DeCola Prevails As Challengers Split Ward 18 Alder Vote

(Updated) Six-term incumbent Democrat Sal DeCola has retained his seat — by winning less than 40 percent of the vote at the polls — in a three-way alder race to represent Morris Cove’s Ward 18.

According to a machine count at the polls, DeCola received 438 votes for Ward 18 alder, while Republican challenger Lisa Milone received 311. 

An additional 357 voters cast their ballots for a write-in candidate, with Susan Campion running as the only registered write-in candidate in the race.

That means that DeCola brought in around 40 percent of the vote at the polls, while his opponents won a combined 60 percent at the polls. 

Even though absentee ballots are still being counted, it is mathematically impossible for either Campion or Milone to win based on partial tallies. Update: Early on Wednesday, Head Moderator Kevin Arnold told the Independent that DeCola received 48 absentee ballot votes, Milone 19, and Campion 17. That means the final unofficial tally for the three-way alder race in Ward 18 came in at 486 votes for DeCola, 330 for Milone, and 374 for Campion.

“Hate doesn’t work in this community,” DeCola said victoriously. ​“Love does work and that shows in today’s election. The people voted for honesty and truthfulness.”

Campion said she is ​“so proud and thrilled” about the number of votes she earned. Referring to DeCola, she said, ​“This man has machine support, union support. He’s been in office for 12 years. To think our write-in campaign lost by only 80 votes means people are energized for change.”

Campion added, ​“We’re going to work with our fellow Republicans. We are building a coalition and things are going to change.”

Milone said she ​“expected” the results. ​“I did what I could in the 30 days I was in the race. I’m not disappointed or upset,” she said. ​“Tomorrow is day one of my next campaign. We need a two-party system in New Haven. One-party rule has to change.”

DeCola’s win follows his narrow victory over Susan Campion in September’s Democratic primary for Ward 18 alder. It also comes weeks after a February incident resurfaced in which he crashed into a constituent’s parked vehicle, drove away, and ostensibly failed to contact police until days later.

Tuesday night’s results cemented that six new alders are slated to take office in January: Ward 1’s Kiana Flores, Ward 9’s Caroline Smith, Ward 11’s Henry Murphy, Ward 12’s Theresa Morant, Ward 15’s Frank Redente, and Ward 20’s Brittiany Mabery-Niblack.

Meanwhile, among the 10 contested alder races across the city, every incumbent Democrat won reelection.

For instance, two-term incumbent Ellen Cupo handily retained her seat representing Ward 8 in Wooster Square and the Mill River. She received 382 in-person votes, or 84.7 percent, far surpassing her Republican opponent Andrea Zola’s 69 machine votes.

Meanwhile, in Bella Vista’s Ward 11, the Democratic candidate Henry Murphy — who was appointed last week by party officials to replace the late incumbent alder Renee Haywood on the ballot — appeared to have won the seat with 302 in-person votes.

(At least two machine tabulators printed out Haywood’s name instead of Murphy’s; since Haywood passed away shortly before the election, the Registrar of Voters’ office was tasked with placing stickers of Murphy’s name to cover Haywood’s on each ballot.)

Republican Gail Roundtree received 139 in-person votes, while write-in candidate Ira Johnson received 3 in-person votes.

And in Fair Haven Heights’ Ward 13, incumbent Democrat Rosa Ferraro-Santana held onto her seat with 321 in-person votes — 64.2 percent — to Republican Deborah Reyes’ 50 votes and Green Party candidate Paul Garlinghouse’s 129 votes.

See below for the results of every contested alder race in the city, reflecting in-person machine votes (absentee ballots have not yet been reported).

Results at the polls:

Ward 7
Eli Sabin (D) — 458
David Agosta (R) — 26

Ward 8
Ellen Cupo (D) — 382
Andrea Zola (R) — 69

Ward 10
Anna Festa (D) — 458
Write-in (Joshua Glaab) — 36

Ward 11
Henry Murphy (D) — 302
Gail Roundtree (R) — 139
Write-in (Ira Johnson) — 3

Ward 13
Rosa Ferraro-Santana (D) — 321
Deborah Reyes (R) — 50
Paul Garlinghouse (G) — 129

Ward 17
Sal Punzo (D) — 276
AnneMarie Rivera-Berrios (R) — 83
Camille Ansley (Petitioning) — 51

Ward 18
Sal DeCola (D) — 438
Lisa Milone (R) — 311
Write-in (Susan Campion) — 357

Ward 20
Brittiany Mabery-Niblack (D) — 295
Addie Kimbrough (Petitioning) — 52

Ward 21
Maceo ​“Troy” Streater (D) — 256
Write-in (Fred Christmas) — 2

Ward 25
Adam Marchand (D) — 815
Write-in (Dennis Serfilippi) — 131

Allan Appel contributed to this report.