
Board of FinanceFull Term: Kimberly Thompson (D): 2033 Matthew Olson (R): 1853 J. David Kelsey (R): 1983
Board of Finance to Fill Vacancy for Two Years Candace A. Fuchs (D): 1994 John Flick (R): 1702
Board of Finance Alternates: Tom Walsh (D): 1955 Fred Behringer (U-Democrat endorsed): 1967 Diane Y. Linderman (D): 1948 Michael Presti (R): 1681 Bob Antoniac (R): 1632 Maria Corrao Marchant (R): 1687
Board of Assessment Appeals: Devin Berke (D): 1912 Timothy C. Griswold (R): 1803
Planning Commission (Five Year Term Begins 2025): Michael F. Riggio (D): 1952 Harold Thompson (U-Republican endorsed): 1739
Zoning Commission (Five Year Term Begins 2025): Michael Fogliano (U-Democrat endorsed): 1952 Sloan Danenhower (U-Republican endorsed): 1759
Zoning Commission (Five Year Term Begins 2026): Jane Marsh (R): 2299
Zoning Board of Appeals (Five Year Term Begins 2025): Michaelle Pearson (D): 1998 Stephen Dix (U-Republican endorsed): 1673
Zoning Board of Appeals (Five Year Term Begins 2026): Kip Kotzan (D): 2356
Zoning Board of Appeals Alternates: Richard Korsmeyer (D): 1942 Kathleen Tracy (D): 1954 James T. Scott (R): 1704 Jill Pilgrim (R): 1806 Nicholas Fulton (R): 1955
Regional Board of Education: Sheryl Shyloski (D): 2038 Cynthia Love McCollum (D): 2003 Jason L. Kemp (D): 1996 Michael J. Hansen (D): 1965 Jarod Bushey (R): 1627 Brandy Campbell (R): 1657 Carlos Piña (R): 1576 Shaun Mastroianni (R): 1664
Editor’s Note: This report was updated to reflect endorsements for unaffiliated candidates.
LYME–Voters in a rare contested race for first selectman have endorsed the ideals of volunteerism, collaboration and consensus with the election of Democrat-supported unaffiliated candidate Christy Zelek over Republican Tom St. Louis.
Zelek will serve on the Board of Selectpeople with incumbent Democratic Selectman John Kiker and St. Louis.
The decisive victory delivered 710 votes for Zelek compared to St. Louis’ 474, according to unofficial results from the Office of the Secretary of the State.
Since the candidate finishing second in the first selectmen’s race is automatically considered for one of the two remaining selectmen seats, St. Louis earned the spot after finishing third behind Kiker. The incumbent selectman earned 608 votes.
Incumbent Democratic Selectwoman Kristina White, with 218 votes, and Republican Mary Powell-St. Louis, with 429 votes, fell short.
Going back 25 years, only the 2001 and 2017 elections included a challenge for first selectman. This year’s opening emerged after an announcement from current unaffiliated First Selectman David Lahm that he would not be running for another term.
Zelek, an administrative assistant at Westbrook Middle School, said she ran out of a sense of civic duty on a record of volunteerism that includes service on the Lyme Ambulance Association Board of Directors, multiple parent-teacher organizations and the local Boy Scouts.
St. Louis touted experience at Pfizer and four years as an appointed alternate member of the Lyme Planning and Zoning Commission. He ran with the goal of ensuring local control over development amid calls from the state for cities and towns to commit to building more affordable housing.
Republican running mates St. Louis and Powell-St. Louis, who are married, drew criticism from Democrats for potentially putting the town’s leadership in the hands of one family. Democrats were criticized by Republicans for backing a trio of candidates, one of them unaffiliated, that could have resulted in an effective Democratic majority.
Zelek on Tuesday night did not return a phone call for comment. Instead, the Lyme Democrats sent out a press release with a quote from the first selectman-elect.
“I would like to thank Lyme voters for electing me as your First Selectman; now it’s time to get to work,” Zelek said in the release. “John, Tom and I are going to work together on the Board of Selectmen for Lyme. That’s what we need for our town and our community – people working together. We need that in Lyme and we need that in the world. It starts now.”
Kiker in the release recognized Zelek as the first female first selectman in the town’s history.
“Both Christy and I congratulate Tom St. Louis on his election as Third Selectman and welcome him to the Board of Selectmen,” Kiker said.
Tom St. Louis
St. Louis in a phone interview Tuesday night described the race as hard fought.
“I think all the candidates put in what they could,” he said. “Mary and I did our best to get around town and meet with people and hear about their concerns, and their worries, and their hopes for the town of Lyme.”
He wished Zelek the best as first selectman and said he looks forward to serving the town as a selectman.
“I will bring all those concerns and considerations and hopes to bear in the fulfillment of my duties,” he said.
He said maintaining local control over development decisions is an issue he will raise with his fellow selectmen.
“To me it’s still a concern I’ve heard from the folks, and I hope to make sure the Board of Selectmen takes that into consideration: that we engage early on with state legislators and with partner towns,” he said.
Among other pressing concerns identified by St. Louis is the “newfound urgency” stemming from recent talks about potential renovations to the town’s two fire stations.
“It’s going to be a big dollar issue the town is going to have to face and find a way to finance,” he said. “And we need to find what the right solution is.”
Editor’s Note: This article was updated to correct Lahm’s affiliation.
The image above shows the cover photo of Lyme’s 2025 Draft Plan of Conservation and Development.
