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Republican voters in Darien and New Canaan made Michael P. Murray their pick for probate judge in the towns' first combined race for the position. Murray beat challengers John Ryan and Bill Osterndorf in a tight race that had different winners and varying margins in each town.
"It was extremely tight, it was a fierce campaign," Murray said. "It was a clean race, there was no nonsense involved and it was a pleasure to compete with those guys."
In May, the legislature decided to combine Connecticut's 117 probate districts into 54 districts. Darien and New Canaan's districts will officially combine Jan. 5. Murray will likely be elected in November because the Democrats currently have no clear candidate.
In the close race, Murray earned 35 percent of the total votes, capturing 43 percent of votes in Darien and 26 percent in New Canaan. Ryan, a Darien resident, won in his town with 50 percent of its votes. New Canaan chose Osterndorf, a resident, with 60 percent of the votes.
Murray, who lives in Darien and practices law for Ivey, Barnum and O'Mara LLC in New Canaan, proved to be the compromise candidate. After the towns split evenly at a nominating convention in May, Murray petitioned to be on the ballot. He was later endorsed by all five Republican selectmen from the two towns.
In Connecticut, probate judges are charged with handling family disputes and overseeing estates, wills and trusts in addition to appointing guardians for children, granting adoptions, determining whether parents are fit and settling paternity disputes.
"It was unbelievable, the outcome is incredible," said Murray, who celebrated the win at the Boathouse Restaurant on Post Road in Daren. "There are a lot of people supporting me so I will work extremely hard to prove worthy of this."
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