Unions ​“Kick Ass” In Primaries

(Updated 11:36 p.m.) Labor-backed candidates toppled incumbents and other City Hall supporters in aldermanic primaries across town Tuesday night, delivering a powerful ​“change” message.

“The unions kicked ass tonight,” said Mayor John DeStefano, who cruised to victory in his own primary against three Democratic challengers as he seeks a 10th two-year term.

DeStefano won all but three or four of the city’s 30 wards (depending on absentee ballot counts), although he failed to crack 50 percent of the vote. He got roughly 43 percent on the voting machines.

Unions, meanwhile, captured 14 out of 15 races in which their aldermanic candidates faced City Hall-based candidates, based on voting machine tallies. (One of those 14, in Westville’s 25, conceivably could change later Tuesday night once absentee ballots are counted.)

The city ​“voted for change and I’m glad to take that mantle up,” DeStefano told subdued supporters. ​“They voted for change to continue to create jobs in this city.”

Wednesday afternoon the Registrar of Voters Office released the official final vote tally including absentee ballots. It showed DeStefano winning 5,716 votes, or 44.3 percent; Jeffrey Kerekes 2,895 votes or 22.4 percent; Clifton Graves 2,255 votes or 17.5 percent; and Anthony Dawson 2,032 votes or 15.7 percent.

Kerekes said he will ​“absolutely” run again against DeStefano in the November general election, as an independent.

Meanwhile, candidates backed by Yale’s unions toppled incumbents and pro-City Hall candidates across the city.

The challenge slate organized by unions —UNITE HERE Local 34, Yale’s pink-collar union; and Local 35, its blue-collar union — didn’t run on a specific platform. Rather they accused the DeStefano administration of stifling democracy and paying too little attention to average taxpayers and workers, and they pushed the need for new voices and energy in city government. (DeStefano, meanwhile, ran with his own union support — the city firefighters union and the buildings trades unions.)

“I’m astonished,” UNITE HERE union organizer Gwen Mills, who oversaw the challenge slate’s get-out-the-vote effort, said at a celebration at Leon’s restaurant on Long Wharf. ​“I think it’s a clear indication that people wanted change. This group of candidates was a credible alternative to the status quo.”

Incumbents Fall

The biggest upset of the night was in Ward 29, in Beaver Hills, where Carl Goldfield has served as an alderman for 20 years. Goldfield is the president of the Board of Aldermen, the city’s highest-ranking legislator. Brian Wingate, a first-time candidate who beat him, was one of 15 union-backed challengers taking on City Hall supporters in Democratic Party aldermanic elections Tuesday.

In Goldfield’s Ward 29, Wingate topped Goldfield decisively based on results from the voting machines: 342 – 182.

The unions won most of their upsets with large enough margins on the voting-machine tallies to overcome any change from a count of absentee ballots. And Goldfield wasn’t the only incumbent on the losing end. Greg Morehead, Stephanie Bauer, Matt Smith, Charles Blango, and Marcus Paca were upset too.

(Scroll to the bottom of the story for a ward by ward breakdown of aldermanic votes.)

No Concession From Paca

Paca refused to acknowledge defeat.

A stunned Paca called his loss to Evette Hamilton in Edgewood’s Ward 24 ​“impossible” and said he’ll meet with a lawyer in the morning. If a recount is possible, he said he wants one.

“There is no way that [union candidate] Evette Hamilton beats me by 90 votes,” said Paca, who got 228 votes to Hamilton’s 312.

“It’s like beating me by a million votes,” he said. ​“We’re going to delve a little deeper into this.”

Paca said he was struck by the uncanny echo of his victory two years ago, when he beat an incumbent by the same figures.

“This is just a little too close for comfort,” he said. ​“Or it might just be poetic justice, who knows?”

Paca isn’t qualified to be on the ballot as an independent in November, and said he wouldn’t run as anything other than a Democrat.

Union-backed incumbents held onto their seats in Beaver Hills’ Ward 38 (Claudette Robinson-Thorpe) and City Point’s Ward 6 (Dolores Colon).

An incumbent affiliated with neither citywide slate in Tuesday’s contests — administration critic Darnell Goldson — lost to a City Hall-backed challenger, Carlton Staggers in Ward 30, which covers West Hills and West Rock. The machine vote: 204 – 145. Goldson has an independent slot on the November ballot, so he could choose to force a rematch.

“I kicked his ass! I served him!” crowed Honda Smith, the ward’s Democratic co-chair, who switched sides to oppose Goldson in this election. ​“He ain’t going to beat me. … I had to serve him. I had to spank his ass.”

