Laughter In A Landslide

Yale rising senior Norah Laughter secured a unanimous advisory endorsement for alder Sunday afternoon from the four people who voted at an online-only Ward 1 Democratic Town Committee meeting.

The vote does not guarantee that Laughter will be the Democratic Party’s endorsed candidate for alder in September’s primary, however.

Rather, Laughter and the three Yalies running for the aldermanic seat currently held by incumbent Democrat Kiana Flores will still have to petition their ways onto the primary ballot.

Laughter, a rising senior at Yale College and co-chair of the Ward 1 Democratic Town Committee (DTC), won the vote following a virtual candidate forum held over Zoom. During the meeting, she, Elias Theodore, and Rhea McTiernan Huge shared their visions for the ward and the city. Jake Siesel, the fourth declared candidate in the race, was not present at Sunday’s session.

The advisory vote – cast anonymously by four eligible committee members – does not determine who appears on the ballot, but it reflects early enthusiasm among ward-level party leaders for Laughter’s campaign. 

“I came to Yale from a small town in Kentucky, raised by public school workers, shaped by a community hit hard by corporate greed and right-wing politics,” Laughter said during her five-minute speech, emphasizing a campaign grounded in student-worker solidarity, city-wide coalition building, and a long-term commitment to New Haven. ​“I’ve seen how broken systems fail people — and how they can be reshaped when we organize together.”

The meeting began with procedural reminders from city Democratic Town Committee Chair Vincent Mauro and current Ward 1 Alder Kiana Flores, who helped facilitate the session and also serves as Ward 1 co-chair. Both reaffirmed the advisory nature of the vote and emphasized that all candidates must gather petition signatures starting July 23 to qualify for the Democratic primary ballot.

Candidates in the 2025 municipal elections must secure party endorsements between July 15 and July 22, with endorsements certified by July 23. The deadline to file both nominating and primary petitions is August 6. The Democratic primary will take place on September 9.

Mauro praised the committee’s effort to conduct a transparent process and reflected on the importance of student leadership in the ward. ​“The importance of a student Ward 1 alder has always been something we try to protect,” Mauro said. ​“And this year is no different.”

The four committee members who cast votes were Salma Laraki, Madeline Pitre, Avani Mehta, and Ashley Sottosanti.

In a follow-up interview, Flores clarified that the vote was advisory due to the limited and unrepresentative makeup of the current Ward 1 committee. Both she and Mauro emphasized that all candidates will need to collect petition signatures to officially appear on the Democratic primary ballot. That process will require each candidate to gather signatures from at least 5 percent of registered Democrats in the ward.

“The list that we have for the Ward Committee was very short and not representative of the entire ward,” she told the Independent. ​“There were only a couple of people in Pierson College and all of them were very close to Norah and so we didn’t think it would be fair to have everyone sort of trying to fight for the endorsement.”

Instead, she explained, the committee opted to require all candidates to qualify via petition. ​“That way everyone is just on the ballot,” she said. ​“But we decided to have the advisory vote anyway just so people knew how the advisory committee voted.”

Laughter used the forum to reaffirm her commitment to grassroots organizing and long-term engagement in New Haven. ​“Engagement has to be concrete to be effective,” she said. ​“I’ve brought back that understanding into one-on-one conversations with students who want to engage but don’t know where to start.”

She also confirmed plans to remain in New Haven after graduation and is the only rising senior in a race otherwise composed of rising juniors.

“I think that would be a very valuable perspective, and Id be able to engage more with residents in the ward who are full-time residents and workers,” she said, noting that she would be actively searching for a full-time job and housing in New Haven.

Two other candidates, Elias Theodore and Rhea McTiernan Huge, also participated in Sunday’s forum and delivered passionate pitches focused on bridging Yale and New Haven communities.

Theodore, a rising junior majoring in Urban Studies and a lifelong New Haven resident, highlighted the upcoming expiration of Yale’s voluntary payment (or ​“pilot”) agreement with the city in 2026. He also advocated for affordable housing reforms, small business support, and stronger investment in New Haven public schools. 

“This is the place I grew up and the school I go to now,” he said. ​“I want to work with Yale to make downtown feel welcoming to all.”

McTiernan Huge, a rising junior studying Environmental Studies, drew on her background growing up in Wooster Square and attending Wilbur Cross High School. She emphasized Yale students’ civic responsibility and addressed issues in education and immigration policy.

“Ward 1 is uniquely positioned in that its constituents are usually college students who may not see New Haven as their hometown, but who nonetheless likely have a huge impact on it,” she said. ​“By activating the broad civic engagement of Yale students, I hope to co-create a Ward that cares deeply about the welfare of New Haven and works towards bettering it.”

Despite the results of Sunday’s vote, the DTC reaffirmed that all four declared candidates — including Jake Siesel —will need to collect petition signatures to appear on the ballot. Petitioning opens July 23. McTiernan Huge, Theodore, and Siesel all told the Independent that they plan to petition despite the endorsement.

“Everyone deserves a fair chance,” Mauro said. ​“It is the most democratic way to do it.”

With four Yale undergraduates vying for the seat, the race is shaping up to be one of the most competitive in recent memory. Incumbent Flores, who has endorsed McTiernan Huge, is not seeking re-election. Still, Sunday’s vote suggests momentum may be building behind Laughter’s campaign.

“Given the clarity of this result, as a cochair I will not vote for any candidate at the upcoming convention,” Laughter wrote in a statement to the Independent. ​“I believe it’s unnecessary to seek the additional endorsement at this stage. It will be valuable for myself and all candidates to participate in the petition process and qualify for the ballot based on community support. This approach keeps the process open and focused on the voters, where it belongs.”