by PAUL BASS and LAURA GLESBY The new haven independent
A slate of insurgent Dems raised a lot of issues — but ended up losing all their races Tuesday — in the city’s first competitive Democratic ward co-chair primaries in over a decade.
Eight primaries in all took place in New Haven Tuesday for Democratic Party co-chair positions. All eight were won by candidates on a slate called “Dem for Dems,” backed by party leaders and Yale’s UNITE HERE unions. (The victorious candidates in one of the district, Ward 30, officially ended up running as independents.)
Ward-by-ward results appears lower down in this article.
The victorious candidates beat back challenges from a slate called New Haven Agenda. The challengers said they ran to offer alternatives to the ruling coalition in the party and on the Board of Alders, including on issues like the expansion of Tweed New Haven Airport and the state of policing and public education in New Haven. (Read more about that here and here.)
It was the first time since 2012 that slates of candidates competed for ward co-chair positions. Ward co-chairs vote for municipal, state and federal candidates at party nomination conventions and sometimes take leadership in organizing neighborhood volunteers to work in elections.
In Morris Cove’s Ward 18, UNITE HERE-backed candidates Rose Chatterton and Chris Avallone received about 2.5 times the number of votes as New Haven Agenda candidates Zelema Harris and Sharon Braz.
Immediately after the results were announced, Braz and Harris approached Chatterton and Avallone to offer warm congratulations. They remarked to each other that, in their view, the race had spurred amicable and productive dialogue in the neighborhood — a departure from the last, often rancorous Democratic primary (for alder) in the ward.
“I’m very proud of how everyone showed up,” reflected Chatterton. “It was great for the community.
Harris agreed: “This gives the community hope.”
Democratic Town Chair Vincent Mauro Jr., who supported the victorious slate, called elections like Tuesday’s healthy for the party and the city. Besides involving people in the democratic process, they allow new ideas to come to the fore and criticisms to be heard.
“New Haven’s a small city. There’s room for everybody. Just have the conversation,” Mauro said during a primary-day discussion on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven”program.
Asked what good ideas came out of this primary, Mauro cited the call for the party to follow the law and file the names of all ward committee members in a public place. New Haven Agenda support Dennis Serfiilippi called attention to the fact that many wards did not file the member lists.
“We’ll make sure that happens,” he promised.
Jason Bartlett, who organized the New Haven Agenda slate, called the night’s outcome “still a win” despite the numbers.
“This was about letting more people participate in the process and people learning more about what the process is. It’s a good start. I hope a lot of these candidates get involved in the Democratic Party. That makes the party vibrant,” he said.
Following are the vote totals in each ward, cast in person at polling places. The totals do not include absentee ballots, but in all cases not enough absentee ballots were submitted to change the outcome.