Daughtry: 'Mainstream Politics, I'm Probably Done'

Art Daughtry says that his run in this year's Republican primary will most likely be his last.

"Mainstream politics, I'm probably done," said Daughtry. "I'll be around to help out if needed."

The results of Tuesday's primary, with Deb Nielson and Jim Sandham taking the most and second most votes in the Republican primary, respectively, were not surprising to Daughtry.

"Well, in the beginning that's exactly the way I called it," said Daughtry. "Not as the spread, but Deb and Jim right next to each other and me being behind them."

This campaign, for Daughtry, was less about winning than it was about speaking his mind.

"When you put votes ahead of the citizens," said Daughtry. "It's going to get my gander up."

Daughtry and his runningmate Jim Sandham, throughout this year's Republican primary campaign, made many claims about their opponent Deb Nielson, including that she did not support the First Aid Squad.

Nielson claims otherwise.

"I want to reiterate that I've always supported the first aid squad," said Nielson. "And all of our volunteers. I found that my opponents' literature was not truthful in that regard, and I'm happy to be vindicated."

With the race over, Daughtry says that it's time to step back and think about the future.

"Everybody's got to take a deep breath and regroup," said Daughtry.

He says that the current township committee, which includes Sandham and Nielson, as well as Tim Braden, Scott Gallopo and Don Kostka, "is a great cross section."

"It's just personalities and egos are getting in the way of everything else," Daughtry said.

This year's Republican primary created a split between Montville's Republicans. Voters were punching their tickets in various combinations during the primary, with some voting only for Deb Nielson, others voting for Jim Sandham and Art Daughtry, and others voting for some combination of the three, or with write-ins.

A few voters even told Patch at the polls that they voted Nielson/Sandham or Nielson/Daughtry, despite Sandham and Daughtry choosing to not run with Nielson. One Republican, Gary Lewis, who ran in last year's primary, received 130 write-in votes.

The campaign was, to say the least, contentious.

"We got a little overzealous with our advertising," said Daughtry. "We probably pushed the envelope a little bit; it was fun, I enjoyed it."

Daughtry served as mayor in Montville Township in 2007, and sat on the township committee from 2004 to 2010.