And a City Hall-backed newcomer prevailed in Morris Cove’s Ward 18. The winner, Sal DeCola, claimed that ward committee members abandoned him in the race, but he won anyway. ​“Now they will have to deal with me,” he proclaimed.” The union candidate, Sarah Saiano, appeared stunned by the loss; she said she was unsure if she will run again as an independent in November.

DeStefano Praises ​“Muscle”

DeStefano claimed victory at his campaign party at Bar on Crown Street. He also praised the hard campaign work done by Yale-affiliated unions in electing challengers to his slate.

“They have a lot of muscle,” he said. He suggested that voters ​“appreciate the direct contact they got from those candidates. They have a voice and need to be respected.”

He was asked what will be different in the coming two years now that so many union-backed challengers will sit on the Board of Aldermen.

“I really don’t know,” he responded. ​“It’s only 8:30.”

He calculated his preliminary vote at 44.5 percent. He called that ​“great” given an anti-incumbent year in which ​“change is a powerful message.” (The Independent’s unofficial machine tally gave him 41.9 percent.)

Mayoral challenger Jeffrey Kerekes defeated Mayor John DeStefano in both of the East Rock Wards, 9 and 10: 318 – 282 and 196 – 162, respectively. Again, that’s the machine tally; DeStefano is believed to have a stronger absentee ballot operation. He also beat DeStefano in Wooster Square’s Ward 8 based on the machine tally. And challenger Tony Dawson won the machine vote in the Hill’s Ward 4 against DeStefano, 75 to 55; and in Newhallville’s Ward 21,192 – 146.

DeStefano won the rest of the wards.

Kerekes said he will ​“absolutely” run again against DeStefano in the November general election, as an independent.

Clifton Graves told supporters assembled at his Whalley Avenue headquarters that it was significant that the race’s two African-American candidates — he and Dawson — failed to get enough votes between them to top DeStefano’s total.

“That shows there’s more work to do — there are still folks with a slave mentality. They had options and didn’t take advantage,” Graves said.

He added that the vote totals did show that a majority of New Haven Democrats said, “‘We don’t want DeStefano. Enough of this direction for 18 years.”

Over at his own post-election gathering at the Greek Olive, Dawson said he doesn’t know whether he’ll support DeStefano or Kerekes in the general election in November. ​“We’ve got to see who’s going to be closer to solving those problems,” he said.

Newhallville Turns

In East Rock’s Ward 9, union-backed candidate Jessica Holmes beat incumbent City Hall-backed Alderman Matt Smith 438 – 305 on the machine vote. Absentee ballots haven’t been counted yet. Holmes reported getting 200 new voters to register in Ward 9. Her campaign invested energy in convincing transient residents, like graduate students at Yale, to take interest in municipal politics. One argument went like this: Don’t just eat local and buy local, vote local, too — by signing up to cast ballots in neighborhood elections. Smith focused on building his list from his base of voters, then converting Holmes supporters to come over to his side. Smith registered far fewer new voters, about 50 to 60, he estimated.

Another union-backed candidate, Angela Russell, decisively defeated a City Hall-backed candidate, Stan Kontogiannis, in Westville’s Ward 27, 426 – 123.

In Newhallville’s Ward 20, union-backed Delphine Clyburn beat incumbent City Hall-backed Alderman Charles Blango 394 – 271 on the machine vote.

Clyburn supporters burst into applause and cheers when her vote tally was announced at Lincoln Bassett School.

“It’s a victory for Newhallville. We are rising. We are rising. It’s a victory for Newhallville, ‘’ said a jubilant Clyburn, who was hugged by union supporters.

Remarked Blango, ​“The people in Newhallville have spoken and accordingly they want to go in a new direction. And I respect that new direction and I appreciate it.’’

‘’Some of the people who supported Delphine were the same people that supported me last time. I wish her a lot of success. To get things done you got to work with other colleagues.’’

The union-backed candidates prevailed in Fair Haven Heights’ Ward 13, in the form of candidate Brenda Jones Barnes; and in Ward 22, where Jeanette Morrison topped incumbent City Hall-backed Alderman Greg Morehead on the machine vote, 355 – 165. (Candidate Lisa Hopkins picked up 125 machine votes in that race, Cordelia Thorpe, 4.)

Westville’s heated Ward 25 race will take longer to decide, perhaps until midnight or past. Union-backed aldermanic candidate Adam Marchand prevailed 446 – 422 over City Hall-backed candidate Michael Slattery 422 at the polls; however, some 50 absentee ballots remain to be counted, and Slattery’s party organization backers traditionally have had a more aggressive absentee ballot operation.

