No Republican Primary for 34th House District

After losing the Republican nomination for the 34th House District race by a single vote to Melissa Ziobron, Bill Devine sounded pretty sure he would mount a primary challenge.

In the week’s that followed, however, he had a change of heart.

Devine confirmed over the weekend that he will not seek a primary.

“I’d rather keep the party together so that we can have unity.,” the long-time East Hampton Town Councilman and former chair said on Saturday.

In 2006, Devine ran a close race against Gail Hamm for the 34th District, losing by 87 votes. After seven terms, Hamm announced in March that that she would not seek re-election to the newly-configured seat.

Which leaves to vie for the seat against Democratic nominee .

“I appreciate Bill’s gesture to unify the party and I am looking forward to Republican Town Committee support and looking forward to the race in November,” Ziobron said.

Ziobron, 40, added that not having a primary challenge won’t impact her or her decision-making, saying she had been running toward November from the beginning.

“I’m going to keep hitting on what I had always intended on doing, which was just meeting as many people as possible,” she said. “I’ll be going to lots of events in East Hampton, East Haddam and Colchester."

Which is what she was doing over the weekend. Ziobron attended the Strawberry Fields Festival in East Hampton on Saturday and the Colchester Tag Sale on the Green on Sunday, where she helped sell survivor bells from the Bevin Bell factory fire.

“I’m excited about the race and I’ve been meeting a lot of great folks,” said Ziobron, who is originally from East Hampton and now resides in East Haddam.

Devine, 69, said he’s “taking a respite” from politics for now, but didn’t rule out a run in the future.

Meantime, the owner of Devine Jewelers said he wouldn’t be offering an endorsement.

“I can’t endorse anybody as a businessman,” Devine said. “As a businessman in town, I can’t go on one side or the other. So, I’m going to be neutral.”

Under the new reapportionment plan announced in November, East Hampton, East Haddam and a small portion of Colchester now comprise the 34th District.

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