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Valentine, 70, the former Major League Baseball player and manager who currently serves as the athletic director at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, announced on Friday, May 7 that he plans to run for mayor the second largest city in Fairfield County - his hometown of Stamford.
Since making his announcement, dozens have come out to support the former Mets manager, who has amassed more than $300,000 in contributions in just weeks, including some support from high-profile Republicans, including former President George W. Bush, White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, and Greenwich resident Linda McMahon, who worked in the Trump administration.
Valentine was fired by Bush when Bush was a managing partner of the Texas Rangers in 1992.
In all, nearly 1,000 people have contributed to the campaign in less than eight weeks, including nearly 500 Stamford residents, bringing the contribution total to more than his Democratic challengers have raised in months.
“I’m humbled by the outpouring of early support from our community,” Valentine said in a statement.
“As a first-time candidate for public office without a political organization or donor network, I’m grateful to friends, family, and neighbors who joined our movement and showed their enthusiasm for the ideas I will bring to the mayor’s office.”
Valentine said that his campaign “looks forward to releasing several policy initiatives and opening its headquarters on Bedford Street.”
“The people I’m speaking with across Stamford are crystal clear: they’re tired of the status quo and partisan divide,” he stated. "Our initial support was split almost evenly between Democrats, Republicans, and unaffiliated voters. As mayor, I will represent all the people of our community and build a team, like I’ve done all my life, to achieve real progress.”
Valentine, who spent a decade in the majors with five teams before transitioning to managing, famously took the New York Mets to the 2000 World Series, where they fell in five games to the cross-town Yankees. He was named the athletic director at Sacred Heart in Fairfield in 2013.
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