Paul Bass Photos
SCSU poli sci major Corey Stone works the Harp table at Wednesday’s convention.
While her counterparts in Connecticut’s other top cities are waging bruising battles for reelection, Mayor Toni Harp won the Democratic Party’s unanimous endorsement for a second two-year term at a drama-free convention.
The convention took place Wednesday evening inside Career High School’s auditorium.
It marked a contrast to the hotly contested conventions and primary races shaping up for Bridgeport’s and Hartford’s incumbent Democratic mayors.
It also differed sharply from the New Haven Democratic convention that occurred two summers ago in the same hall. That year seven Democrats were running for the first open mayoral seat in 20 years. Harp (pictured above Wednesday night) won that contested convention and used the occasion to tell an uncharacteristically personal story as well as defend herself against criticisms from opponents.
Wednesday night she had no Democratic opponents. Town Chairman Vincent Mauro Jr. called for a simple voice vote.
The same was true of the party endorsement for city clerk. Michael Smart, who faced a spirited challenge for the seat two years ago from Sergio Rodriguez, also won the nod with a voice vote and no opponent.
A few contested races emerged for Board of Alders positions, but even there at least 23 of 30 of the endorsed candidates appear to be headed for no primaries and probably no general election opponent. A town committee endorsement guarantees a candidate party support and a spot on a primary ballot, if a primary occurs; otherwise it guarantees a spot on the general election ballot. Challengers can petition their way onto a primary ballot.
The one surprise moment came at the end of the two-hour convention, when a voice vote was required to endorse a nominee for one of the two new elected Board of Education positions. Supporters gave speeches on behalf of District 2 candidates Darnell Goldson (pictured tallying votes) and Nitza Diaz. Goldson won the nomination 16 – 6 with no abstentions. (Click here and here to read about the two candidates’ positions and backgrounds.) The convention also unanimously endorsed District 1 Board of Ed candidate Edward Joyner, who at this point has no opponent.
Harp’s endorsement reflected the growth in her support base since 2013’s divided election. Beaver Hills party ward co-chair Audrey Tyson, a solid Harp supporter from 2013, put Harp’s name into nomination Wednesday night …
… followed by Westville ward co-chair Mike Slattery, who had nominated Harp opponent Justin Elicker at the 2013 convention.
Slattery spoke of “the kind of leadership we wanted for ourselves” in 2013.
“We wanted honesty. We wanted a hard worker who champions progress over politics. And we wanted to see power extended to lift up our neighbors,” Slattery said.
In her first term, Harp “gave us the leadership we asked for,” he continued. “Issues and ideas are taken seriously, no matter who brings them to her attention. The mayor has drawn talented people from all corners to her administration. At all levels people are empowered to bring their best to innovate, to try, to measure, and try again to bring progress and prosperity to the city. The unselfish nature of this style of leadership is evident in powerful inter-departmental efforts such as finding our children fed lunch daily in clean public parks.”
In her acceptance speech, Harp reverted to her preferred first-person plural model.
She said New Haven, and the country, have accomplished a lot in the past two years, thanks to many people’s leadership and activism.
“We are united. And we are a force to be reckoned with,” she said of New Haven’s Democrats.
“Now is a good time to be a Democrat. We’ve won marriage equality. We’ve won health care for all. And we are leading the way with Connecticut’s second-chance society and a fair minimum wage.”
She noted that President Obama recently highlighted her administration’s YouthStat program aimed at keeping at-risk schoolkids on track. Obama spoke of how the program shows how “mayors … get things done.”
“With all due respect to President Obama, that’s not just what mayors do. That’s what Democrats do” — and volunteers, and activists, and teachers, and cops, and firefighters, Harp said.
Citing the civic booster motto of the moment, Harp declared that “we are making New Haven the greatest small city in America.”
“The city is moving forward,” she said. “Crime is down: Fewer gunshots and fewer young people lost to senseless violence. Instead, more of them are in school every day. More of them are passing their classes, and more of them are making their way to college and a better life. … More businesses are moving jobs back into New Haven — like Jordan’s Furniture on Long Wharf—and we’re building more small businesses here in our communities through programs like our New Small Business Development Office, right on Dixwell Avenue.”
Opinions were split at the convention on some alder races. In each ward two party co-chairs vote to nominate a candidate for alder; wards 1 (Yale), 14 (Fair Haven), and 22 (Dixwell) had either split votes or contested ward endorsement processes. Town Chair Mauro could have broken the tie for an endorsement in all three, but decided not to in Wards 1 and 14. That means Fish Stark and incumbent Sarah Eidelson will face each other in a Ward 1 primary with no endorsed candidate; the same with 14’s Thomas Burwell and incumbent Santiago Berrios-Bones. Mauro did break the tie in 22 in favor of incumbent Jeanette Morrison; Cordelia Thorpe, who is one of the co-chairs, had voted for herself.
Primaries may also loom in Beaver Hills’ Ward 28, where challenger Jill Marks (pictured above) won the endorsement over incumbent Claudette Robinson-Thorpe; in Fair Haven Heights’ Ward 11, where former Alder Robert Lee has filed papers to challenge endorsed incumbent Barbara Constantinople; Bishop Woods’ Ward 12, where retired cop and former Alder Gerald Antunes won the nomination Wednesday night to take on incumbent Richard Spears; and Newhallville’s Ward 20, where Teresa Gregory-Hines has taken out papers to challenge endorsed incumbent Delphine Clyburn.
Harp Campaign Manager Rick Melita at the convention.
Harp said Monday night she will support all incumbents, as well as endorsed candidates running for open seats.
The other alder candidates who won party endorsements Wednesday night are Dwight incumbent Frank Douglass (Ward 2), Hill incumbent Latrice James (3), Evelyn Rodriguez (4), David Reyes (5), Dolores Colon (6, City Point), Alberta Witherspoon (7, an open seat in downtown), Wooster Square incumbent Aaron Greenberg (8), East Rock incumbents Jessica Holmes (9) and Anna Festa (10), Fair Haven Heights incumbent Rosa Santana (13), Fair Haven incumbent Ernie Santiago (15), Joe Crespo (16, an open Fair Haven seat), Annex incumbent Alphonse Paolillo Jr (17), Morris Cove incumbent Sal DeCola (18), Newhallville incumbents Alfreda Edwards (19) and Brenda Foskey-Cyrus (21), West River incumbent and board President Tyisha Walker (23), Edgewood incumbent Evette Hamilton (24), Westville incumbents Adam Marchand (25) and Darryl Brackeen (26), Beaver HIlls incumbents Richard Furlow (27) and Brian Wingate (29), and West Hills incumbent Carlton Staggers (30).