In Dwight’s Ward 2, union-backed Frank Douglass bested City Hall-backed Doug Bethea 358 – 172 on the machine vote. Bethea said he will run again in November’s general election as an independent. He pledged to work harder.

The Results

Following is a ward-by-ward breakdown of the aldermanic results from the machine tallies (excluding absentee ballots). A letter ​“U” beside a name signifies support by Yale’s unions; the letter ​“P” signifies support from City Hall and the Democratic Party establishment. (For full results including absentee ballot votes, click here.)

Ward 2: Douglas (U) 358, Bethea (P) 172
Ward 3: James (U) 239, Rodriguez (P) 45
Ward 6: Colon (U) 265, Rodriguez-Reyes (P) 157
Ward 9: Holmes (U) 438, Smith (P) 305
Ward 13: Barnes (U) 347, Vega (P) 154, Baker 100
Ward 14: Santiago (U) 346, Bauer (P) 154
Ward 18: DeCola (P) 342, Saiano (U) 238
Ward 20: Clyburne (U) 394, Blango (P) 271
Ward 21: Foskey-Cyrus (U) 345, Nelson 155
Ward 22: Morrison (U) 355, Morehead (P) 165, Hopkins 125, Thorpe 4
Ward 24: Hamilton (U) 312, Paca (P) 228
Ward 25: Marchand (U) 446, Slattery (P) 422
Ward 27: Russell 426 (U), Kontogiannis (P) 123
Ward 28: Robinson-Thorpe (U) 377, McCloud (P) 127
Ward 29: Wingate (U) 342, Goldfield (P) 182
Ward 30: Staggers (P) 204, Goldson 145.

Following is the ward-by-ward breakdown of the mayoral election results from the voting-machine tallies (excluding absentee ballots).

Ward 1: DeStefano 28, Dawson 1, Graves 13, Kerekes 6
Ward 2: DeStefano 177, Dawson 118, Graves 119, Kerekes 95
Ward 3: DeStefano 115, Dawson 92, Graves 45, Kerekes 22
Ward 4: DeStefano 55, Dawson 75, Graves 44, Kerekes 9
Ward 5: DeStefano 66, Dawson 43, Graves 42, Kerekes 13
Ward 6: DeStefano 213, Dawson 63, Graves 74, Kerekes 47
Ward 7: DeStefano 90, Dawson 21, Graves 24, Kerekes 41
Ward 8: DeStefano 121, Dawson 22, Graves 24, Kerekes 167
Ward 9: DeStefano 282, Dawson 41, Graves 42, Kerekes 318
Ward 10: DeStefano 169, Dawson 11, Graves 18, Kerekes 196
Ward 11: DeStefano 204, Dawson 62, Graves 83, Kerekes 93
Ward 12: DeStefano 70, Dawson 52, Graves 24, Kerekes 49
Ward 13: DeStefano 275, Dawson 71, Graves 85, Kerekes 134
Ward 14: DeStefano 258, Dawson 52, Graves 55, Kerekes 115
Ward 15: DeStefano 81, Dawson 32, Graves 14, Kerekes 23
Ward 16: DeStefano 81, Dawson 26, Graves 7, Kerekes 11
Ward 17: DeStefano 138, Dawson 32, Graves 25, Kerekes 106
Ward 18: DeStefano 309, Dawson 20, Graves 18, Kerekes 231
Ward 19: DeStefano 141, Dawson 32, Graves 35, Kerekes 104
Ward 20: DeStefano 252, Dawson 182, Graves 166, Kerekes 54
Ward 21: DeStefano 146, Dawson 192, Graves 133, Kerekes 46
Ward 22: DeStefano 252, Dawson 101, Graves 177, Kerekes 48
Ward 23: DeStefano 89, Dawson 56, Graves 84, Kerekes 36
Ward 24: DeStefano 187, Dawson 90, Graves 150, Kerekes 105
Ward 25: DeStefano 498, Dawson 53, Graves 46, Kerekes 262
Ward 26: DeStefano 242, Dawson 50, Graves 101, Kerekes 117
Ward 27: DeStefano 215, Dawson 101, Graves 135, Kerekes 94
Ward 28: DeStefano 169, Dawson 75, Graves 158, Kerekes 101
Ward 29: DeStefano 208, Dawson 89, Graves 136, Kerekes 90
Ward 30: DeStefano 119, Dawson 88, Graves 99, Kerekes 28

Reporting: Melissa Bailey, Thomas MacMillan, Gwyneth K. Shaw, Laurel Leff, Joshua Mamis, Lynne DeLucia, Michelle Turner, Allan Appel, Marcia Chambers, Neena Satija, Amanda Aponta, Shayla Ford, Paul Bass.