Candidates Hit Streets For Final Pre-Primary Push

Elected officials from across Connecticut descended on Whalley Avenue to rally behind Mayor Justin Elicker, while Liam Brennan hit the doors in Westville to get out the vote for his mayoral challenger campaign — in a rush of political organizing in the final weekend before Tuesday’s Democratic primary elections.

On Saturday morning at Elicker’s reelection campaign headquarters at 506 Whalley Ave., officials including Gov. Ned Lamont, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, Attorney General William Tong, Treasurer Erick Russell, Comptroller Sean Scanlon, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, and State Sen. President Pro Tem Martin Looney endorsed Elicker in his bid for a third two-year term in office, praising him throughout for his leadership of the city during the Covid-19 pandemic. After the rally, local labor advocates joined Elicker and others in hitting the doors for the incumbent’s reelection run.

On Sunday morning, the Independent caught up with Brennan, a former federal prosecutor and legal aid attorney, as he walked door to door in Westville, trying to get the word out about his own mayoral challenger campaign in one of the city’s highest turnout wards. His campaign supporters did similar get-out-the-vote work in Newhallville and the Hill.

Tuesday’s Democratic primary election will see Elicker and Brennan square off on the ballot for mayor. There are six contested primaries for alder across the city, as well.

Whoever wins the mayoral primary on Tuesday will advance as the Democratic Party nominee to the Nov. 7 general election, where Elicker has already secured ballot access on the Working Families Party line and Tom Goldenberg on the Republican and Independent Party lines. Wendy Hamilton and Mayce Torres have also filed to run as unaffiliated candidates for mayor.

"This Is Not About Me. This Is About Us"

“New Haven is an essential leader of Connecticut, and Justin is an essential leader for New Haven,” Gov. Lamont said at Saturday’s rally. 

Praising him for his response to the Covid-19 pandemic and work at the state and federal levels, the politicians gathered Saturday urged New Haveners to show up for Elicker on Tuesday.

“Nobody knocks more or harder on our doors,” Blumenthal said. ​“Nobody is on the phone more asking for the help that New Haven deserves … Justin was working to save lives during the pandemic. That’s leadership.”

Bysiewicz and Russell also told supporters that Elicker was responsible for bringing hundreds of millions of dollars of state resources to schools, housing and city government over his two terms so far.

“He has made progress on every front during challenging times,” Russell, who is the first New Havener to hold statewide elected office in decades, said. ​“He has brought millions of dollars to Connecticut, increased PILOT funding for the city and increased Yale’s contribution by almost double.”

Attorney General Tong stated that Elicker’s knowledge of the New Haven community led him to announce a nationwide lawsuit against vape manufacturer Juul at Hillhouse High School. Tong joined 34 state attorneys general in the lawsuit, leading to a $438.5 million settlement last year.

“I started this with Mayor Elicker in New Haven because I knew how committed he is to the fight for the people of New Haven,” Tong said.

Thanking the officials at the event, Elicker told supporters that the endorsement reflected how important it is to work together, as a team, to effectively govern.

“This is not about me. This is about us,” Elicker said. ​“This is about listening to other people. It is about picking up the phone and saying: Hey, I need your support. This is about doing the work together as one.” 

Saturday’s show of unity was not lost upon Brennan, who characterized the rally to the Independent as a ​“show of force” and a ​“last-ditch effort to energize the incumbent’s campaign.”

“The mayor clearly sees momentum moving against him,” Brennan said. ​“We do too.”

Saturday’s rally on Whalley Avenue served a twofold purpose: not just as a show of support from top statewide Democrats, but also as an opportunity for the labor advocacy group New Haven Rising to ramp up its canvassing efforts on behalf of the incumbent mayor. 

With roughly 40 canvassers in attendance, New Haven Rising set off with members of Yale’s graduate student union, UNITE HERE Local 33, to support Elicker, as well as with incumbent Dixwell Alder Jeanette Morrison and Newhallville alder hopeful Brittiany Mabery-Niblack.

