by | Mar 4, 2020 8:52 am | Comments (11)
Sam Gurwitt Photo
Mayor Curt Leng (right) and Elaine Dove, Phil Nista, Megan Goslin, and Patrick Johnson of his opposition slate wait for results.
Updated 3/4 1 p.m. — After a highly contentious, record-breaking primary on Tuesday, Hamden’s Democrats handed the keys to the party’s leadership to the progressive wing of the party in a decisive victory for many of the newer voices in Hamden politics.
by | Mar 4, 2020 8:48 am | Comments (14)
(Update) Two leading Connecticut politicians of yore — former New Haven Mayor Toni Harp and former state Democratic Chairman Ed Marcus — would have co-chaired Mike Bloomberg’s presidential campaign in the state.
If Bloomberg had been continued running for the Democratic nomination.
Continue reading ‘Update: Bloomberg Drops Out After Picking Harp, Marcus As State Co-Chairs’
by | Mar 3, 2020 9:15 pm | Comments (7)
Christopher Peak Photo
Major Ruth and Audrey Muriel-Tyson: Ready for Trump.
Incumbents beat challengers across town Tuesday night in Democratic Ward Committee co-chair primaries.
by | Feb 28, 2020 2:53 pm | Comments (2)
Thomas Breen / Thomas Macmillan photos
Ward 21 co-chair contestants: Ray Jackson and incumbent Kate Sacks (top) vs. challengers Maverick Jacobs and Troy Streater.
Laura Glesby photos / Contributed photos
Ward 20 co-chair contestants: incumbents Oscar Havyarimana and Barbara Vereen (top) vs. challengers Jeanette Sykes and Rhonda Nelson-Sheffield.
The race is on in Newhallville, where eight candidates in four different slates are vying to become the neighborhood’s next hyperlocal Democratic Party leaders.
At stake: concerns ranging from crime to traffic, voter registration to attention from City Hall, and bolstering the Democratic Party’s strength in an all-but-single-party city to reforming party bylaws in the direction of transparency and accountability.
by | Feb 27, 2020 6:11 pm | Comments (6)
Sam Gurwitt Photo
Hamden Mayor Curt Leng.
As Democrats in Hamden prepare for a contentious town committee primary next week, people on both sides of a political divide in the town said the other side has mounted a coordinated campaign for influence.
Their own? Not so much.
Continue reading ‘Coordinated Campaign For Influence? Or Just Concerned Citizens’
by | Feb 24, 2020 1:07 pm | Comments (10)
Sam Gurwitt Photos
Campaign gatherings Saturday for Farmer (left), Cabrera (right).
While Bernie Sanders was pulling off a left-Democratic victory in Nevada, two local candidates with similar roots in progressive politics summoned supporters to separate fundraisers on the same day — for the same seat.
by | Feb 18, 2020 4:15 pm | Comments (1)
Sam Gurwitt Photos
Jorge Cabrera and Justin Farmer; incumbent George Logan.
A few weeks after Democratic challenger Jorge Cabrera announced a rematch with incumbent Republican George Logan for Connecticut’s 17th State Senate District, Hamden Councilman Justin Farmer has added himself to the mix in a bid to bring younger voices into the fold of Connecticut politics.That means the district with last cycle’s most hotly contested legislative race in the region is poised again for both a competitive primary and a competitive general election.
by | Feb 13, 2020 2:26 pm | Comments (35)
Harp (left): Bloomberg (right) gets cities.
On a week when opponents have attacked him on race, presidential hopeful Mike Bloomberg has picked up the support of New Haven’s most prominent African-American elected official of the past two decades.
by | Feb 12, 2020 6:21 pm | Comments (14)
Bloomberg volunteer event this past Sunday in Stamford.
Brett Broesder saw opportunity in the Democratic presidential field in the wake of Tuesday’s New Hampshire Democratic primary, in which several once-prominent candidates tanked, the three leading candidates were all clustered within six points of each other, no one captured more than 26 percent of the vote, and several campaigns died.
Continue reading ‘Bloomberg Crew Gets Jump On CT Primary Campaign’
by | Feb 11, 2020 9:37 am | Comments (0)
Sam Gurwitt Photo
Deval Patrick with Bill and Julie Hague.
Manchester, N.H.— Deval Patrick was in the midst of an answer about job creation when a middle-aged woman clutching a blue leather bible walked in the door of the bookstore where he was making a last appeal to voters.
“My name is Licarda,” the woman with the bible began, interrupting another questioner in line. “I have mental illness issue, and the system is broken in our nation.”
by | Feb 10, 2020 3:33 pm | Comments (2)
Oliver with Fair Haven School music teacher Dan Kinsman.
Mark Oliver faced an array of choices when he joined neighbors in a “ranked-choice” voting process of deciding how to spend $20,000 to improve Fair Haven.
by | Feb 10, 2020 9:00 am | Comments (24)
Sam Gurwitt Photos
Alex Taubes, Martin Looney, and Jameson White.
After four decades of running largely unopposed in either the primary or general election, or both, State Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney faces 2020 challenges from both the ideological left and right.
by | Feb 9, 2020 11:39 pm | Comments (7)
Thomas Breen Photos
Klobuchar discusses Chicka Chicka Boom Boom with Joanna …
… then dives into some poutine.
