Middletown Mayor Won't Seek Re-Election

MIDDLETOWN, CT — Middletown Mayor Dan Drew has announced that he will not seek a fourth term. Drew made the announcement in a post on Facebook Tuesday afternoon, saying he, along with his wife, decided before he ran for this current term that it would be his last.

“Though I will miss this office and, in particular, being connected to you, the people, I am excited to begin a new chapter in my life and to spend more time with my family than I have been able to,” Drew wrote in the post.

Drew also said that being mayor has been the “greatest professional honor of my life.”

Read the full post below:

Hi everyone,

Not long ago, I was speaking with someone about his new job at the FedEx Ground facility in Westfield and how much he appreciated having the opportunity to work there. His story reminded me of when the project was under construction and I had an opportunity to meet a union carpenter who lives in Middletown and was helping to build the facility. His young daughter was with him and I thought about how that project provided for his family good wages and benefits. It was a moment of tremendous satisfaction, knowing that those work opportunities existed in large part because of the work of so many dedicated public servants and our partners at the Chamber of Commerce.

In the past seven years we have seen the City of Middletown advance significantly and in ways that so many people said could not be done. Our bond rating has advanced to the highest level a community can achieve, the infrastructure for a new riverfront development is in place, unemployment is down, violent crime is down, and thousands of businesses have located here, including the opening of the FedEx Ground Northeast regional distribution hub. We have seen an explosion in infrastructure investment, growth in our grand list, and continuous investment in our public schools. I am proud to say we never took the path of least resistance when faced with hard decisions.

I feel blessed to have had a chance to lead this team and this community as we emerged from the Great Recession. Being your Mayor has been the greatest professional honor of my life.

Kate and I decided before I ran for this term that it would be my last and I will not seek a fourth term. Though I will miss this office and, in particular, being connected to you, the people, I am excited to begin a new chapter in my life and to spend more time with my family than I have been able to. Holding this office is not just a job – it by necessity becomes a lifestyle and requires the continued sacrifice of everyone close to whoever holds it. Its pressures are tremendous and exist around the clock, 365 days per year wherever you happen to be. In part because of those pressures, and not in spite of them, I have enjoyed almost every moment in this office. I have always felt tremendously honored to be entrusted with such a significant responsibility at such a young age from a community that Kate and I found but were not born into and in which we had no existing familial or community network.

I have long believed that no one should hold an office like this in perpetuity. I have just under one year of service left as mayor. It is my earnest hope to see our community continue to advance so that all may lead better lives. The limitations of local government can make this a difficult goal to achieve, but those same limitations make it all the more satisfying when it works. I have been fortunate to lead a team that has made it work time and again. For that I thank you, the people, for giving me this opportunity. I am eternally grateful.

Sincerely,

Daniel Drew

Mayor

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