Where, When, & Why To Vote Tuesday

Voters will have a chance to pick some new leaders, rehire some current ones, and perhaps help settle a long-running question or two in Tuesday’s municipal elections.

Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. as voters choose new mayors, local legislators, Board of Education members, and city/town clerks in both New Haven and Hamden.

Click here to find your voting location.

Hamden will be choosing a new mayor. Democrat Lauren Garrett, who defeated three-term incumbent Curt Leng in a September primary, faces Republican Ron Gambardella and write-in candidate Al Lotto in the mayor’s race. Garrett and Gambardella also have slates of Legislative Council, clerk, and Board of Education candidates running with them. All candidates promise to tackle the town’s fiscal woes with new approaches; they differ on how to address crime. Garrett’s slate puts a focus on racial diversity reflecting changes in the town, and represents an ascendant progressive wing in local politics. Underlying this election are ongoing debates about the direction of the town, including how to incorporate new voices. Click here, here, here, and here for some background stories on the races, and view the videos embedded above to watch Hamden’s mayoral candidates make their cases. The 2019 Republican mayoral candidate, Jay Kaye, has switched parties and is running for at-large Council seat as an Independent. Laurie Sweet and Justin Farmer are also running for Council seats on the Working Families Party line.

New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker is running for a second two-year term, highlighting his record in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic and the doubling of state aid through changes in the system for reimbursing municipalities for lost revenue on tax-exempt properties. The Republicans have their first mayoral candidate in 14 years, John Carlson, who’s focusing on policing and park preservation. (Click here to read about where they stand, as expressed at a campaign debate.) For the first time ever, New Haven has a mayoral race in which two major-party candidates have chosen to participate in the public-financing Democracy Fund. (Hill resident Mayce Torres, who originally sought a spot on the ballot in the Democratic primary, has her name on Tuesday’s ballot on the Independent Party.)

The Republicans — who hold no contested New Haven elected offices — are also fielding their most organized slate of alder candidates in years, seeking seats in Morris Cove, the Annex, Fair Haven Heights, Quinnipiac Meadows, and Upper Westville. Click here to meet some of the candidates.

A lively three-way alder race is taking place in Fair Haven Heights’ Ward 13, where Democrat Rosa Santana faces challenges from community activist Patricia Kane, on the Green Party line; and Republican Deborah Reyes. Read here about that race, which offers voters three genuinely different takes on issues ranging from policing to Covid-19.

A contested alder race in Morris Cove’s Ward 18 is taking the temperature of public sentiment there toward the expansion of Tweed New Haven Airport. Republican Steve Orosco, a professional martial arts fighter, has made opposition to the recently approved 43-year expansion deal a cornerstone of his challenge against incumbent Democrat Sal DeCola, who voted for it and argued that Morris Covers on balance agree with his position. Click here for a full story on that race.

In Upper Westville/Beverly Hills, a Ward 26 alder rematch pits incumbent proud Democrat Darryl Brackeen against ​“systems guy” and proud ​“old-school” but not new-school Republican Joshua Van Hoesen. Click here for a story breaking all of that down.

One of the city’s two elected Board of Education members, Democrat Edward Joyner Jr., is seeking a third term in a rematch (from 2015) against Republican James O’Connell. Joyner is pitching progress under a new school superintendent and mayor he supported; O’Connell argues that the board remains largely dysfunctional and needs comity to replace chaos. Both have worked in public education for over four decades. And both see a need for rethinking how the school system works in an era of demographic change and new challenges.

City/Town Clerk Michael Smart seeks a fifth two-year term. He emphasizes his work in diversifying the office (including adding Spanish-speaking staff), expanding hours for people to vote (including dropping off absentee ballots), putting up drop-boxes around town. Last fall, during the confusion over Covid-19, he spent long hours outside 200 Orange greeting voters in their cars to help them navigate new rules for safely casting ballots. His opponent Tuesday, Republican Anthony Acri, promises to use skills developed as a business owner to improve voting tech and to expand the number of absentee ballot drop boxes around town.