Isaac Yu Photo
Elicker: City now in “position of strength.”
A night after heralding a big win for the city on state aid, Mayor Justin Elicker won a resounding endorsement for his reelection from his neighbors in East Rock.
Both the Ward 9 and Ward 10 Democratic Committees unanimously endorsed incumbent Elicker on Thursday, the first wards to break for the mayor so far this election cycle (Ward 30 previously supported his challenger, Karen DuBois Walton.)
Together, the two wards encompass East Rock and parts of Cedar Hill and Fair Haven, and often turn out some of the larger contingents of voters among the city’s 30 wards on Election Day. Voting occurred outdoors at East Rock Park after a question-and-answer forum with Elicker, DuBois-Walton and Mayce Torres, who has also filed papers to run for mayor as a Democrat.
Elicker, who served as Ward 10’s alder for two terms from 2009 – 2013, applauded New Haven’s state delegation as well as his own staff for helping to pass a state budget that more than doubles the state’s payments in lieu of taxes to the city government for revenue lost on state-mandated exempt properties.
“We, as a team, collaboratively got something across the finish line that no administration has been able to do for two decades,” Elicker told attendees. “This is monumental and game-changing right here — and that was during a pandemic! We’re now in a position of strength, so imagine what we can do together post-Covid.”
The final tallies were 7 – 0‑0 for Ward 9 and 14 – 0‑0 for Ward 10. Town Clerk Michael Smart, Ward 9 Alder Charles Decker, and Ward 10 Alder Anna Festa also earned uncontested endorsements to continue their current roles.
These votes by ward committees offer an early indication of support for candidates around town among core members of the Democratic Party, which has a mayoral primary scheduled for Sept. 14. While the votes are nonbinding, they serve as guides for each ward’s two chairs, who will cast ballots to endorse candidates at a July party convention.
Elicker, Torres, and DuBois-Walton at endorsement session.
Even before results were announced, the mayor was clearly feeling comfortable in his home ward, noting that he had met his wife while planting flowers in the park. Still, he had to fend off a series of jabs from challengers Karen DuBois-Walton and Macye Torres. DuBois-Walton said that Elicker’s leadership and a $2 million cut to the police budget have led to “horrifically low” case closure rates and the “lowest morale” among officers in years. Meanwhile, her tenure at Housing Authority of New Haven/Elm City Communities demonstrates her crime-reducing leadership skills, she said.
“At the housing authority, we have done things that have made our communities tremendously more safe than when I inherited them,” DuBois-Walton said. “We have done that by investing in the communities, giving people decent housing, quality housing, and places that reflect to them that we value who they are.”
Torres, too, criticized the decreased police budget, saying that “defunding is a dangerous word.”
Decker and Festa among constituents.
Ward committee members also pressed the three mayoral candidates on a range of other tough issues, including public school reopenings and climate change. Ward 9’s Claudia Herrerra Martinez appeared to voice support for Elicker during a question. “It’s not easy to break 20 years of problems, and it’s not going to happen in two years during the pandemic!”
Committee leaders said they appreciated hearing from candidates.
“We’re blessed to have three really strong, human candidates,” Ward 10 co-chair Ken Suzuki. “All of them were so compelling.”
Co-chairs Kenya Adams-Martin (10), Sarah Locke (9), and Ken Suzuki (10)
"Politicians know what people want to hear and they also know how to look like they're doing something when they aren't."
Margaret Kimberley Black Agenda Report
These Democratic Committees are like train seals with the ball bouncing on there nose,Who are control by the crooked Democratic Political Machine.This is why we need proportional representation.