Carolina Proclaims ​“Victory”

An opponent’s commercial came over WYBC-FM just as Kermit Carolina prepared to exit his silver Lexus 470GX for his next primary election day stop. He stopped to listen — and concluded that however the votes add up at day’s end, his campaign has succeeded.

Toni Harp was speaking in the commercial. Carolina and Harp are two of the four candidates for mayor in Tuesday’s Democratic Party primary. Polls stay open until 8 p.m.

“No longer can we be a city of haves and have-nots,” Harp declared in the commercial.

“I said that at [a mayoral debate] at Metropolitan Business Academy!” Carolina remarked from the driver’s seat. ​“That’s the first time I’ve heard her say that!”

Carolina wasn’t complaining. He was celebrating.

As he and his campaign workers scurried to round up the vote Tuesday, they exuded a sense of accomplishment. The underdogs in the race, outspent by opponents, outpolled, out-endorsed, they knew they had an uphill climb to win the most votes. They climbed hard to get there. They gathered thousands of signatures to make the ballot, with some of the best-prepared paperwork submitted to the City Clerk’s Office. They had a full team of volunteers hitting every ward in the city Tuesday to reach voters they’d spent months campaigning.

Field Director Bethany Watkins (pictured at Dixwell Avenue campaign headquarters Tuesday simultaneously checking a ward-volunteers list, seeking clarification over the phone from the registrar of voters office about rules for campaign runners seeking updated data the polls, and updating Carolina) said she couldn’t sleep Monday night. ​“Not that I didn’t want to. Even the kids were up: ​‘Tomorrow’s election day!’ They didn’t even want to go to school.” (Did they go to school? ​“Of course they did,” Watkins said.)

“All we need is a three-pointer at the buzzer!” Carolina campaign social-media czar Marvin Towler told the candidate.

Three-pointers or no three-pointers, they felt their months of hard work had made a difference.

“We’ve already won. We’ve shaped the agenda moving forward for the city,” Carolina argued.

“That [Harp commercial] is an example of they influence we had, no matter what happens. She’s now talking about haves and have-nots.

“If nothing else comes out of this campaign, I’m very proud of putting real issues at the forefront — jobs for New Haven residents first, promoting a New Haven-first philosophy. If nothing else comes out of this,I want whoever is blessed enough to win — and I’m obviously praying it’s me — to champion jobs first” as well as seniors’ safety and a stable, predictable property-tax rate so people don’t lose their homes.

Carolina suited up for primary day — by slipping on his 2006 Hillhouse basketball ring. He got the ring the first time he coached the boys’ team to the championship, the school’s first title in 19 years at the time. ​“I only wear it for special occasions,” especially competitive occasions, he said, to remind him of the importance of teamwork, ​“vision, goals, work ethic, a supportive environment, and the power of belief.”

After checking in with key Westville supporters Anne Lozon and Bob Pellegrino at the Edgewood School polling spot, Carolina took a detour to ​“the House” — Hillhouse High, where he serves as principal. He technically took a personal day off from that job for primary election day. But he found himself arriving early at Hillhouse anyway to make the morning school announcements on the intercom. And now he pulled into the parking lot to check for a detour in on the crew.

Carolina walked the hallways faster than some athletes run the track, stopping for hugs from security guards and greetings of ​“Today’s the day!” and ​“You look like the mayor!”

He popped into Hillhouse’s third-floor ​“freshman academy” classes — and paused in the doorway to watch gifted math teacher Octavia Oliver inspire a class to tackle calculus by offering the big picture. The really big picture. (Click on the play arrow to watch a snippet.)

Carolina paused again in his first-floor office to consider a framed photo of the old Elm Haven public-housing high-rises, where his mother raised him. He pointed to his old sixth-floor apartment. (The projects were eventually demolished, replaced by the Monterey Homes development.)

At the Robinson/King Magnet School polling spot in Newhallville, Carolina ran into Joni Elicker, mother of one of Carolina’s four opponents, mayoral candidate Justin Elicker. Mom was out working the polls for her son.

“Can I get your vote?” Carolina ribbed her.

“I can’t vote here,” retorted Joni Elicker. ​“Otherwise I’d think about it.” That got her a hug.

Just then, by coincidence, Carolina received a text message from Justin Elicker, who was campaigning elsewhere in town. Earlier he had exchanged text messages with another mayoral candidate, Henry Fernandez. The three have developed a friendly relationship during the campaign; by contrast, the three have been at odds with the fourth candidate, Toni Harp.

“Good luck today Kerm,” Elicker wrote to Carolina.

“Just met your mom at King Robinson MS. I tried to convince her to vote for me but she said she’s still undecided. Lol!!!” Carolina thumb-texted back, moving along the mini-keyboard even faster than he walked the halls of Hillhouse. (He’s pictured alongside campaign aide and fellow texter Michael Jefferson.)

Back at headquarters Carolina stopped to put newly arrived magnet-signs on his Lexus.

He agreed to pose with Marie Morning, a retired sewing-machine operator who walked in for a ride to the polls.

Another woman approached Carolina as he returned to the Lexus.

“When you become mayor,” she said, ​“there’s one thing I want you to do” — turn on pink lights on the monument atop East Rock at night each October to mark breast cancer awareness month.

Carolina agreed, and asked for a promise in return: ​“Do me a favor. Once I’m in, come back to me. It’s a done deal — once you remind me.”

Driving off to the next stop, the candidate called the woman’s request ​“a great idea.”

“That’s an easy one,” he said.