Republican Town Chairman Richter Elser Tuesday vowed to find a last-minute replacement for incumbent Morris Cove Alderwoman Arlene DePino on November’s election ballot — and therefore field at least a single candidate for office this year.
DePino filed papers with the City Clerk’s Office withdrawing her name from the November ballot.
She is the only Republican on New Haven’s 30-member Board of Aldermen. She is the only Republican elected to office in New Haven, period.
And get this: She was the only Republican running for office this year. For alderman. For mayor. For anything.
Now there are none.
Registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans 18 to 1 in New Haven. As of July 11, the city had 41,851 registered Democrats, 2,371 registered Republicans, 15,595 unaffiliated voters, and 336 supporters of other parties.
The Republicans last elected a New Haven mayor in 1951.
Elser said he plans to convene a meeting of the Republican Town Committee’s vacancy committee to seek a last-minute candidate to fill in for DePino. Republicans still have weeks to do so; Elser wasn’t sure of the deadline.
He acknowledged that the news reflects the party’s decline.
He sought to put that point in perspective.
“Bridgeport beat us to the punch of having no elected Republicans,” Richter said.
“It’s further evidence of how parties in general are deteriorating. The Republicans may have lost their relevance in local politics first. The Democrats have stayed relevant because for a long time they were the source of, shall we say, patronage-connected jobs. In the last several cycles we are now able to see a divergence of the interests of the Democratic Party with the interests of organized labor. While people will point fingers at the Republicans — they have dwindled to the point of irrelevance — I’m not sure the Democrats are so far behind us. The growing parties in the state are independent and unaffiliated voters. They need to realize that they’re not a party.”
Wow big news! Maybe Linda McMahon will give the local party a few bucks to field a candidate?
All jokes aside Rick said it well that there is a general decline in party politics and we are now seeing a rise in special interest groups running candidates and running entire elections. This also (unfortunately) further stratifies the country.
I don't like the Tea Party tactics nor do I like the UNITE HERE tactics (really the same tactics). They are divisive and tend to kick out moderate candidates from both parties.
Not good - I think we need a new party to rise up on a national level and excite people once again.