Party leaders told New Haven Democrats to vote “Line B.” They voted “Line A” instead, with one exception: They favored hometown candidate Gerry Garcia in the secretary of the state primary. Even that was close.
The Registrar of Voters Wednesday afternoon released official results, including absentee ballot tallies, for the Tuesday primaries.
They showed that Dan Malloy captured 4,469 New Haven votes in his successful quest for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, versus 4,289 for Ned Lamont. Lamont had been favored to win the city, his putative stronghold. He opened his statewide headquarters on Orange Street. New Haven’s mayor and Democratic Party chairwoman threw their organization’s support behind him. Lamont outspent Malloy by more than 3 – 1 statewide. On primary day the campaign had 250 workers pulling votes in town, according to campaign manager Joe Abbey.
The Malloy camp hoped to field maybe half that many vote-pullers. In the end it had no money for anyone to go out into neighborhoods to entice supporters to the polls, according to city campaign director Darnell Goldson.
“We had no money left,” he explained. Instead, Goldson decided to station volunteers at polling places to try to sway voters already showing up. It turned out most voters arrived to vote in state representative primaries, undecided in the gubernatorial primary, and proved persuadable, Goldson said.
Malloy’s strongest showing was in Westville’s Ward 25. Goldson noted that while Malloy won only six of 13 wards (not counting Yale) with African-American aldermen and significant African-American population, he won the overall vote in those combined wards. “He lost all those wards four years ago,” in a gubernatorial primary, Goldson noted. Malloy campaigned repeatedly in New Haven’s black community in closing weeks. (Click on the play arrow at the top of the story for a sample.)
“My lesson of this election was the importance of message. If you lack a message, no field operation, no amount of of money, no amount of negative ads can make up for that,” said New Haven Mayor John DeStefano, a leading Lamont supporter this year (who ran against Malloy in that 2006 primary, and beat him). “The [lack of] a sharp coherent message resulted in low voter turnout and lack of urgency among voters.” (Click on the play arrow at left to watch Lamont make his final pitch at a New Haven rally Monday night.)
In New Haven, just 9,082 voters, or 21 percent of registered Democrats, cast ballots in Democratic primaries Tuesday.
The city Democratic establishment had urged voters to select the slate of challengers who appeared on Line B of the ballot — Lamont, lieutenant governor candidate Mary Glassman, secretary of state hopeful Gerry Garcia, comptroller candidate Michael Jarjura — who were taking on state party-endorsed candidates who appeared on Line A.
New Haven Democrats did pick Garcia over State Rep. Denise Merrill, 4,117 to 3,841. (Merrill won statewide.) Otherwise city Dems chose Nancy Wyman over Glassman, 4,756 to 3,385; and Kevin Lembo over Jarjura, 4,976 to 2,690.
In New Haven state representative races, Roland Lemar defeated Debra Hauser 973 to 456 in the portion of the 96th District that lies in New Haven (with Lemar winning 532 – 399 on the machines in Hamden, not counting absetnee ballots); Pat Dillon beat Sergio Rodriguez 1,561 to 794 in the 92nd District; and Gary Holder-Winfield prevailed over Willy Greene 962 to 289 in the 94th District. (Unlike results reported Tuesday night, these final figures include absentee ballots.)
Four hundred ninety-seven New Haven Republicans (remember them?), or 20 percent of the 2,495 citywide total, voted in their primaries. They chose Tom Foley (263 votes) over Michael Fedele (182) and Oz Griebel (81) in the gubernatorial contest, Lisa Wilson-Foley (241) over Mark Boughton (234) for lieutenant governor, Linda McMahon (255) over Peter Schiff (130) and Rob Simmons (146) for U.S. Senate; and Tea Party member Martha Dean (302) over Ross Garber (179) for attorney general.
New Haven ward voting breakdowns for the Democratic gubernatorial primary follow.
Ward 1: Malloy 23, Lamont 28. Wyman 22, Glassman 26.
Ward 2: Malloy 92, Lamont 114. Wyman 96, Glassman 94.
Ward 3: Malloy 65, Lamont 54. Wyman 76, Glassman 40.
Ward 4: Malloy, 124, Lamont 142. Wyman 121, Glassman 118.
Ward 5: Malloy 112, Lamont 108. Wyman 131, Glassman 74.
Ward 6: Malloy 41, Lamont 39. Wyman 40, Glassman 32.
Ward 7: Malloy 98, Lamont 128. Wyman 113, Glassman 100.
Ward 8: Malloy 231, Lamont 152. Wyman 241, Glassman 126.
Ward 9: Malloy 209, Lamont 178. Wyman 217, Glassman 140.
Ward 10: Malloy 286, Lamont 276. Wyman 303, Glassman 216.
Ward 11: Malloy 197, Lamont 166. Wyman 222, Glassman 107.
Ward 12: Malloy 109, Lamont 111. Wyman 118, Glassman 96.
Ward 13: Malloy 153, Lamont 157. Wyman 161, Glassman 135.
Ward 14: Malloy 103, Lamont 156. Wyman 122, Glassman 116.
Ward 15: Malloy 70, Lamont 90. Wyman 83, Glassman 62.
Ward 16: Malloy 42, Lamont 144. Wyman 48, Glassman 132.
Ward 17: Malloy 151, Lamont 86. Wyman 150, Glassman 77.
Ward 18: Malloy 199, Lamont 122. Wyman 204, Glassman 105.
Ward 19: Malloy 189, Lamont 154. Wyman 283, Glassman 135.
Ward 20: Malloy 140, Lamont 188. Wyman 155, Glassman 140.
Ward 21: Malloy 127, Lamont 105. Wyman 146, Glassman 69.
Ward 22: Malloy 118, Lamont 109. Wyman 114, Glassman 80.
Ward 23: Malloy 166, Lamont 179. Wyman 177, Glassman 121.
Ward 24: Malloy 163, Lamont 186. Wyman 171, Glassman 158.
Ward 25: Malloy 449, Lamont 274. Wyman 455, Glassman 227.
Ward 26: Malloy 268, Lamont 282. Wyman 297, Glassman 219.
Ward 27: Malloy 171, Lamont 192. Wyman 186, Glassman 143.
Ward 28: Malloy 129, Lamont 137. Wyman 140, Glassman 113.
Ward 29: Malloy 108, Lamont 138. Wyman 124, Glassman 107.
Ward 30: Malloy 136, Lamont 94. Wyman 133, Glassman 77.