Hamden Dems Endorse Baez For Mayor

Hamden Legislative Council President Dominique Baez won the Democratic Party’s endorsement for mayor Tuesday night as a three-week sprint got underway for a crowded field of challengers to qualify for a primary ballot.

That endorsement vote took place Tuesday night at a Hamden Democratic Town Committee convention held at Miller Memorial Library.

Baez won a majority of votes of the convention’s 63 delegates on the first round. Her name will appear on Line A of the Sept. 9 primary ballot.

“I pitched a vision of a better and a bigger and a happier Hamden. We have to do it together. We cannot do it alone,” Baez said in remarks to the convention following the vote. She said afterwards that her next step is growing her campaign team: ​“We’re gonna get a big table.”

Hamden, which has less than half the population of New Haven, has six times as many Democrats running for mayor this year. The candidates vying for the party’s nomination in a September primary include Council President Baez, former Board of Education chair and Keefe Center manager and mayoral Chief of Staff Adam Sendroff; businesswoman Jameka Jeffries, Board of Ed Finance Chair Walter Morton, Democratic Registrar of Voters Lushonda ​“Shon” Howard, and attorney Peter Cyr, who also ran for mayor in 2021.

A last-minute surprise was the placing into nomination the name of former Legislative Council member and 2021 mayoral candidate Brad Macdowall, who hadn’t previously been known to be running. Macdowell said after the vote, however, that he is not seeking the mayoralty and will not be petitioning to get his name on the ballot.

The incumbent mayor, Democrat Lauren Garrett, is not running for reelection. (She said Tuesday night she has not yet decided whom to support.) Jonathan Katz, a 24-year-old paralegal, is seeking the Republican mayoral nomination.

Baez received 39 votes, with Howard capturing 11, Macdowall 4, and Cyr 3.

Several of the candidates, while showing up for the convention, did not have their names put into nomination for the endorsement, preparing instead to petition their way onto the primary ballot.

Hamden State Rep. Joshua Elliott, who is challenging fellow Democrat Gov. Ned Lamont for the party’s 2026 gubernatorial nomination, called the crowded field of mayoral candidates ​“an example of strong democracy in action” as people nationwide step up in response to the national political climate.

“We are seeing a government run by people who don’t believe in government, Elliott said. ​“That presents an opportunity for those who do believe that government can do good in people’s lives. The solution to better government isn’t to abandon it; it’s to support it.”

State Rep. Laurie Sweet agreed the busy race augurs well for town democracy: ​“Hamden likes to show out.”

Common Theme: Building The Tax Base

The library auditorium buzzed with energy as delegates and campaign supporters filed in before 7 p.m. and began schmoozing with the candidates.

To win the party’s endorsement, a candidate needed to win a majority of votes from among the 63 delegates; a ranked-choice system was in place in case that required multiple rounds.

Everyone else will need to collect around 1,000 signatures of registered Democrats in town over the next three weeks to qualify for the Sept. 9 primary ballot.

Some of the candidates, like Sendroff and Morton, said they were already focused on the petition process rather than seeking to win Tuesday night’s vote, and did not have anyone put their names into consideration.

The clear winner in the campaign-sign turnout was Jeffries, with a flood of supporters carrying signs in an echo of her ubiquitous law signs around town.

Hovering over the race is Hamden’s precarious finances, leading to a battle over approval of this year’s budget and outrage over continually rising taxes amid the latest town-wide property revaluation

In conversations before the vote, the candidates all stressed the need to build the town’s tax base. They embraced a vision of more mixed-use development, with buildings housing stores on the first floor with apartments above. Jeffries spoke of tapping into the town’s four universities for help and promoting tourism at Lake Wintergreen and Sleeping Giant.

The town has struggled to grow its commercial base in particular. Candidates were asked if they would support rezoning Dixwell to allow for more apartment building construction amid the stretches of retail stores. Their responses:

• Baez: Interested in conversations on the subject. Focused overall on as much building as possible, given that the council has already cut all it can from the budget. 

• Jeffries: Open to it, but first wants to look at traffic-calming measures.

• Morton: Fully supports it. As a young millennial with a new family, he said housing and affordability are top of mind for him.

• Howard: Envisions promoting mixed-use development in lower Hamden to give it a ​“Westville feel.”

• Cyr: Supports rezoning, and is focused more on residential than on commercial building.

• Sendroff: ​“Not opposed to it” but overall looks to emphasize building density with more ​“vertical” development, along with bringing more ​“fresh food in lower Dixwell” and ​“controlling the proliferation of smoke shops in Hamden.”

Local activist Dan Garrett injected a moment of surprise by nominating Macdowall, who it turns out is not trying to become mayor. After endorsing him, Garrett attacked Democratic federal legislators (“disgusting human beings”) for not protecting Gazans being killed by Israel.