by Paul Bass, Tom Breen and Maya McFadden
Democratic Registrar of Voters Shannel Evans and election Moderator Kevin Arnold tabulating votes Tuesday night. Credit: Thomas Breen Photo
GOP/Independent mayoral candidate at post-election gathering in Fair Haven next to campaign manager Amber Webster and campaign guru Jason Bartlett. MAYA MCFADDEN PHOTO
Democrat Justin Elicker cruised to a fourth two-year term as New Haven’s mayor Tuesday after a campaign that focused on both his record on housing and public safety as well as the city’s opposition to Trump administration policies.
He had over 84 percent of the vote with only absentee ballots remaining to be counted, of which there were far too few to change the outcome.
Elicker defeated Republican challenger Steve Orosco in all 30 wards across the city, based on preliminary results the Independent collected from polling places. (Final official results including absentee ballot votes and same-day-registration votes may come later tonight or this week.) Elicker also ran on the Working Families Party line, Orosco on the Independent Party line.
The Independent tally showed Elicker with 12,002 votes. Orosco had 1,673 votes. Click here for a ward-by-ward breakdown of the vote (not counting absentee ballots and same-day registration votes) collected by the Independent Tuesday night.
If past trends hold, the counting of absentee ballots would only increase Elicker’s margin of victory. Tuesday night’s victory showed him building on his 2023 victory, when he won 79.7 percent of the vote.
Elicker’s term will run through 2027. After that mayors (and alders) will serve four-year rather than two-year terms.
Elicker’s fellow Democrats also swept races for alders seats, seven of which were contested. Democrats have won 29 of the 30 races as of 8:53 p.m. Ward 3, where incumbent Democrat Angel Hubbard faced a repeat challenge from Republican/Independent Miguel Pittman, was too close to call: Hubbard was leading, but by a small enough margin that absentee ballots and same-day votes could change the outcome.
Elicker addressed supporters at an election party at Nolo on State Street. He said the results showed his campaign on track to earn the most votes he has ever gotten in an election.
He attributed his large margin of victory sent two messages.
One: “We do work in our community to ensure New Haven residents are walking toward a future when everyone can thrive.”
Two: “When Donald Trump attacks our community, we fight back.” The mayor cited lawsuits his administration has filed against the Trump administration to release money and challenge its policies.
Over at Armada Brewery in Fair Haven, Orosco’s team gathered after the polls close. Orosco did not give a speech. He told the Independent he considers his run as having been worthwhile, “to challenge the machine.”
“I don’t understand why people don’t vote” given the city’s potential, he remarked.
Michael Smart won an eighth term as city/town clerk with over 86 percent of the vote. Incumbent Democrat Ed Joyner, who has served on the Board of Education for 10 years, won another two-year term (which he said will be his last) with over 80 percent.
That means Democrats occupy all competitively elected offices in New Haven city government as well as New Haven’s state legislative delegation. The Republicans last elected a New Haven alder in 2011, a New Haven mayor in 1951. New Haven has 38,057 registered Democrats, 3,801 Republicans, 19,238 unaffiliated, and 628 voters registered with other parties, with 61,814 registered voters overall, according to the most recent city statistics. The number of Republicans has risen 43.6 percent over the past four years.
This story will be updated.
Thank you to our volunteers, who make our election night reporting possible: Maggie Grether, Jabez Choi, Claudette Kidd, Brian Slattery, Norma Rodriguez-Reyes, Kevin McCarthy, Christina Lee, Caitlin Lutsch, Marc Gonzalez, Allan Appel, Suzanne Boorsch, Karen Ponzio, Meesha Vullikanti, Japhet Gonzalez, Diana Robles, Dave Weinreb, Jisu Sheen, Anne Tubis, Lisa Reisman, Abby Roth, Jeanette Sykes, Max Chaoulideer, Crystal Gooding, Jessica Tubis, Lesley Heffel McGuirk, Liz Grace-Flood, Amy Marx, Carl Goldfield, Karen McIntosh, Steve Hamm, Abiba Biao.
Hi-five pie: The crowd at Nolo for Elicker’s election party. THOMAS BREEN PHOTO
New Haven likes us: Democratic Town Chair Vincent Mauro Jr. (at right) with Yale reporter Elijah Hurewitz-Ravitch at Nolo. THOMAS BREEN PHOTO