Garcia’s On The Ballot

(Updated: 3:30 p.m.)Thanks in part to a deal with Waterbury, New Haven’s hometown secretary of the state candidate Gerry Garcia cleared a hurdle to land a spot on the Democratic primary ballot.

Garcia needed 15 percent of the vote to appear on the ballot. He earned 455 votes, or 24.52 percent on the first ballot at Saturday’s state Democratic party convention.

Garcia, who’s half-Puerto Rican, is the only Latino candidate at the convention this year. He won with full support from New Haven’s delegation, and with 41 of Waterbury’s 49 delegates. As she announced New Haven’s 81 delegate votes for Garcia, Democratic Town Committee Vice-Chair Norma Rodriguez-Reyes said her delegation believes Connecticut’s elected officials should reflect the diversity of the state.

State Rep. and House Majority Leader Denise Merrill (pictured) won the plurality of the vote — and therefore, the party’s endorsement — after a second ballot at 3:30 p.m.

State Sen. Jonathan Harris also qualified for the primary.

Garcia won his spot on the ballot with the help of a vote-swapping deal with the Waterbury delegation, which cast 41 votes for him. In return, the New Haven delegation threw its support behind Waterbury Mayor Mike Jarjura, who is running for comptroller.

At 4:39 p.m., amid the first round of voting for comptroller, the New Haven delegation cast its 81 votes for Jarjura, fulfilling its side of the bargain.

Merrill’s victory came after a series of jockeying moves on the convention floor.

Merrill and Harris earned 44.52 percent and 30.41 percent respectively on the first ballot. With no candidate winning over 50 percent of delegates, the process called for a second ballot.

Amid the second vote, Garcia jumped on stage and announced he would seek a primary. In the meantime, he withdrew his name from the running. He released his delegates and encouraged them to vote for Harris.

In throwing his delegates to the less-popular candidate, Garcia would weaken the front-runner, and decrease the chances that one candidate would emerge with a clear mandate.

“It’s political positioning,” said Jason Bartlett (at left in photo), Garcia’s campaign manager.

The gesture gave Harris a greater lead, but not enough to win.

On the second ballot, Merrill won with 966 votes to Harris’s 826, or 54 percent to 46 percent.

Garcia secured his spot on the ballot through a small team of a half-dozen New Haven politicos who worked the floor, and in part through a sweet-tasting lure. Outside the convention hall, the Garcia team served up free scoops of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream

Two delegates from Stamford stopped by to pick up a scoop.

They said they were supporting Garcia ​“based on past experience, vision for the future — and the ice cream.”

Paul Gianesini (at right in photo), the Democratic town chair of the town of Plymouth, ordered a scoop of Cherry Garcia.

He said his delegation was holding out to see if Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz would launch a last-minute bid for reelection, but when that didn’t happen, they decided to go for Garcia.

“He looks like he’s hungry,” said Gianesini. ​“He’s ready to do it.”

Luis Pizarro, the only Hispanic elected official in Torrington, helped rally for Garcia in his town. He said when New Haven’s Rodriguez ran for the secretary of the state nomination four years ago, the first Hispanic to do so, she ​“opened up the gate” for other Hispanics to follow.

Now, he said, ​“that door is wide open.”

Pizarro said now that Garcia’s on the ballot, Pizarro’s ready to sell his candidacy to primary voters.

“We’re going to go and feed it to the people,” he said.