Thomas Breen file photo
Elicker: "I'm a big believer in public financing."
Mayor Justin Elicker’s reelection campaign is slated to receive $28,290 in matching funds, now that his campaign has submitted to the city’s clean-elections public financing program 491 qualifying contributions from 451 different New Haven donors.
The board of directors for that two-decade-old program, the Democracy Fund, will meet on Wednesday night for its latest monthly meeting. On the agenda for discussion is the matching funds disbursement for Elicker, a three-term incumbent Democrat seeking another two years in office.
Elicker is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination for mayor. He faces a challenge from Republican candidate Steve Orosco. Both are scheduled to appear on the general election ballot for mayor on Nov. 4.
Elicker has participated in the Democracy Fund — a pioneering program designed to limit the influence of large-dollar donations in mayoral elections in New Haven — every year he’s run for mayor, in 2013, 2019, 2021, 2023, and now again in 2025.
According to this mayoral race’s most recent campaign finance reports, as of June 30, Elicker’s reelection campaign had raised a total of $139,410, while Orosco’s campaign had raised a total of $6,595.
Democracy Fund Administrator Aly Heimer told the Independent in a phone interview Wednesday that the fund’s board does not need to vote on the matching funds disbursement Wednesday night. Instead, it’s within her power as the fund’s administrator to disburse that public money once she’s deemed that the campaign has qualified for it. And she’s now done exactly that.
Heimer said that Elicker’s campaign submitted a total of 716 contributions for review. She said she verified and approved matching funds for 491 qualifying contributions from 451 different donors.
In order to qualify for matching funds, she noted, a campaign needs to raise at least 200 contributions from registered New Haven voters who have given between $5 and $400 apiece. Elicker has met that threshold.
She said that a campaign also needs to raise at least $5,000 in total in order to receive matching funds. Elicker has done that, too.
The Democracy Fund matches qualifying contributions at a rate of two-to-one up to $35. That means that Elicker will receive a total of $70 for every $35 he raises from New Haven donors who give more than $5 and less than $400 in total.
“It should be cut and dispersed following the meeting tonight,” Heimer said about these $28,290 in matching funds.
Going forward, she said, now that Elicker has qualified for an initial round of matching funds, he’s eligible to apply for matching funds for new contributions every time he raises at least $1,000 in qualifying, match-able contributions.
That’s not all.
By qualifying for the Democracy Fund program this election cycle, Elicker is also now eligible to receive a one-time, $25,000 public financing campaign grant. That money won’t be disbursed until after the Sept. 9 primary. Heimer said his campaign should receive that $25,000 grant by the third week of September.
“I’m a big believer in public financing,” Elicker told the Independent in a phone interview Wednesday, and he’s “proud to have participated [in the Democracy Fund] every time I’ve run for mayor. The face that we have so many donors from New Haven indicates that people are excited” about the direction of the city under his leadership.
Orosco has previously told the Independent that he’s not participating in the Democracy Fund because he he does not want to use city taxpayer funds to help finance his campaign.
Elicker said that his campaign, which began last December, does not yet have a campaign manager. He said he’s interviewing candidates now. “Given that it was a quiet primary, we wanted to make sure that we were using our funding efficiently.” He said he expects to have a campaign manager in the post-primary runup to the general election.
Registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans in New Haven by more than 10 to 1, and every local elected office is currently held by a Democrat. A Republican hasn’t won a New Haven mayoral election since 1953.
The Democracy Fund is governed by a seven-member, citizen-led board consisting of two Republicans, two unaffiliated voters, and one Democrat, with two positions open for people from any political party. Anyone who is interested can apply online here.