Lyme – The election is shaping up to be a quiet one in town, with the incumbent first selectman running unopposed and only one contested race.

The slate of candidates filed with Town Clerk Linda Winzer shows incumbent First Selectman David Lahm at the top of a Republican ticket. The Republican Town Committee did not choose a running mate for Lahm in the race for the three-member Board of Selectmen.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Town Committee did not put up a challenger for first selectman. That means they are limited to nominating only one candidate for the Board of Selectmen, according to Lyme DTC Nominating Committee Chairperson Liz Frankel.

She said in a news release that state election law specifies town committees can nominate only one candidate for first selectman and one candidate for selectman in towns like Lyme with three people on its Board of Selectmen. The problem is the party would like to see Democratic incumbents John Kiker and Kristina White elected to the board.

“As a result, we nominated and endorsed John (Kiker) as our selectman candidate and will be actively publicizing and urging Kristina’s election as a petitioning candidate,” Frankel said.

Winzer said the only thing left to make White’s candidacy official is confirmation from the Office of the Secretary of the State, where all the paperwork and petition signatures have been submitted.

Lahm was promoted to first selectman by the Board of Selectmen after the mid-term retirement announcement by Democrat Steve Mattson last summer. White, the executive director of the Lyme Land Conservation Trust, was then appointed as third selectwoman to serve the rest of Lahm's two-year term.

There are a total of 18 people running for 20 open positions in the town with a population of 2,352 as of the 2020 Census.

Kiker, the Democratic Town Committee chairman, said in a phone call the party is not running a candidate for first selectman because members think Lahm “is doing a great job.”

Lahm, who is the chairman of the Republican Town Committee as well as the first selectman, expressed the same level of satisfaction when asked why Republicans did not run a candidate for the Board of Selectmen.

“I’m happy with the team I’ve got. I don’t run people just to run people. I run people where there’s a need and we can do better,” Lahm said.

Only the Region 18 Board of Education race, with its one open seat, will be up to voters. The candidates are two-term incumbent Republican Mary Powell-St. Louis and Democratic newcomer Gavin Lodge.

There are currently five Republicans, three Democrats and one unaffiliated voter on the school board with staggered terms. Lyme gets two seats on the regional board; the other held by Democrat Anna James is up in 2025.

Powell-St. Louis, a two-term incumbent, is a research physician at Pfizer Inc. with master’s degrees in public health and business administration.

Lodge is a member of Lyme’s Sustainable Committee and the Democratic Town Committee, according to Kiker. He is executive director of 4A Arts, a nonprofit organization with a mission to “democratize, catalyze, and prioritize arts and culture in America.”

On the Lyme Library Board of Directors, where there are three open seats, Democratic incumbent Kiker is the only candidate.

Minority representation rules on the board – which currently has five Democrats, one Republican, one unaffiliated member and two vacancies – preclude the Democrats from controlling more than two-thirds of the board.

Lahm said he doesn't have anyone to run for the library board.

“We’re a small town, and our pool of resources is small,” he said.

The Lyme ballot will also include several races with as many open seats as there are candidates:

Board of Finance: Democrat Steven Mattson and Republican David M. Brown (six year-terms) and Democrat-endorsed unaffiliated candidate Jim Miller (two-year term)

Board of Finance alternate: Democrat Adam McEwen (six-year term) and Republican Jeffrey Oyster (two-year term)

Planning and Zoning Commission: Democrat Kristina White, Republican William J. Fiske and Republican-endorsed unaffiliated candidate Frederick B. Gahagan.

Planning and Zoning Commission alternate: Democrat Mary Stone

Zoning Board of Appeals: Republican David S. Gage and Democrat Anna James

Zoning Board of Appeals alternate: Republican Henry A. Lahm

Board of Assessment Appeals: Republican G. Hayden Reynolds, Jr.

e.regan@theday.com

Editor’s note: This article was updated to correct the first reference to Mattson’s political affiliation.