Darryl Brackeen Jr. and Pat Dillon.
At least one Democratic primary contest is brewing in New Haven this year, in the 92nd General Assembly District.
Darryl Brackeen Jr., currently an Upper Westville city alder, announced Friday that he is launching a campaign to challenge incumbent Pat Dillon for the district seat in an Aug. 9 party primary.
The party endorsed Dillon unopposed for reelection at a recent convention. So Brackeen would need to petition his way onto the primary ballot.
Brackeen said he is confident his campaign can collect the 367 signatures of registered Democrats in the ward needed to qualify for the primary. He also said he plans to qualify to participate in the public-financing Citizens’ Election Program based on contributions raised by an exploratory committee he originally set up to consider a run for secretary of the state; he said that quest collected more than the 150 individual contributions of up to $290 within the district needed to qualify for the program.
Dillon has represented the district — which currently includes the West River, Westville, Edgewood, Dwight, and Beverly Hills/Amity neighborhoods — since 1984.
Brackeen cited that fact as a reason to mount his challenge.
“I think that she’s done a great job for the time she has served, and she has served honorably,” Brackeen said of Dillon. “Almost two generations have gone by. Sinking houses are still an issue. Flooding is continuing to get worse.
“52 percent of the 92nd District is basically living paycheck to paycheck. For me, I feel like we are in need of a stronger voice in Hartford to raise up the issues of the economic disparities we’re facing and bring back home the resources that are necessary to level the playing field for a lot of our residents.”
Dillon, a deputy majority leader in the state House of Representatives, responded that her experience has helped her deliver for the district.
For instance, she said, her knowledge of how the state collects data from emergency rooms helped her take a leading role in crafting a successful proposal this term to create a new office of gun violence prevention. She was able to snag $1 million from the federal infrastructure bill to address Forest Road flooding, she said, and deliver $2 million to renovate a building on the Boulevard for early childhood education and $150,000 to help Fellowship Place. Her knowledge of state government enabled her to help many constituents find needed aid during the pandemic, she said. She and State Sen. Gary Winfield met last week with the state’s economic development chief to push for release of money to address sinking homes in the district.
“In the last two years, my experience has really served me well,” Dillon said. She said she’s running again because “I love the work, and I love the people.”
The 92nd District.
As Brackeen prepares to begin petitioning, Dillon has scheduled a campaign fundraiser at Manjares at Whalley and West Rock avenues Sunday from 5 to 7 p.m. The invitation lists Winfield, State Reps. Juan Candelaria and Toni Walker, and Alders Tyisha Walker-Myers, Richard Furlow, Frank Douglass, Evette Hamilton, Ron Hurt, and Adam Marchand as among the hosts.
Citing the fact that over 60 percent of the 92nd is composed of people of color, Brackeen, who is Black, said he believes the district is “overdue for representation and a stronger voice for the community that actually comes from the community.” Dillon is white. The 2020 census listed the district’s 24,362 residents as 43.9 percent Black, 31.2 percent white, 21.7 percent Hispanic, 3.7 percent Asian, 0.8 percent Native American, and 0.1 percent Pacific Islander; and 53.1 percent female and 46.9 percent male.