Serana Wins Alder Election

by Thomas Breen and Dereen Shirnekhi

Co-Op High School biology teacher and democratic socialist Maria-Threese Serana handily won a special election on Tuesday for a Fair Haven/East Rock alder seat that was vacated by Caroline Tanbee Smith in early August.

Serana secured 186 votes at the polls at East Rock School, far outpacing Gavin Arnold’s 16. Serana also won all seven early votes and both absentee-ballot votes cast in the race.

Over the course of a month-long sprint to fill the empty alder seat, Serana earned the support of the Connecticut chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, the president of the New Haven Federation of Teachers, and the Ward 9 Democratic Ward Committee.

After the polls closed on Tuesday, she was joined outside East Rock School by roughly a dozen DSA supporters, including Justin Farmer and Hamden State Rep. Laurie Sweet. Also there to show their support were Downtown/Yale Alder Elias Theodore and Downtown/East Rock Alder Christine Kim.

“It only validates our presence, our values, as DSA,” Serana said on Tuesday night. “Our objectives, our principles, actually align with community members.”

“There’s a lot of fight in every one of us,” she continued. “The real work begins after this.”

Serana will now become the second democratic socialist to serve on the Board of Alders, following former Ward 9 Alder Charles Decker. Click here, here, and here to read about DSA’s ascent in Democratic Party politics across the country in recent years.

Serana was initially one of four candidates to run to replace Tanbee Smith, who stepped down from the role after she bought a house and moved just a few blocks outside of the ward.

While all four candidates’ names remained on the ballot on Tuesday, two of those candidates — Blaise Berglund and Conor Gilligan — each dropped out two weeks ago and threw their support behind Serana. (Berglund and Gilligan each got one vote at the polls on Tuesday.)

That cleared the way for a two-way race between Serana and Gavin Arnold, an avid runner and business analysis manager at Webster Bank.

A 21-year resident of New Haven and a five-year resident of Ward 9, Serana has spent a decade as a paraeducator, substitute, and now teacher in New Haven Public Schools. Her son, John Carlos Serana Musser, recently served as a student representative on the Board of Education.

During her campaign for alder, Serana promised to advocate for “truly world-class public schools” in New Haven, in part by pushing for faster building repairs and more effective teacher retention efforts. She also spoke about boosting affordable housing, supporting “climate resilience,” and bringing a working-class “movement” to Ward 9.

Serana is now on tap to fill out the rest of Tanbee Smith’s current two-year term, which runs through the end of 2027.

Tuesday’s special election marks the second New Haven electoral contest that CT DSA has dived into so far this year. The group also backed Justin Farmer’s unsuccessful campaign for the Democratic nomination for the west-side 92nd General Assembly District state rep seat this summer.

Tuesday’s election also marked the second special election for alder so far this year, with one more still to come.

On Jan. 1, less than an hour before he was set to be inaugurated to a third two-year term as alder for Downtown/East Rock’s Ward 7, Eli Sabin resigned and moved to Westville in order to run for state representative. Christine Kim, a fellow Democrat, won a special election in February to fill that seat.

And on Sept. 30, Evette Hamilton plans to step down from her long-time role as alder for Edgewood’s Ward 24. Randall Furlow — a fellow Democrat, ward committee co-chair, and cousin of the board’s majority leader — has already announced his plans to run for Hamilton’s seat.

Serana (center) with campaign supporters Joe Shortsleeve and Justin Farmer on Tuesday. Serana and her campaign supporters planned to head to Mezcal Tuesday night to celebrate the win.