New Haven’s newest state representative invited his former campaign manager to a backyard barbecue — to turn around and back her in her own race against the city’s Democratic machine in one of the season’s hardest-fought political races.
State Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield, a Democrat from the 94th District, held the event, a campaign fund-raiser, Saturday for Lisa Hopkins. Hopkins is trying for a third time to win the Ward 22 aldermanic seat in a Democratic primary in the Dixwell neighborhood. (The ward runs from the northwest edge of downtown along Dixwell Avenue through the Dixwell Plaza and Monterey Homes to the edge of Newhallville.)
Hopkins is running against the same person she faced the last two times — City-Hall backed incumbent Democrat Greg Morehead.
State Rep. Holder-Winfield represents the 94th General Assembly District, which includes Dixwell. Hopkins ran Holder-Winfield’s insurgent campaign for the seat last year.
About 25 neighbors and supporters turned out to Holder-Winfield’s backyard on Winchester Avenue for the Saturday event. Holder-Winfield said he wasn’t endorsing Hopkins as a return favor, but rather as an attempt to improve communication between two overlapping constituencies: city and state political districts.
“A lot of times people aren’t 100 percent sure what each office does, so they’ll come to me for things that should be taken to the alderperson, just like they’ll be going to the alderpeople for things they should be taking to us,” Holder-Winfield said.
“If we have a fluid communication, I think it’s just better for the people who are being served,” he said. “I think it’s important for people as they think about electing a person to think about that relationship and how it benefits that district and the city as a whole.”
“I would never support somebody” just as a political favor, he said. He said Hopkin’s persistence as a candidate shows the kind of commitment the ward needs.
“In New Haven, you tend to see people run for office, fail, and disappear,” he said. “Lisa has run and failed, run and failed, and she’s still here, which speaks to her commitment to doing the job.”
Heaven Sent For Teens, Seniors
This time around, in her third bid against a candidate who lives on the same street as she does (Frances Hunter Drive), Hopkins said she hopes that commitment pays off. She said she would apply grassroots strategies honed in her previous runs and through her management of Holder-Winfield’s campaign.
“I think along the way I’ve learned a lot that has been able to actually strengthen my platform and my ability to really engage people,” she said.
Among the lessons of Holder-Winfield’s campaign, she said, was the importance of engaging community young people, an effort now spearheaded by Hopkins’ 14-year-old daughter Heaven Hopkins (at right in photo).
Heaven said the campaign is focusing on issues relating to both young people and seniors, “core groups” who share common ground on some issues.
“We’ve had conversations with seniors about our issues, and we found that a lot of our issues were the same as the seniors’,” Heaven said, “because sometimes we’re overshadowed and sometimes seniors are overshadowed also.”
Just as young people may often feel disenfranchised from the political process, Hopkins said, seniors in the ward are finding themselves increasingly cut off from services.
“With the budget cuts and the closing of three senior centers, that impact has really struck a chord with seniors,” she said, “and a lot of their services and resources aren’t as accessible right now, so that’s a big issue.”
Among supporters at the gathering, the issue of independent voices in City Hall was a common point of concern. Jeffrey Kerekes, who attended the event with his wife, said the city still has “a little too much machine politics.” He expressed hope that although Hopkins, like her opponent, incumbent Alderman Morehead, is a Democrat, she would nonetheless be able to serve as “an independent voice to provide more checks and balances” in city government.
Gary Doyens, of New Haven Citizens Action Network (of which Hopkins is a member), agreed. “I think we need independent voices on the Board of Aldermen, and currently we have far too few. I think she’s going to bring a kind of fresh, honest view.”
Using her experience as a community organizer, Hopkins said she would attempt to actively engage constituents and give them a voice in the political process at it happened.
“People want to be involved in the process,” she said. “They don’t want the process to pass them by.”
Morehead: I’ve Worked Hard
Morehead, who lives across the street from Hopkins, said he has accomplished a great deal during his term in office, and has devoted considerable time to community outreach, from his efforts to secure jobs for local young people at Wal-Mart to advocating for the reopening of the Dixwell Community Q House.
“This is a full-time job for me,” he said. “In fact, it’s more than a full-time job.”
“Most people want the job for the wrong reasons,” Morehead argued. He said his quarterly community newsletter and website, and his efforts to bring Dixwell community and Yale closer together, show a strong commitment to the neighborhood beyond campaign season.
“I don’t like when people just come around at election time, when I haven’t seen them for I don’t know how long,” he said.
Although Morehead said he had not secured any firm endorsements yet, he said he looked forward to the results of the upcoming ward committee vote on Tuesday, and the Democratic Town Committee vote on July 28.
“I feel confident they’ll endorse me,” he said.
Ultimately, Hopkins and Morehead both expressed optimism about the ward’s future.
“A ward such as Ward 22 is synonymous with working-class families,” Hopkins said. “A lot of positive things have happened from the blood, sweat and tears of people who have lived in Ward 22, and as a homeowner you want to get that piece of the American dream.”