As you might deduce from the above, Brian Judd can’t take a hint. The Barre Republican is raising the concept of “perpetual candidate” to heights unimagined by the likes of Cris Ericson or H. Brooke Paige.

Even as Judd was already running for House, it was only last week that his 2021 run for city council finally sputtered to its heat death.

Yes, Twenty-twenty-one. He dragged it out for fourteen months.

In that election, Judd challenged incumbent Democrat Teddy Waszazak and lost by a wide margin, too wide for Judd to demand a recount. Which he did anyway. And was rightfully refused.

That wasn’t enough for Judd, who filed suit against the city citing irregularities of some sort. Maybe chicanery as well. Possibly even skulduggery. It was kind of a “throw the spaghetti against the wall and see if anything sticks” legal strategy. And of course, Judd represented himself in court.

Fool for a client.

While the suit wended its way through the courts, Judd losing at every turn, City Clerk Carol Dawes preserved all the ballots.

In March of this year, almost exactly one year after the election, the state Supreme Court dismissed Judd’s case in “an unambiguous opinion that barely needed a fourth page,” according to the Times Argus.

But getting depantsed in court didn’t stop Brian Judd, nosirree. He filed a public records request for the ballots, which was granted in due course. In fact, Dawes noted that Judd could have simply filed the request a year ago and gotten his hands on the ballots right away.

Fool for a client.

Last Thursday, per the Times Argus, Judd and “some friends” got to do their recount as Dawes looked on. The result: Judd’s unofficial count differed by a single vote from the officlal tally. Dawes believes the official count is the accurate one, because Judd and Budds were a little sloppy with how they counted ballots.

Case closed, as Howard the Duck would say.

We don’t know if Judd has accepted the grim reality or not because the Argus couldn’t reach him by press time.

Which is his pattern. Earlier this week, the paper published the customary profile of the Republican primary race in the two-seat Barre House district. (Which hasn’t elected a Republican since the district was reapportioned in 2012, but hope springs eternal.) Judd didn’t participate in the story despite “repeated attempts to reach” him. But the Argus had plenty of material nonetheless:

While repeated attempts to reach Brian Judd to talk about his candidacy were unsuccessful, he is a known commodity in the community where he was born and raised and has made headlines since he returned in 2019 after spending 25 years in California.

“Known commodity” is the journalistic way of saying “extremist nimrod who never shuts up.” Judd’s Facebook page gives you a good idea of his predilections. I’ve dredged that swamp before, and have no desire to repeat the experience.

The other two Republicans in the race seem to be respectable figures: sitting city councilor Michael Deering and former Washington County state’s attorney Tom Kelly. The Argus has heard that Judd is “campaigning hard,” although he has yet to file a single campaign finance report. He’s either ignoring the law (quite possible) or he has yet to raise or spend $500.

So, despite his reputed hard work, Judd is likely doomed to defeat. Again. After which he’ll probably start yammering about irregularities and/or conspiracies (DOMINION!!!!) and request a recount, once again finding his place in the circle of life.

I honestly don’t know why this guy keeps beating his head against the wall, especially when he believes the wall is rigged against him. But beat he does, and will likely persist. Look out, Teddy, I expect he’ll be coming for you again in 2023.

Fool for a campaign manager.