One of New Haven’s most frequent guests these days, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, returned to town Sunday afternoon to dispatch troops like Ross Granville Harrison III and Celestino Cordova on a mission of “hand-to-hand combat”: running up his victory margin here even more than in 2010.
Harrison, a retiree and first-time volunteer, and Cordova, a Fair Haven Democratic ward co-chair and longtime party worker, were among 20 Malloy faithfuls who showed up at the Central Labor Council’s Chapel Street headquarters to start working the phones and to hear a pep talk from the governor.
Democrat Malloy has been in town so often lately — including almost every day last week—that he could qualify for residency. There’s a good reason for that: New Haven gave him a stunning victory margin in his 2010 campaign: 18,606 votes, the largest plurality statewide. He needed every last one of those to squeeze by Republican Tom Foley (Malloy won statewide by only 6,404 votes). Now Foley is running against him again, and he needs New Haven more than ever: polls show the race neck and neck, with some of Malloy’s past supporters speaking of deserting him. No New Haven landslide, no reelection.
Democratic Town Chairman Vincent Mauro Jr. set the bar high in remarks to Sunday’s gathering: “It’s going to be a hard election year. When New Haven delivered a plurality of 18,000 votes [in 2010], it was a source of pride for us. Let me tell you – I think he’s asking for 20,000 this year. We’re going to get this thing rolling and we’re going to win this thing.”
“To all of you: you are the energy, the engine, the glue that makes this party run. I’ve gone door to door, and sometimes I continue to do so, because it’s the best kind of politics. Mano-a-mano. When you look somebody in the eye, you know if they’re going to be with you or not. And that’s what we need,” declared U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (pictured with Malloy).
“Let me bring it down to New Haven. This hand-to-hand combat, this knockin’ on the door, this discussion in your backyard when somebody’s over for a barbecue, or when you’re over visiting with somebody – this is how we’re going to win it. There are more than enough votes out there for us to win. This is a fight worth having, because we can in fact continue to change the direction of the state of Connecticut,” Malloy told the group. He spoke of the 330 jobs created at New Haven Works, the increase of the minimum wage to $10.10 a year by 2017, the decrease in crime rates, and his efforts to strengthen schools and boost pre‑K education in his first four years in office. Left unmentioned was his support for charter schools, which a liberal third-party challenger, Jonathan Pelto, has seized on as a central campaign issue.
As they received their orders and hit the phones, volunteers spoke about what motivated them to help.
Ward 16 co-chair and community organizer Cordova said he wants to make sure he and his long-serving Puerto-Rican regiment get their due as veterans. Cordova, who has long supported Democratic statewide candidates, called it his duty to see to Malloy’s reelection.
“I forget how long ago the governor was mayor of Stamford, but that was the first I’d ever heard of him,” said retiree Harrison (pictured). “I said: ‘what’s this guy doing running for mayor? We need a governor like that.’ And sure enough it came to pass. So I got a call [this year] from whoever was running the phone bank that said would you be interested in volunteering, and I was. Because we need a guy who talks turkey, and addressed the problem, not the politics.”
Hazel Standberry cited education as her top reason for backing Malloy: “We really need a universal Pre‑K program in Connecticut, all over the state. It gives the children a chance to learn and it gives them a chance to start … not a step behind, but a step ahead. Then he does the ‘baby scholars’ program [CHET]. It’s very hard, and expensive for education today, and it’s going to be be even more so in the future. I want someone to have a chance to get their degree, because it’s very difficult to get a job without it.”
Corena and Lem Hamilton.
“I’m happy with his view on education,” added Corena Hamilton, a high-achieving student at High School in the Community.
Her grandmother, Diane Hamilton, offered a different reason. “I believe,” she said, “he’s most aligned with Obama.”