Sam Gurwitt Photo
Dominique Baez.
Hamden’s Democrats opened the door for a crop of new, diverse candidates who vow to better reflects the town they seek to represent.
That happened Tuesday evening at a Hamden Democratic Town Committee (DTC) convention, which the party held to decide which candidates to endorse for municipal office this year.
After voting to endorse Mayor Curt Leng over Councilwoman Lauren Garrett for the office of mayor, the committee assembled a slate of candidates for the Legislative Council and for two Board of Education seats.
Of the endorsed council candidates, seven are women and six are men. Nine have previously served on the council, while four have not. Four are people of color.
“The Democratic Party is giving everybody an opportunity to walk the walk [on diversity] tonight,” said Delegate Matthew Fitch as he seconded the at-large nomination of Berita Rowe-Lewis for the endorsement. “So thank you to all the candidates.”
Diverse At-Large Slate
DTC Board members Kyle Blake, Lewis Panzo, and Cherlyn Poindexter.
Council President Mick McGarry told the Independent that the DTC had hoped to present a diverse slate of candidates for the at-large council seats. That, he said, is why he decided to run in the First District rather than seeking reelection at-large.
“The at-large slate is kind of the face of the Democratic Party,” he said. “At-large members should reflect the entire town.”
For the four available at-large seats on the council, the DTC endorsed Dominique Baez, Berita Rowe-Lewis, Jody Clouse, and Brad Macdowall. BOE Member Melinda Saller also sought the endorsement, but did not muster enough votes. She said she has not yet decided whether she will petition to get on the Sept. 10 primary ballot. In order to do so, she would need the signatures of 838 of Hamden’s 16,744 registered Democrats.
Brad Macdowall.
Rowe-Lewis is the only endorsed at-large candidate who currently serves at-large on the council. Macdowall currently represents the Ninth District, and Clouse the first.
Clouse and Rowe-Lewis both had strong showings, picking up 54 and 57 of 61 votes respectively. Baez, a first-time candidate for elected office, was one of the new stars of the night with the most votes of any at-large candidate, at 59. She recently became treasurer of the DTC.
Sixth-District Delegate Patrick Johnson said he was not surprised that Baez had garnered the most votes.
“She is, A, very talented,” he said. “She has a quality to her that she is super sincere, but she also knows the deeper issues to things.”
Baez grew up in Hamden and attended Yale, where she studied art and American studies. She bought a house in Hamden in 2014. She now works as grant manager for Construction Workforce Initiative 2, which pairs workers with jobs in construction.
“I was hearing a lot that we needed new energy on this council,” said Baez. She said that this is also a good time in her life to run because she has settled and will be able to devote herself to the position.
“Her energy is so unbelievable,” said DTC Secretary Kyle Blake. “I’m excited to have that kind of focus.” She added that she has been “hoping to have somebody who could keep it together,” referring to the divisions that have plagued the council of late.
New Faces, Power Shifts
Valerie Horsley.
With two current district representatives switching to at-large seats and three current district representatives not seeking reelection, a number of district seats opened up to new candidates.
In the Fourth District, incumbent Eric Annes decided not to run.
“I have young children and they are extremely busy, and six years was enough,” he told the Independent.
Valerie Horsley, a Yale professor who ran for Connecticut’s 17th State Senate District in 2018, earned the party’s endorsement for Annes’ seat.
Kristin Dolan.
In the Eighth District, incumbent Jim Pascarella also decided not to seek reelection. Kristin Dolan, who works in property management and development at Hurley Group, will run in his stead, with his blessing. In a Facebook post, Pascarella called her a “phenomenal candidate” and a “formidable advocate.”
“I thought that the town could use some strong fiscal support,” Dolan said. She vowed that if elected, she will “try to rein in the budget … to keep the current level of services and the school system while maintaining the mill rate and not letting it get out of hand.”
Sarah Gagne, a stay-at-home mom and part-time phlebotomist (blood-drawing specialist) and cross-fit coach, will run in the ninth district in the seat that Macdowall will vacate to run at-large. She said she first got involved with town politics when she worked on Macdowall’s campaign.
Sarah Gagne.
Council President Mick McGarry, who currently serves at-large, will run in his district — the First — where Clouse, who will run at-large, currently sits.
In the remaining district seats, incumbents received their party’s endorsement: Harry Gagliardi in the Second, Athena Gary in the Third, Justin Farmer in the Fifth, Cory O’Brien in the Sixth, and Michael Colaiacovo Jr. in the Seventh.
