Of the three mayoral candidates who didn’t win Tuesday’s primary election, two gave concession speeches. The third, Justin Elicker offered a math lesson.
Elicker, who came in second place behind candidate Toni Harp, added the votes he won Tuesday to the votes he expects to win running as an independent candidate in the general election, and came up with victory.
Elicker offered that equation Tuesday night in O’Toole’s pub on Orange Street, where 100 of his supporters gathered after the polls closed. Click the play arrow to watch.
Elicker and Harp are running to be the next mayor of New Haven. Until Tuesday, two other candidates — Henry Fernandez and Kermit Carolina — were also running. After coming in third and fourth respectively, they both announced they would not continue their bids into the general election, even though they had petitioned to do so.
Elicker announced he will continue on to the general election in November. After congratulating his opponents and thanking his campaign team, Elicker presented the path to victory he hopes to follow.
He said Carolina and Fernandez “did a great job and ate up a lot of my support around the city.” With that being the case, “it’s no wonder we didn’t do as well as I would have hoped.”
He offered some “simple math.” He said a handful of Carolina and Fernandez’s supporters will go to Harp, and the rest will go to him.
New Haven has over 20,000 non-Democratic registered voters in the city, 18,316 of whom are unaffiliated. “About 4,000 of those folks will vote,” Elicker predicted. He predicted they will vote for him.
“Why are they unaffiliated? Because they are tired of politics as usual,” Elicker said. “Those people are ours!”
Elicker offered some other math: “We have zero dollars.” He asked people to donate to his campaign, in amounts of $370 or less. Elicker is forswearing donations of greater than that amount, a voluntary move to abide by the rules of New Haven public campaign financing program even though the rules no longer apply to his campaign now that they primary has ended.
Carolina Submits To City’s “Will”
At his Dixwell Plaza headquarters Tuesday night after the election results came in, Carolina thanked his supporters. “You put everything on the line, everything you’ve had,” he said. “You sacrificed your time, your energy.” He acknowledged that the campaign “probably strained some relationships,” but said he felt as though he stood for “being a voice for the have-nots in this city.”
Carolina called his campaign “well-organized and meticulous,” while acknowledging state Sen. Toni Harp’s “resounding” win. He congratulated the senator on her campaign, saying, “The people have spoken in the city of New Haven, and I submit to the will of the people.”
Carolina also congratulated Elicker and Fernandez, both of whom he said has “great respect for,” and said he was looking forward to getting back to work as principal of Hillhouse High School. He said he had snuck off the campaign trail to check on his students twice that day.
Carolina said he would continue to “fight for the most vulnerable in the city: our youth and our elderly. I’m not going anywhere. This is the city I love.”
Fernandez Feels the Love
After stating he will not pursue the mayor’s office in the general election, Fernandez reminded his supporters, gathered at Michael’s bar and restaurant on Court Street, of the issues his campaign had focused on, including poverty and education.
“Poverty is too powerful in this city. It’s taken down too many kids. We have to be honest about the fact that our public schools just aren’t good enough for our children,” he said.
Fernandez said he was proud to have been a part of his supporters’ lives and expressed hope for future change: “We’ll be able to keep it going. We’ll be able to get the leadership we deserve.”
After congratulating “those people who finished first and second,” Fernandez filled the crowd in on his immediate plans.
“I hope you all will have a drink because I know I’m going to have one,” he said. “Just know, I love you guys.”
“We love you, Henry,” an audience member said as applause broke out.
After taking a moment to talk about his family — wife Kica and young son Henry, Fernandez concluded, “I have been in and out of politics my whole life, and I have to say, this is the best reception I have seen for a third place finish.”