As they got ready to set off, state leaders came by to thank them for their support. 

“Democracy is not a spectator sport, so thank you all for spending your Saturday canvassing for these folks,” Lamont told the group.

"Traffic Calming = A Big Deal"

As the grey skies opened up and rain came pouring down over Westville at around noon on Sunday, Brennan walked door to door up West Rock Avenue from Edgewood, making a closing pitch to registered Democrats as to why they should come out and vote for him on Tuesday.

Brennan planned to spend all afternoon out in Ward 25, one of the highest turnout wards in the city, knocking doors and talking to voters. He said his campaign had get-out-the-vote crews knocking doors in Newhallville and the Hill as well on Sunday. At 5 p.m., he planned to convene with his team for a ​“poll stander” training session regarding, for example, how state law requires that campaigners remain at least 75 feet away from a polling place’s entrance on primary day.

The first West Rock Avenue door that Brennan knocked on Sunday was opened by Ben Hein, an engineer at Sikorsky Aircraft.
Hein told Brennan that at the top of his mind this primary season is the ​“general irresponsibility of drivers in New Haven. People have been running red lights and stop signs” all over town, for way too long.

Hein said he loves to bike around the city, and he appreciates the bike lanes like the half-finished Edgewood Avenue cycletrack. But he still finds that all too often his and other cyclists’ and pedestrians’ lives are put at risk by reckless drivers.
Brennan agreed. ​“Investing in traffic calming is a big deal,” he said, and a policy he would prioritize if elected mayor. 

He said he’s been hit by cars not once but twice while on his bicycle on Edgewood Avenue. And he noted the frustration that he and many other cyclists have that the bike lane has taken so many years to finish … and the stretch east of Winthrop still hasn’t been painted as the city waits for remaining traffic light supplies to arrive.

Hein said that two neighbors of his are from Seattle, a city with more built-out bike lanes. Some of their first observations about New Haven’s bike lanes were that ​“there’s no hard barriers” protecting cycle areas from the roadway. New Haven needs to do better.

“I love New Haven,” he added. The city ​“just needs little tweaks here and there” to be an even better place to live.

Overall, Hein concluded, he appreciates Brennan has centered his campaign on ​“addressing inequality.” Brennan asked if he could count on Hein’s vote come primary day on Tuesday. Hein said yes.

Brennan got another boost of support next door, as Cyd Oppenheimer — taking shelter from the rain with her daughter Anna — said she too would be supporting the fellow former legal aid attorney on Tuesday.

Farther up West Rock Avenue, Tim Dagradi, a program director at Citizens Television on State Street, opened the door and asked Brennan to remind him who he is and how he’s different from the current mayor.

“I think our city lacks vision and the management skills” needed to accomplish the mayor’s goals, Brennan said. ​“I think we have a housing crisis” and need to overhaul New Haven’s zoning code, which ​“dates back to the Kennedy era,” to promote more, denser residential development.

Dagradi noted that there a lot of new apartments have been built downtown. But all of that appears to be ​“luxury” housing with swimming pools, he said. He fretted that ​“you’ve got to be low [income], you’ve got to be high [income]” in order to find a place to live that you can afford in New Haven. ​“If you’re in the middle,” good luck.

“We have to make it possible to build naturally affordable housing,” Brennan said, and not just ​“Texas donut”-style luxury apartments downtown. On the schools front, Brennan said, the city needs to push for universal pre‑K.

“If we don’t state it as a goal … we’re never going to get there accidentally,” he said.

Dagradi said he has sympathy for Elicker: ​“He came in at a weird time with the pandemic.” He marveled at how many challenges New Haven faces, from housing affordability to unsafe roads to unequal schools. ​“I don’t know how one man can” address all of those issues, he said.

Brennan said that work has to start with clearly defined goals and management skills necessary to make them a reality. Dagradi thanked him for coming to his door, and said he’d consider voting for him come Tuesday.