Option Available to Email Comments in Advance of Meeting
LYME–The Planning and Zoning Commission invites public comment on the draft Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD) on Wednesday, Nov. 12.
The public hearing and special meeting will both be held at 7 p.m. in Lyme Town Hall.
Lyme residents who attend the public hearing can make comments on the POCD for the commissioners to consider. Lyme residents who are unable to attend the hearing can email their comments to the commissioners before the hearing at zoningclerk@townlyme.org.
The public hearing will be immediately followed by a special meeting of the Planning & Zoning Commission where the commissioners will discuss and vote on whether to accept the 2025 POCD, according to the meeting agenda.
First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker on Tuesday night said she was excited to be reelected.
OLD LYME–Incumbent Democratic First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker held onto her seat in a virtual repeat of her 2023 run against Republican John Mesham despite a changed voting landscape that stretched out through an additional two weeks of early voting.
At least 60% of registered voters turned out to vote, based on preliminary totals from Election Day and early voting.
Unofficial numbers tallied at Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School on Tuesday night gave the victory to Shoemaker with 1,938 votes to Mesham’s 1,808, a difference of 130 votes. Two years ago, the retired teacher beat the retired Connecticut state trooper by 123 votes, with 59% of voters turning out.
But this time, Mesham’s finish was strong enough to earn him a seat on the Board of Selectmen. That’s because the candidate finishing second in the first selectman race is automatically considered for one of the two remaining selectmen positions.
Mesham beat out incumbent Republican Jude Read, who earned 1,795 voters, to earn a seat alongside incumbent Democrat Jim Lampos, who collected 1,947.
Election Day tallies from the main polling precinct at Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School looked strong for Republicans in almost every race when results came back shortly after 8 p.m. But after early voting, absentee and same day registration votes counted separately at the Town Hall were announced by Deputy Registrar of Voters Katherine Thuma, the results swung in the Democrats’ favor.
Thuma earlier on Tuesday said turnout over the 14-day early voting period consisted of 675 Democrats, 461 unaffiliated voters, 402 Republicans and 15 minor party voters.
She said there’s a total of 6,250 registered voters in town, including 2,546 unaffiliated voters, 1,963 Democrats, 1,644 Republicans and 97 minor party voters.
Shoemaker at the Town Hall after the results came in attributed her win to “hard work, excellent service in the Town Hall, and the ability for people to have their voices heard.”
The first selectwoman campaigned on a record that included overseeing flooding fixes in multiple shoreline sites and opening up the budget planning process to public scrutiny.
She cited pressing issues she’ll be focusing on including a referendum on the Sound View sewer project that is likely to happen in January, as well as the completion of the Grassy Hill Road Bridge project.
She said she and Lampos are honored to continue serving the town, and she will be happy to serve with Mesham.
“Hopefully the three of us will be able to do wonderful things for Old Lyme,” she said.
Republican John Mesham will serve on the Board of Selectmen with two Democrats: First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker and incumbent Selectman Jim Lampos.
Mesham in a phone call Tuesday evening acknowledged his team came up short despite a hard fought campaign.
He expressed surprise at the “the disparity” that gave Democrats the win despite Republicans’ strong showing on Election Day.
He said Republicans focused on early voting through absentee ballots, which yielded improved results over the previous municipal election.
He acknowledged it’s Democrats who tend to favor coming out during the 14-day early voting period.
“We knew that Republicans would vote strong on Election Day, and we really focused on getting a turnout today. And that worked,” he said.
The Republican campaign was energized by a groundswell of opposition to a plan from the Halls Road Improvements Committee, which was forwarded to the Zoning Commission by the Board of Selectmen, that could have allowed hundreds of apartments to be built on the commercially-zoned Halls Road.
They also called out Shoemaker for the $250 fine from the state Freedom of Information Commission that she paid after FOIC members agreed with a complaint from the Connecticut Examiner that she withheld public records related to alleged sexual misconduct at the local ambulance association.
Mesham was skeptical when asked about priorities he’d like to bring before the Board of Selectmen when he’s sworn in two weeks from now.
“It’s hard for me to bring priorities because I’m the minority,” he said of his status among the two incumbent Democrats. “They’ve pretty much had a history of blocking Jude (Read) out, so we’ll see what happens.”
Shoemaker, a retired 35-year teacher and 12-year union president, was selectwoman from 2021-23 before being elected first selectwoman. She did not run for reelection on the Region 18 Board of Education, where she is finishing her second term.
Mesham, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, retired from the Connecticut State Police in 2020 as a master sergeant after 29 years in law enforcement. He is a member of the Inland Wetlands Commission and a deputy registrar of voters.
Democrat White Loses Her Board of Selectpeople Seat, Powell St. Louis (R) Fails to Gain One
Christy Zelek. LymeLine file photo.
LYME—In unconfirmed results, unaffiliated candidate Kristy Zelek, who was endorsed by the Democrats, swept to victory in Lyme with 675 votes, defeating her Republican challenger Tom St. Louis, who polled 451 votes.
St. Louis will take a spot on the Board of Selectpeople, however, since his vote count was higher than that of both his wife Mary Powell St. Louis (R), who secured 405 votes, and that of incumbent Democrat Selectwoman Kristina White, who netted 209 votes.
The third member of the board of selectpeople will be incumbent John Kiker (D), who received 579 votes.
We will report the remaining results as soon as we have had the opportunity to process them fully.
