I know what you’re thinking. “Why, Jazz? Why? Why am I seeing this article on an otherwise pleasant Saturday morning?” Hey, I don’t make the news, folks. I just report on it and comment. And did you really think I could pass up a headline like that? With that said, I suppose we should find out what’s going on here.

The Granite State is known for attracting all manner of rugged individualists who don’t follow all of the conventional rules of political engagement. That seems to be particularly true in the race to become the next Cheshire County Sheriff. They just finished tallying up all the votes in the primary this week and the Republican nominee for the position was determined to be Aria DiMezzo. (Candidate website) To say that DiMezzo isn’t your typical Republican would be something of an understatement, even by New Hampshire standards. The candidate is not only transgender but is a self-described anarchist who ran on the simple, three-word campaign slogan, “F*** the police.” Oh, and he’s also a worshiper of Satan. Shockingly, DiMezzo says that neither the county nor state Republican parties have been offering much in the way of support for this candidacy. (Inside Sources)

New Hampshire’s first trans, anarchist, Satanic candidate for county sheriff says she’s not getting a lot of support from the Republican Party.

“I can’t imagine they’re happy about this,” said Aria DiMezzo.

DiMezzo, who is running as a Republican with the campaign slogan “F*** the Police,” said Friday she hasn’t had any help or support for the county or state GOP. DiMezzo won the Republican nomination for Cheshire County Sheriff Tuesday night running unopposed in the primary. She’ll now square off with popular incumbent Democrat Eli Rivera, who is running for his fifth term.

Marylin Huston, Cheshire County GOP chair, congratulated her on her victory. Huston consistently referred to DiMezzo as “he” during the interview, despite the candidate identifying as female.

Huston, the county Republican chair, was willing to congratulate DiMezzo and say “He did very well with the primary,” going on to say that it was “wonderful.” But there was no mention of any funding forthcoming to assist the candidate in the general election.

As it turns out, it appears that DiMezzo might not even be a Republican, but only ran as one because of the challenges associated with getting a Libertarian on the ticket. He didn’t attend any of the party meetings or candidate events, despite having been invited by the chairwoman. It’s not even clear if DiMezzo did any actual campaigning aside from social media and a couple of internet radio appearances.

So how did he win? Well, the current incumbent is a five-term Democrat by the name of Eli Rivera and is considered such a shoe-in for another term that nobody else even bothered to put their name on the ballot. So the odds of seeing a Sheriff DiMezzo next year are, shall we say… slim. Contacted for a comment on his runaway victory, the newly minted candidate offered the following statement”

“I shouldn’t have won this freaking primary. I should have gotten crushed.”

So is there some lesson to take away from all of this? Perhaps. If you’re involved in politics at the local level, even in a casual way, you should probably make sure to put someone’s name on the ballot even if your party is vastly in the minority. It generally doesn’t cost all that much to register for local races and you don’t even need that many signatures. (It looks like you only need 150 to run for sheriff there and a couple of people should be able to collect that many in a day or two tops.) If you can’t find someone else to do it, put your own hat in the ring.

A failure to do so leaves the door open for God only knows who to wind up as your nominee. You could easily end up with another Vermin Supreme. In the case of Cheshire County, they’ve chosen a nominee who, as the county GOP chair described things, has values that “do not fall in line with the Republican message.”

That’s putting it rather charitably. You can catch DiMezzo in action during a radio spot in this YouTube video.