Hamden Dems Endorse Garrett

Mayoral hopeful Lauren Garrett won the Hamden Democratic Party’s endorsement in a landslide vote of support at the town convention Tuesday night.

Garrett received 39 votes while fellow Democratic mayoral challengers Brad Macdowall and Peter Cyr earned 14 and 8 votes, respectively.

Incumbent Mayor Curt Leng— who did not attend the DTC meeting— has promised to petition his way onto the Sept. 14 Democratic Primary ballot. So have Macdowall and Cyr.

That means the September primary will see a four-way race between Democratic candidates, if Leng, Macdowall, and Cyr all succeed in gathering enough signatures.

Learn more about Garrett, Macdowall and Cyr’s campaigns here, and read about Leng’s bid for reelection here and here. Garrett last ran for mayor, and lost to incumbent Leng, in 2019.

DTC members Tracy Bowens and Betsy Rosenblum each nominated Garrett Tuesday night.

Bowens said that Garrett’s ​“meticulous attention to detail, balanced knowledge of all things Hamden… and calm temperament” separated her from the other candidates. Rosenblum called Garrett ​“a natural born leader” who is both realistic and progressive. She described Garrett as a ​“researcher” who always explores the nuances of every perspective before coming to a political conclusion.

During her own speech to the committee members, Garrett repeated a campaign pitch that she gave at a fundraiser earlier in the month. She said that ​“the natural beauty and diversity of this town” is what prompted her to decide to raise a family in Hamden years ago. She said that while solving town finances must be Hamden’s top concern moving forward, she also looks forward to partnering with advocates who champion environmentalism, education, open space, and ​“demanding equitable solutions to the challenges we face.”

The mayoral endorsement was the last vote of the night. Garrett became teary while reflecting on the other candidates who received endorsements on Tuesday. ​“This is a slate that looks like Hamden and represents the diversity of this town,” she said.

“We’ll campaign together, win together, and get to work together. No single person can do this work by themselves,” she concluded.

Legislative Council Candidates

The four endorsed at-large legislative council representatives include Dominique Baez, who has served on the council since 2019; Kathleen Kiely, a second grade teacher at Ridge Wood elementary and DTC member; Cory O’Brien, a healthcare systems strategist who served as a Sixth District representative back in 2017; and Laurie Sweet, an adjunct professor and birth doula who ran for the same position two years ago as a Working Families Party candidate.

Endorsed district representatives include Kristen Zaehringer for Hamden’s First District; Jeron Alston for Hamden’s Second District; Abdul Osmanu for Hamden’s Third District; Sarah Gallagher for Hamden’s Fourth District; Justin Farmer for Hamden’s Fifth District; Paula Irvin for Hamden’s Sixth District; Adrian Webber for Hamden’s Seventh District; Ted Stevens for Hamden’s Eighth District; and Nancy Hill for Hamden’s Ninth District.

There was no competition for any Legislative Council seat. Unless additional candidates decide to petition for spots on September’s primary ballot, the slate of 13 council members will run against those endorsed by the Hamden GOP in November.

“What a diverse slate of district and at-large candidates we have here,” O’Brien proudly announced when the endorsed council members were officially confirmed. ​“What do we have, two white men?”

O’Brien’s counting was correct. Of the endorsed council candidates, seven are women and six are men. Seven of those thirteen candidates are people of color, up from only four individuals of color in 2019. Only five of the candidates have previously served on the Legislative Council, down from nine during the election two years ago.

Baez, O’Brien, Alston, Farmer, and Webber are the only five candidates who have experience on the Legislative Council. Fourth District Councilwoman Athena Gary said that she will be retiring from the council this year, noting that both her sister and mother passed away this year. She nominated Abdul Osmanu in her place.

Incumbents Valerie Horsley, Kristin Dolan, and Kathleen Schomaker did not attend the convention. Dolan was the only one of those individuals to respond to the Independent’s invitation for comment, asserting that she will ​“definitely not” petition to be on the primary ballot.

The youngest council candidate, Osmanu, is only 19 years old. He has been volunteering on local campaigns since age 16 and was elected as the corresponding secretary of the DTC back in 2020.

Board of Education Seats

The DTC also endorsed five candidates out of seven competing for open seats on the Board of Education.

Three of those five terms, currently belonging to Arturo Perez-Cabello, Melinda Saller, and Melissa Kaplan, will expire this election year.

Walter Morton, a member of the Army National Guard, resigned in May, leaving another four-year term open.

Roxana Walker-Canton also resigned, but in the middle of her term. Because BOE seats are staggered, that means a new candidate must be elected this November to finish the remaining two years of Walker-Canton’s original four.

Reuel Parks, a clinical therapist with a masters in social work, and Nijija-Ife Waters, a small business owner and special education advocate, both ran for the open two-year term. Parks won in a 44 to 18 vote, with only one abstention.

David Lee Asberry, Siobhan Carter David, Melissa Kaplan, Mariam Khan, Nijija-Ife Waters, and Danielle Means ran for the four available four-year terms.

Whereas virtually all of Hamden’s GOP candidates spoke out in favor of race-neutral curriculum during the RTC convention which took place the previous week, Hamden’s nominated BOE representatives prioritized the need for equitable practices within and across classrooms and urged more open and representative dialogues and curriculums throughout Hamden’s school system.

David Asberry, Mariam Khan, Siobhan Carter David, and Melissa Kaplan won those four seats with 59, 59 55, and 53 votes, respectively. Waters earned four votes and Means three.

Melissa Kaplan was the only candidate to have previously served on the BOE, though Mariam Khan returned after having been the BOE’s student representative during her junior and senior years at Hamden High School— which she only graduated from last year. She is currently a freshman at Yale. Khan was also the youngest of all the endorsed candidates. 

Finally, community strategist Karimah Mickens won the endorsement for the position of town clerk over Hamden tech commissioner Gary Beard Jr. in a 53 to 10 vote. ​“I look forward to making the town accessible to all,” Mickens said as she accepted that endorsement.

Next Steps

Leng told the New Haven Register on Monday that he plans to run with a slate of candidates. That means that while the 13 Legislative Council seats were uncontested during the convention, others may petition to join the primary ballot in September.

On Tuesday morning, Mayor Leng also criticized the DTC, calling the committee’s chair and vice chair ​“acolytes” of Lauren Garrett and asserting that the town committee doesn’t ​“represent the average Hamden Democrat.”

Meghan Friedmann of the New Haven Register reported Tuesday on the dissatisfaction Hamden leaders have expressed concerning this year’s DTC process. DTC Chair Sean Grace, however, countered that some are targeting the DTC simply because they did not earn the committee’s support this year.

In her speech, Garrett noted that the real objective of the mayor— and all elected officials— should be to ​“help people and really advocate for people and to teach people what’s going on with your community.”

“It’s a lot of work and the financial compensation is sometimes nothing and sometimes very small,” she said. ​“But it’s so rewarding to do this work.”