Manchester, N.H.— Amy Klobuchar is having a moment, just in time for the first-in-the-nation presidential primary. A diner discussion with 6‑year-old Joanna Vachon and an SRO college rally showed how she is making connections with voters still looking for a candidate to support on Tuesday.
by | Feb 8, 2020 8:10 pm | Comments (3)
Lucy Gellman photo / Thomas Breen photo
Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders: Different views on “pro-life Democrats.”
Concord, N.H.—Is there room for “pro-life Democrats” in the Democratic Party of 2020?
Depends on whom you ask. The ascendant Midwestern moderate in the race for the party’s presidential nomination sees plenty of room for “future former Republicans.” The leading progressive candidate is not so sure.
by | Feb 8, 2020 7:59 pm | Comments (2)
Breen/Gellman Photos
Supreme Suggestions (clockwise from top left): Yang: 18-year terms; Klobuchar: Cameras; Sanders: Rotate judges; Buttigieg: 15 on bench.
Attendees at Saturday’s forum.
Concord, N.H.—The Supreme Court is broken — politicized, co-opted by right-wing extremists, weighed down by lifetime appointees.
Democratic presidential candidate after candidate at a primary campaign forum here today agreed on that diagnosis. They differed on what the next president should do about it.
by | Feb 7, 2020 8:55 am | Comments (5)
Sam Gurwitt Photos
Democrat Josh Elliott and Republican Kathy Hoyt.
Kathy Hoyt talks to home buyers and homeowners in New Haven County every day, and after hearing over and over that people can’t afford to live in Connecticut, she aims to change that — by trying to unseat State Rep. Josh Elliott.
by | Feb 5, 2020 8:43 am | Comments (5)
Staff Photos
Cabrera (left), Logan: 77 votes apart last time.
Top state Democrats turned out in force Tuesday night to help union organizer Jorge Cabrera kick off a rematch State Senate challenge that pits two starkly different political visions against each other.
by | Feb 4, 2020 3:23 pm | Comments (6)
Brackeen at Biden HQ in Iowa.
Darryl Brackeen Jr. saw the Iowa caucus up front Monday — and came away persuaded that there must be a better way to start selecting a president.
by | Feb 3, 2020 3:52 pm | Comments (2)
Sam Gurwitt Photos
Hamden’s July DTC convention.
After a heated set of caucuses for Hamden’s Democratic Town Committee (DTC) earlier in the month, primaries for the committee in seven Legislative Council districts are now set, exceeding the town’s record.
by | Jan 31, 2020 2:03 pm | Comments (10)
Top, from left: Elliott, Lawlor, Brackeen, Dougherty lining up for (bottom) Warren, Buttigieg, Biden, Sanders.
Veteran New Haven Alder Darryl Brackeen is catching a flight to Iowa Friday to assume a four-day role as “precinct captain.”
by | Jan 22, 2020 5:15 pm | Comments (7)
Sam Gurwitt Photo
Brotherhood of the Traveling Pants: New Haven’s Marty Dunleavy (right) with Hamden’s Walter Morton on the Biden trail.
Peterborough, N.H. — Marty Dunleavy wore a thick, baggy pair of dark-green plaid wool pants as he stood outside of Mary Maughan’s door. They were not stylish. But they did the job: They protected their wearer from an icy wind, as they have done in every presidential campaign since 2000.
by | Jan 21, 2020 3:21 pm | Comments (1)
Allan Appel Photo
Traffic whips down Quinnipiac at Runo Terrace, near school entrance.
Traffic calming on dangerously fast Quinnipiac Avenue came in first by a length. Storm-drain art placed second. Boat-launch improvements and butterfly gardens tied for third.
Those were the preliminary results a friendly horse race of pet projects, to be decided through ranked-choice voting, for how to spend $20,000 in public money to improve Fair Haven Heights.
Continue reading ‘Butterflies, Fish, Safe Streets On Ballot’
by | Jan 17, 2020 2:56 pm | Comments (6)
Sam Gurwitt Photo
State Rep. Mike D’Agostino” There is a difference between a candidate and a catalyst.”
Mike D’Agostino is “feeling the Bern” — about the presidential race, and about how Connecticut goes about legalizing cannabis.
by | Jan 13, 2020 5:20 pm | Comments (7)
New Haven Sanders supporters at Manchester pre-canvass session.
Sam Gurwitt Photos
Hamden State Rep. Elliott hits trail for Warren.
Hooksett, N.H.— Four years ago, Joshua Elliott trudged through the snowbanks lining New Hampshire’s twisting roads in hopes of helping Bernie Sanders become the next U.S. President. Elliott and fellow campaigners then started a local revolution back home by electing him to Connecticut’s legislature.
Elliott was back knocking on New Hampshire doors Sunday — but this time for Elizabeth Warren, Sanders’ chief progressive opponent in the upcoming first-in-the-nation Democratic presidential primary.
Continue reading ‘Progressives’ Pitch: Movement vs. “Bulldog”’
by | Nov 25, 2019 8:35 am | Comments (1)
Sam Gurwitt Photo
As Hamden Mayor Curt Leng stood with his left arm over his wife Stephanie’s shoulder and his right arm raised in front of him, palm facing forward, four words jumped out at him: “Faithfully discharge your duties.”
Continue reading ‘Sworn In For 4th Term, Leng Vows “Faithful” Service’