A leading female candidate signed official papers to run for mayor Monday, vowing to bring a “consensus” style to City Hall that differs from a male “authoritarian” approach.
The candidate, state Sen. Toni Harp, became the sixth Democrat to file to run in the Sept. 10 Democratic Party primary. She’s looking to succeed retiring two-decade incumbent Mayor John DeStefano.
A seventh candidate, Kermit Carolina, announced Sunday night that he, too, will file official papers this week to run.
Harp, who was the leading candidate in a private labor-commissioned mayoral poll taken last year before DeStefano announced his retirement, becomes the first female candidate with citywide name recognition, major fundraising potential, and a potential vote-pulling operation to seek the city’s highest office. All 49 of New Haven’s mayors have been male.
That matters, Harp said as she filed her campaign paperwork in the city clerk’s office at 200 Orange St.
“I think that it is really great that a woman is finally run for mayor. We’ve waited a long while” said Harp, who was accompanied by her son Matthew and her campaign treasurer Hilda Kilpatrick, a retired city police detective.
Harp was asked if gender affects how a mayor governs.
“I think I would govern differently,” she replied. “I think oftentimes men area little more autocratic and top-down. I believe I’m a consensus builder. I would be trying to build consensus as opposed to being an authoritarian.”
Paul Bass Photo
Harp at 200 Orange Monday, flanked by son Matthew (at right) and treasurer Kilpatrick.
She also played up her experience: five years as a city alderwoman, then 21 years as a state senator. “I have more experience than anyone running,” she said. “I know how to get things passed” in Hartford.
She highlighted community policing as a central campaign issue. She noted that she had pushed for its adoption when the city first rolled it out in the early 1990s. “Unfortunately, when I left the local legislative branch, the Board of Aldermen, there wasn’t as much commitment to it” either at the legislative or executive levels, she said. “Things deteriorated. They’re beginning to build back up. I think we have to do more in order to make things safe.”
Harp said she hopes to raise “at least $300,000” and as much as “$500,000” in her mayoral campaign. She, Henry Fernandez and Matthew Nemerson have chosen not to participate in the city’s public-financing Democracy Fund, under which candidates agree to limit individual contributions to $370 (rather than $1,000) and to forswear donations from outside committees in return for matching government dollars. Four other mayoral candidates — state Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield, Alderman Justin Elicker, plumber Sundiata Keitazulu and Hillhouse High School Principal Kermit Carolina — have committed to running under the program.
Field Stays At 7
Meanwhile, Holder-Winfield, who has already filed to run for mayor, said Monday he has decided to stay in the race despite Harp’s surprise entrance.
Harp’s announcement of her candidacy last Monday led Holder-Winfield to spend some time “reassessing” if it still made sense to run. He completed that assessment this weekend, he said. He also went out on a canvas and attended an East Shore candidate meet-and-great event.
“I’ve done with reassessment based on what happened last Monday,” he said. “I don’t think anything new is going to happen in the next weeks. We’ll have a very crowded field.”
Carolina: Yes, I’m Running Clean
Candidate Carolina issued a release Monday to clarify that he is still completely on board with participating in the Democracy Fund. He had previously made that clear when he announced his “exploratory” campaign committee. After an article appeared in the Independent last night about his decision to file officially as a candidate, readers asked if he still intends to run in the public-financing system.
“I am a strong proponent of what the Democracy Fund represents, and I encourage the citizens of New Haven who are unaware of the spirit of the ordinance to learn more about it,” Carolina stated in the release. You can do so by going to this link.”