How Republicans Win in Westchester

North Castle , NY is 43% Democrat, 34% Republican and the rest non-affiliated or independent.  Yet Republican and Conservative party candidate for Town Councilman, John Cronin won a big victory.

Cronin's campaign kept their noses clean, complimented the other candidates, and focused on Cronin's credentials: his financial skills. The number one issue in the town of North Castle was reducing real estate taxes that have skyrocketed since the Democrats came into power a few years back. Their tagline-- "Financial Skills. Balanced Judgment." spoke to moderation -- something that people need to hear overtly stated in order to feel comfortable with voting Republican.

In addition, Cronin's camp did not let the Democrats own the issue of the environment. They represented him as being a great financial manager and pro-environment at the same time. And Cronin had examples to back it up, having initiated the first paper reduction project at GE back in the 1980s and going to enormous lengths to save an old majestic tree on his property. Cronin's campaign wisely refused to allow the Democrats to position themselves as the sole green party.

Bottom line: his campaign represented John as a moderate, aligned him with contemporary trends such as technology and the environment, never identified him as Republican in campaign materials and asked citizens to vote on the basis of the person rather than the party. Although Republicans did well everywhere, Cronin's numbers were off the charts. He actually received more votes than the town supervisor (the higher and more important position), and post-election analysis showed that most Democrats crossed party lines to vote for him.