Meet Greenwich DTC’s Enthusiastic New Chair, Christina Downey

Last month both Greenwich Democrats and Greenwich Republicans elected new leadership teams.

Republicans met at the Arch Street Teen Center where Joe Montanaro failed to take over as chair from Beth MacGillivray, and the RTC elected Jerry Cincotta instead.

Greenwich DTC Chair, Christina Downey. Photo courtesy Cheryl Moss

Across town, at Eastern Middle School the Democrats honored outgoing chair Joe Angland and elected a leadership team of their own.

The newly elected DTC chair is longtime Riverside resident, Christina Downey, who many are familiar with for her years of service on the Board of Education where she was most recently vice chair.

She had also chaired the BOE Policy Governance and the Budget Committees. Downey, an attorney, also serves on the RTM representing District 5.

Over the years, she held leadership roles at Riverside School, Eastern Middle School, Greenwich High School, PTA Council and the Greenwich Junior League.

Ms Downey talked about her role as chair of the DTC, which is notable given 2024 is a presidential election year and voter turnout is anticipated to be high.

Downey, who was involved with the DTC for five years prior to becoming chair, said that previously she had been unaffiliated with a party.

She described her new position as a natural fit and the recent leadership changes as a smooth transition.

“In my heart, I always cared deeply about the social issues. Democrats don’t think just about themselves – they think about society as a whole – about the collective,” she recalled, adding that she became a Democrat when she worked on attorney general William Tong’s campaign in 2018.

She described her overall goal as involving more citizens in local government, and was pleased that DTC meetings had become better attended recently.

“We have a lot of new members. We’ve got people wanting to join and get involved, and asking what they can do,” she said.

Working with her on the DTC leadership team is Ken Greenberg who continues as vice chair.

“Ken and I work well together. He’s the voice of continuity. He’s very logical and knows parliamentary procedure.”

Phyllis Behlen is staying on as DTC secretary.

The new treasurer is Jeffrey Bardos from Cos Cob, benefiting from the experience of Bob Brady, who is staying on as deputy treasurer.

“Like any organization, you need a succession plan,” Downey said. “You don’t want to have people stay too long because when they do decide to leave, you don’t want to be in the lurch.”

She described Lucy von Brachel, chair of the DTC data committee, as an invaluable asset.

“Purpling” of Greenwich

Downey talked about the “purpling” of Greenwich which she said had become a more diverse community over the years.

“Diverse – both in terms of economics and ethnicity – but also the places people are moving from, and points of view,” she said. “The world has changed too. People are more open to discussion and ideas and not following the same-old same-old.”

Another aspect of change in town is the number of families with young children who are starting to enter or will soon enter Greenwich Schools.

“There were 100 more kids in Kindergarten just this year,” she said. “Not all of these kids were born in Greenwich.”

Downey recalled marching with fellow BOE members along the crowds that lined Sound Beach Ave for the Memorial Day parade in Old Greenwich two or three years ago.

“Joe Kelly and I we were agog at the number of toddlers,” she said. “And, traditionally younger people tend to be more Democratic than Republican.”

“Former Republicans are also a factor in the purple-ing of town,” she said. “There are moderate Republicans who don’t want to be associated with the current leadership of the party, nationally. As a result some people who were Republicans are now unaffiliated. People I know have said, ‘I can’t be Republican – if it means pledging myself to Trump.'”

Fazio vs Simmons

Downey said she also looked forward to the November contest between Republican State Senator Ryan Fazio in the 36th district and his Democratic challenger Nick Simmons.

“It’s going to be exciting to watch,” she said. “It shows increased civic engagement of younger people that we have two 30-somethings who want to represent us in Hartford. I look forward to the debates.”

As for the Greenwich delegation, Downey said she was proud of the work of State Representatives Steve Meskers (D-150), Hector Arzeno (D-151) and Rachel Khanna (D-149).

“They are a strong team and could become even stronger with Nick involved, and I really look forward to all three of them continuing to represent Greenwich in Hartford where they’re great voices for Greenwich as a collective unit.”

Role of Party Chair

Downey said the role of the party chair is not only to help get Democratic candidates elected, but to organize and motivate DTC members, attract new members and educate and energize voters.

She is heartened by the number of young voting members of the DTC.

In addition Downey is tasked with putting the leadership structure in place in terms of committee chairs.

“People are stepping up who want to take bigger roles: our communications team includes people who previously did the work professionally.”

And, while the DTC chair position is new to Downey, she’s not a novice to campaigning.

“I’ve learned a lot about election law,” she said, adding that she was Laura Erickson’s treasurer when Erickson, who did not get the DTC nomination, ran a contested Board of Education campaign.

“And when I ran for Board of Education, there were three Democrats for two spots, and my own campaign was contested,” she added.

Downey also helped Kathleen Stowe with her campaign for State Rep in the 149th district in 2020 and learned even more from helping Cheryl Moss on her run for State Representative against Harry Arora in the 151st district after Fred Camillo resigned to become First Selectman.

“That campaign was compressed to about 5 weeks,” she said.

Additionally she volunteered to handle scheduling for William Tong in his first election, which she said was a challenge because it went through both an August primary and a general election.

And, most recently, she was on the campaign committee for the municipal elections last fall.

Social Media Presence

Given the Greenwich Republicans X (formerly Twitter) account was turned over to the new RTC leadership and was recently subject to some trolling, Downey noted the DTC communications committee had deleted the party’s Twitter account back on Nov 21, 2023, saying, “The platform had become a toxic cesspool of hate and misinformation.”

At the time, the communications committee posted a message on Instagram and Facebook saying, “The platform X/Twitter has become a vehicle for hate and amplification of antisemitism. The Greenwich Democrats will not support such a platform and have deactivated our account. We commend others, such as AG William Tong and the Wilton Democrats who have decided to #eXit.”

Gratitude to Joe Angland

Lastly, Downey shared her gratitude to the previous DTC chair, Joe Angland, who is retiring.

“He provided leadership we could be proud of,” she said. “He was always thoughtful, measured, diligent and respected.”

Greenwich Free Press -

Meet Greenwich DTC’s Enthusiastic New Chair, Christina Downey

By: greenwichfreepress | April 17, 2024