The new nominations have the potential to change the balance and the dynamic that currently exist on the council. Over the past two years, the council has become increasingly split between mostly new members who vocally oppose the way the town’s finances have been handled and often vote against Mayor Leng, and veteran members who mostly support Leng. Two of the latter Democrats — Pascarella and John DeRosa — are not seeking reelection. Garrett, however, who has been one of the most vocal Leng critics, will also vacate her seat. Annes, whose votes have been split between the two camps, will vacate his seat as well.
If all four new candidates are elected, they could push the council in either direction. The council’s politics will likely depend heavily on who the next mayor is, however.
The endorsement of new candidates might also open the door for Republicans to take more seats than the two that the Town Charter guarantees to minority parties.
Minority Leader Marjorie Bonadies, who currently serves at-large as the top Republican on the council, will seek the Ninth District’s seat. As an established figure in Hamden politics who has won in the Ninth District before, she may be able to beat a new Democrat, even in such a heavily Democratic town.
Republican Town Committee (RTC) Chair Frank LaDore said he is hopeful about the Ninth District. He said he and the RTC members are eyeing other seats with new Democrats running. He said he’s hoping to have someone run in the Fourth District, as well as the eighth.
LaDore said that this time around, Hamden’s Republicans will field more candidates than in the previous two election cycles, and that he hopes they will be able to pick up more seats. “We’re guaranteed two seats,” he said. “Three seats: I’m very happy. Four seats: I’m doing somersaults.”
The RTC will hold its convention on July 23 at 7 p.m. in the Miller Senior Center.
Newcomer Slides Past Veteran; Primary To Come
Roxana Walker-Canton.
A new face also stepped past a familiar one in the party convention’s choices for two Board of Education seats.
Roxana Walker-Canton, who has three kids who have passed through or are currently in the Hamden public school system, received 38 votes from delegates, securing her the party’s endorsement for one of the Board of Education seats. Walker-Canton teaches at the University of Bridgeport and runs KIMCAN Academy, which provides affordable tutoring for K‑12 students.
BOE Chair Chris Daur also received the party’s endorsement, with 54 votes.
That left Myron Hul, with 28 votes, without an endorsement.
As Hamden’s BOE has staggered four-year terms, only Daur’s and Hul’s seats are up for reelection in 2019.
Hul has been on the board off-and-on since the early 1990s. He also served a term on the Legislative Council. On Thursday morning, he said he has decided to petition his way onto the primary ballot in September. He will need to collect 838 signatures by Aug. 7.
Myron Hul.
Many delegates said that the choice to vote for Walker-Canton instead of Hul was not meant as a slight to Hul, but rather as an endorsement of Walker-Canton’s qualifications and perspective.
Walker-Canton has been a vocal member of a push to diversify Hamden’s teaching staff and curriculum. In January, she participated in a panel to discuss how to improve both of those types of diversity in the Hamden school district. She later attended a BOE meeting to express frustrations about the lack of progress on diversity in Hamden’s schools.
“I see that there are a number of issues with education in Hamden that I’ve seen stay the same,” she said, explaining why she had decided to run. She said she wants to have more substantive conversations about what it means to have community schools, improve the diversity of teachers and of the curriculum, and improve equity of resources across the district.
According to an email she sent to the DTC, she graduated from Spelman College and holds master’s degrees from Ohio State University and Temple University. In addition to her job at the University of Bridgeport and with her KIMCAN Academy, she also teaches high school students in Gateway to College — a program administered by Gateway Community College and the New Haven BOE. She has also served as a substitute teacher at Hamden High School.
Sixth-District Delegate Patrick Johnson said that he voted for Walker-Canton over Hul because he thinks that she will bring a new and important perspective to the board as an educator, mother, and a person of color. He said his vote was not meant as a slight to Hul, and that it was a tough decision. He decided to vote for Daur over Hul because Daur is the board chair.
Many other delegates, however, said that Hul plays an essential role on the board and that they were upset he had not gotten the endorsement.
Chris Daur.
District 6 Delegate Mike Lockett said that Hul has played an important role on the BOE because of “his ability to question what’s going on with the budget. He knows how to ask questions that need to be asked.”
DTC Secretary Kyle Blake agreed that Hul’s questions have been indispensable to the board. “He has always been the person who, through his questions, makes the projects he worked on better,” she said.
If Hul decides not to run a primary campaign, or if he loses the primary, the board would lose a veteran member with decades of budgeting experience in the midst of a major district restructuring project. Approved by the Legislative Council in June, the 3R Initiative, which will require three major school renovation projects and changes to every school in the district, is just beginning. Hul is one of the board members who have been most involved in 3R process. Over the last two weeks, he said, he has attended one or more meetings for the BOE almost every day, both in Hamden and in Hartford, where he has represented the BOE to the state. He said that schedule is typical, and that he does not know who else could go to all those meetings.