Justin Elicker announced he’s the first mayoral candidate to approach raising $100,000.
His campaign late Monday reported having raised $94,000 so far — $56,000 in 600 contributions from individual donors, $38,000 in expected matches from the public-financing agency the Democracy Fund. (Read about that here.) Elicker’s campaign said 80 percent of the individual donations came from New Haveners.
Elicker, an East Rock alderman, Newhallville state Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield, former city economic development chief Henry Fernandez, and Newhallville plumber Sundiata Keitazulu have all filed papers to run for the Democratic mayoral nomination. Elicker has said he plans to run in the November general election as an independent if he loses the Sept. 10 Democratic primary. Probate Judge Jack Keyes and Hillhouse Prinicipal Kermit Carolina are also expected to run in the Democratic primary.
Elicker got a quick start as both a candidate and fund-raiser in this race; he raised the $94,000 in two months. Money is one of several yardsticks campaigns use to measure — and tout — their candidates’ viability. Elicker balanced that with his commitment to running in the primary under the rules of the Democracy Fund, which limits individual contributions to $370 (rather than $1,000) and bars political action committee support in return for matching public dollars. All the candidates officially running so far except for Fernandez have agreed to run under the public-financing system.
“President Obama and U.S. Senator Chris Murphy proved that big money cannot buy elections on the national and state level. We plan to prove the same on the municipal level,” Elicker stated in a release.