Challenge slate co-organizer Jason Bartlett outside the Registrar of Voters office with candidates; some did, some didn't make the ballot.
As the nation already focuses on the November 2024 presidential races, New Haveners started campaigning for March 2024 elections for the most local of offices: party ward co-chair.
Democratic Registrar of Voters Shannel Evans Friday released a list of all candidates whose paperwork has been approved to seek the office of party co-chair. Each of New Haven’s 30 wards has two Democratic co-chairs, who vote at party conventions to endorse candidates for municipal, state and federal office.
In eight of the city’s 30 wards, more than two candidates submitted enough voter signatures on petitions to qualify for the position. So those eight wards will have primaries on March 5 to choose which two will serve for the coming two years. In the other 24 wards, the two candidates will automatically get the job.
A coalition calling itself the “New Haven Agenda” fielded candidates for the position to challenge the UNITE HERE-backed Democratic Town Committee (DTC), the first such organized slate to get involved in party co-chair elections since 2012. Read a previous story and hear an interview about that here.
The challenge slate’s candidates gathered outside the Registrar of Voters Office Wednesday afternoon after submitting petitions in time for a 4 p.m. deadline. Click on the video above to watch one of the slate’s co-organizers, Jason Bartlett, offer a pep talk and some of the candidates discuss their top issues. Tom Goldenberg, the 2023 GOP mayoral candidate, was on hand too; the candidates thanked him for organizing the slate along with Bartlett.
“We’re growing the bench,” Bartlett told them. “Not everyone’s gonna win. But everyone’s gonna get experience. They’re gonna learn the process. … They’re gonna go door to door and engage the voters. And thus the voters are going to win, even if some of us lose or win.”
Eight Democratic candidates recruited by the “New Haven Agenda” coalition did not qualify for the ballot. Evans said five failed to submit petitions they had originally taken out; her office rejected the petitions of three others due to paperwork errors, she said.
The primaries are set for Wards 3, 4 and 6 in the Hill; 7 in Downtown; 12 in Quinnipiac Meadows/Bishop Woods; 18 in Morris Cove; 28 in Beaver Hills; and 30 in West Rock/West Hills.
Here are all the Democrats whose petitions were approved:
Ward 1: Kiana Flores, Norah Laughter
Ward 2: Jane Kinity, Jewell White
Ward 3: Angel Hubbard, Clarena Cummings, Inez Alvarez, Martha Dilone
Ward 4: Howard Boyd, Jennifer Chona, Joseph Fekieta, Earl Ali-Randall
Ward 5: Kampton Singh, Courtney Porteous
Ward 6: Dolores Colon, Doris Doward, Jason Bartlett, Stephen Rabin
Ward 7: Dawn Bliesener, Christine H. Kim, Polly R. Gulliver
Ward 8: Brenda Harris, Ana Winn
Ward 9: Sarah Fritchey, Claudia Herrera Martinez
Ward 10: Ken Suzuki, Kenya Adams-Martin
Ward 11: Joseph Fuce, Sonia Alvarez
Ward 12: Carlena Taft, Sean Matteson, Theresa L. Morant
Ward 13: Mildred Melendez, Paul Ozyzk
Ward 14: David Weinreb, Ana Paola Juarez
Ward 15: Robert Roberts, Manuel Camacho III
Ward 16: Sarah Derbala, Victor Ramos
Ward 17: Alphonse Paolillo, Jody Ortiz
Ward 18: Zelema Harris, Sharon Braz, Roseann Chatterton, Christopher Avallone
Ward 19: Claudine Wilkins Chambers, Susan Metrick
Ward 20: Latoya Agnew, Barbara Vereen
Ward 21: Raymond Jackson Jr., Cherie Graham
Ward 22: Tenzin Jorden, Tyrone Poole Sr.
Ward 23: Tynicha Drummer, Aryelle Edwards
Ward 24: John Lee, Randall Furlow
Ward 25: Janice Underwood, Deborah Evans
Ward 26: Sharon C. Jones, Laura M. Cahn
Ward 27: Judith Sparer, Lakiya Nichols
Ward 28: Zahava (Ephrat) Lieblich, Gary Hogan, Jess Corbett
Ward 29: Audrey Tyson, Brian Wingate
Ward 30: Perry Flowers, Iva Johnson, Alberta Witherspoon
2023 GOP mayoral candidate Tom Goldenberg (at right in photo) with members of his "New Haven Agenda" DTC slate.