Emily Hays Photo
New GOP Chair John Carlson with outgoing Chair Jeff Weiss at the vote.
Once it’s safe again to visit each other’s houses, expect a knock on the door from John Carlson or one of his partners in a quest to revive democracy in New Haven.
The city’s Republican Town Committee elected Carlson its new chair earlier this month, in one of the last face-to-face public meetings in New Haven before the coronavirus shutdown.
In his new role, Carlson will be the latest to accept the challenge of building a viable second party to challenge the Democrats, who control all competitively-chose elected positions in town from mayor to alder to state legislator. The last time New Haven elected a Republican mayor was in 1951.
Carlson said one of his main strategies for revival is to hit the doors — to have Republicans visit homes to enlist supporters, find candidates for public office, and make the case for a party that stands for a set of principles.
In an interview on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven,” Carlson described those principles: “We believe in God. We’re pro life. We’re pro-Constitution. And we believe in less government and less taxes.” He said the party opposes the dominant influence on local government by a single union, Yale’s UNITE HERE, while stressing that the party is not anti-union.
The Republicans also seek to push for improvements in everyday neighborhood conditions, Carlson said. Like filling potholes. And fixing sidewalks.
“New Haven needs two parties,” Carlson said. “For the city to work for everyone, everyone has to have a voice.”
At the most recent count, the city had 2,518 registered Republican voters compared to 41,360 Democrats, 16,975 unaffiliated, and 646 with other parties.
Carlson’s two predecessors began efforts to rebuild the local GOP. Jonathan Wharton recruited new volunteers, including to sit on board and commissions, and worked on developing a platform. Jefrey Weiss, who served one term as town chair before choosing not to run again this month, succeeded in helping a slate of state legislative candidates qualify for public campaign dollars.
Now Carlson hopes to user a combination of social media, phone calling, and old-fashioned shoe-leather door knocking to attract new support.
“They’re ecstatic to see me” when he knocks on doors as a Republican, Carlson said. “Their first question is: Where have you been? They’d be less surprised to see a unicorn.”
Carlson has spent years knocking on doors in his neighborhood. A 51-year-old public school teacher, Carlson still lives in the same City Point home where he grew up. He started knocking on doors as a teen-agers, when he worked delivering the New Haven Register and the Journal-Courier to subscribers’ homes. As an adult he has advocated for neighborhood improvements and run energetic campaigns for public office. These days he has teamed up with neighbor Mark Morrison to revive the Hill Regional Baseball league, to bring T‑ball and little league back to Bayview Park. They’ve set up this Facebook page and are looking for team sponsors.
Click on the video to watch the full interview with John Carlson on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven.”
And click on the video below for an interview with former Town Chair Jonathan Wharton, about how he and other Southern Connecticut State University professors are pivoting to online learning during the Covid-19 crisis.