Jamber again wins backing from Trinton's NAT in governor's race

VENLAY, Tri. -- Trinton's governor's race will feature two repeat candidates this year.

Last week, multi-millionaire businessman and real estate investor Jim Valoix won the Conservative Party's nomination for governor.

Valoix, from Port Alice, has sought the governorship three times in the past. This will be his fourth run for governor since 2012, and the second time he's successfully secured his party's nomination.

Just today, Trinton Secretary of State Adrianne Rodgers (N) released official results in the NAT contest for governor.

Coming out on top was Assemblyman Tom Jamber, who represents the North Shore area of central Trinton, including the state capitol Cristo Colonado and the northern edge of Williamstown.

Jamber won the six-way race with just 21.49%, respectively. 

In second place was former Gov. Mark De Auonne, who was seeking a comeback. De Auonne received 18.80%, while real estate mogul and labor activist Frank Broussard from north Williamstown came in third place with 17.83%, and state Rep. Colin Costello from Keyport in Williamstown's southeast came in fourth with 17.81%, respectively.

Federal prosecutor Kathy Kemmell of north-central Williamstown ended the race with 15.91%, while state Sen. Christy Lindner of Lamont received just over eight percent.

Lindner had previously said she would drop out of the race, but changed her mind and decided to continue on, despite poll numbers showing her headed for last place.

According to Trinton law, a candidate must only win a simple plurality of the votes in the state primary election in order to advance to the general election.

Thus, Tom Jamber, who was the NAT's unsuccessful nominee in 2020, will take up his party's torch again this year, and make a second attempt at the governorship.

The liberal assemblyman is well-liked by the state NAT's party leaders. Jamber has a strongly-liberal voting record, though he is not as liberal as other Trinton politicians, such as federal Sen. Dorothy Grischaltz or Grace Kemp.

Jamber starts the general election race with an inherent advantage, since Trinton is an NAT-leaning state.

The state's liberal bent will make it harder for Jim Valoix to chart a path to the governor's mansion in Cristo Colonado.

But while Jamber starts with an advantage, it won't be a cake-walk for him.

Polls show Trintonians of all political stripes are fed up with rampant crime in the state's largest cities.

Traffic congestion along the A-1 corridor is also something Trinton voters across the political spectrum agree needs to be addressed. 

Jamber has vowed to sharply increase spending on public transportation, including light rail and ferry services to the state's hundreds of islands.

He's also promised to revamp the state's education system, to increase climate change mitigation programs, and to protect LGBTQ+ rights.

"We are facing an extremist Conservative candidate in Jim Valoix," said Jamber at a victory rally at Omberto's Bar and Grill, in northeast Williamstown. "We can either go backwards on women's rights, on LGBTQ rights, on climate change, on education, on urban sprawl, etc. Or we can go forward. And put the past behind us, and a bright future ahead of us," he said, as his supporters cheered.

Jim Valoix posted on his social media accounts that he called Jamber to congratulate him on winning the NAT's nomination.

"Now that both parties have chosen their nominees, it's time for us to show voters the very different policy positions and ideas both candidates have. One of us wants to lower taxes, wants to build more houses to bring down the cost of housing, wants to build more roads and trains so people don't get stuck in traffic, wants to give parents the power in their child's education, wants to end homelessness in Trinton and fight fentanyl; and the other candidate wants to just listen to Mavocke and take orders from Chris Kinoelke and Jenna Duvan. The voters of Trinton are smart and they will make the right choice in December," wrote Valoix.

Dr. Kerry Rudgeley, director of the Edinough School of Government at Dulkalow University, currently rates the Trinton governor's race as "NAT-favored."