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North Haven Village. FILE PHOTO
When Trustee Chris Fiore entered the fray and the field of mayoral candidates in North Haven expanded from the usual one to two late last month, Village Trustee Claas Abraham made a change.
He decided to run for reelection as an independent instead of mayoral candidate Terie Diat’s running mate on her Community Vision Party ticket.
Diat, also a trustee, announced her candidacy with Abraham on her ticket on March 24, the day after Mayor Jeff Sander announced he would not seek a fifth two-year term in the June 21 village election.
It is rare in North Haven’s recent history for a mayoral candidate to face an opponent — Sander never had a challenger for the job, except for one write-in vote in 2020.
Fiore announced he would run for mayor on March 28 with veteran Deputy Mayor and Trustee Dianne Skilbred as his running mate on the North Haven Party line, on which Sander ran.
It was reported in a previous story that Diat and Abraham would run together. That story was out of sync with Abraham’s decision, which had been made but hadn’t been announced.
“I had initially intended to run with Terie as per her announcement,” Abraham wrote in an email on April 1, after having called the paper to disclose the change soon after the story appeared. “However, as Chris subsequently announced his run for mayor as well, I decided it would be best for me to run as an independent candidate.
“I enjoyed working with both since I was appointed in July 2021, and so it was my decision to stay neutral in this race by deciding to become an independent candidate.”
Asked for comment, Diat wrote in an email on April 3, “Claas has been a valuable and hard-working member of the Village Board … I support his candidacy for trustee no matter which party he chooses to run on, as he will continue to serve the residents of North Haven well, if elected.”
Other candidates may emerge in the mayoral race or for the two trustee seats that will be decided in the election. Nominating petitions may be filed with the village clerk until May 17.
Abraham was appointed trustee last summer to fill the seat vacated by David Saskas, who resigned because he was moving out of the village.
