Elicker Crushes Harp In Primary

by Thomas Breen, Paul Bass & Christopher Peak | Sep 10, 2019 11:55 pm

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Posted to: Politics, Campaign 2019

New Haven Democrats delivered a resounding change message Tuesday as challenger Justin Elicker soundly defeated incumbent Toni Harp in a Democratic mayoral primary. Elicker defeated Harp — who had beaten him six years ago to become mayor — with a total of 7,198 votes (58.29 percent) to the incumbent mayor’s 5,150 (41.71 percent). The former East Rock/Cedar Hill alder and 2013 mayoral candidate beat Harp both at the machines in the city’s 30 wards on Tuesday and in the absentee ballots. It was Toni Harp’s first electoral loss in a 32-year career as a popular alderwoman, then state senator, then three-term mayor. Her third term has been marked by complaints over a tax hike, lead paint enforcement failures, and chaos at the school board, issues voters of all backgrounds raised Tuesday at the polls. The big question now is whether Harp will continue the campaign into the general election, when her name would appear on the Working Families Party line — but in which over 16,373 unaffiliated voters and 2,459 registered Republicans are eligible to cast ballots. Elicker outperformed Harp among those voters in the 2013 general election; plus, Harp benefited among Democratic voters in that general election from having won the primary, which she didn’t do this time around. Following is the final official ward-by-ward breakdown from the machine vote as well as absentee ballots, released Wednesday by Head Moderator Kevin Arnold: Voter turnout was strong Tuesday in pro-Elicker wards, especially Westville’s Ward 25 (where Harp lives), while a concerted effort by Harp to appeal to black and brown voters fizzled. (Click here, here, here, here, and here to read some stories about what voters were saying at the polls and in the neighborhoods Tuesday.) Elicker gained ground in wards that Harp easily captured six years ago when the two candidates last faced off in a mayoral election. Ward 27 (covering portions of Beaver Hills, West Hills, Amity, and Westville) was basically a tie, for instance; Harp won it 2-1 last time. Ward 26 in Upper Westville, where Harp used to live, went from a pro-Harp to a decidedly pro-Elicker district this time around. Ward 6, covering City Point and part of the Hill, flipped from Harp to Elicker as well. So did Ward 21, which covers portions of Newhallville, Dixwell, and Prospect Hill. Overall on the machines, Elicker won in 15 wards, Harp won in 14 wards, and they tied in one, Ward 12’s Quinnipiac Meadows (pending the counting of absentee ballots). Handicappers originally expected Harp to win more wards but Elicker to win the districts with the biggest turnouts. He exceeded expectations. Elicker racked up big margins in the city’s predominantly white neighborhoods, cushioning his lead by hundreds of extra votes. He was ahead by 510 votes in Ward 25, 466 votes in East Shore’s Ward 18, 353 votes in East Rock’s Ward 10, 236 votes in Downtown’s Ward 7 and 215 votes in East Rock/Goatville’s Ward 9. Elicker also came out ahead by 289 votes in Prospect Hill’s Ward 19 Harp’s biggest lead, meanwhile, came from Newhallville’s Ward 20. That ward netted only 174 votes, a dramatic decline from the 516-vote lead she picked up there in the 2013 mayoral primary. Other previous Harp strongholds, like Dixwell’s Ward 22, didn’t show up for her this time around, landing in a virtual tie. Elicker also ran a more 21st century campaign, with heavy reliance on social media and email as well as a regularly updated campaign website. Harp relied on a wave of incumbent mayoral press conferences and a ground game focused almost exclusively in closing weeks on New Haven’s black and brown communities. About an hour after polls closed, Harp called Elicker to concede the primary. Elicker addressed his supporters at Trinity Bar on Orange Street shortly before 9 o’clock. He said it’s the same location where his 2013 campaign ended. “Six years ago, we came pretty close,” he said. “We didn’t see that as a failure. We saw it as a lot more work that needs to be done, and our coalition grew. This time around a lot more people have joined our coalition.” Elicker spent most of his speech thanking his supporters, shouting out his campaign staff, the thousand-plus small donors who contributed to his campaign and his high-profile backers, like Luiz Casanova, the former assistant police chief; Ed Joyner, an elected school board member; and Nichole Jefferson, the city’s former equal opportunity commission chief. Elicker said the campaign had been tough, joking at one point that he didn’t want to “drone on,” a reference to Harp’s television ad that claimed he supports drone surveillance of people’s homes in “our” neighborhoods. He stressed that he wants to work with those who’d backed his opponent. “Tonight, when you look at the results around the city, we have a clear mandate for New Haven to be a government that is ethical, that is responsive and that puts this city in a direction where every single resident can thrive,” he added. “Now is the time for everyone in this room to reach out to the other campaign, because at the end of the day, the most important thing has nothing to do with the individuals in this room, but with the individuals that we met knocking on doors … in every single neighborhood around this city. The only way we can do that is by joining together,” he went on. “I am so excited to work with UNITE HERE, with the Board of Alders, with our delegation and with every single person in this city to continue moving forward. “Thank you everyone so much for being here tonight,” he concluded. “Let’s have a great night and now the work begins.” Harp, meanwhile, briefly addressed her supporters at the 50 Fitch tavern. “I want to thank each and every one of you who worked with my campaign over these months, who’ve really worn out your shoes, knocked on doors and made telephone calls,” Harp said. “Thank you so much for believing in my administration and what we have stood for. “I want to say to you that this campaign and all of you stood for something really new in New Haven.We brought people together from clear across our city, people from different cultures and different races, with a vision that we would be the city, and we will be still, where everyone — no matter whether where you come from, no matter how rich or poor — everyone has an opportunity and a chance to make something of themselves.” The question now is whether Harp will choose to compete in the general election. Her name is on that ballot for the Working Families Party. Asked, after the speech if she plans to run again in the general election, she said, “I will let you know.”

By comparison ... 2013 Mayoral General Election Results 2013 Democratic Mayoral Primary Results

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posted by: Kevin McCarthy on September 10, 2019 8:47pm I respect and like Mayor Harp, who I worked with when she was in the state Senate. She is intelligent, thoughtful, and incredibly hard working. In 2013, I voted for her rather than my friend Justin Elicker because I thought she was the better qualified candidate. But although she has every right to run again in November, I think the city would be better off if she chose not to..

posted by: LookOut on September 10, 2019 8:47pm So, will Harp run against her party? Might be time to hang it up…

posted by: Ulmus Civitas on September 10, 2019 9:02pm G’nite Harp. Wish I could say it’s been real; but it has not! The people have said ENOUGH!

posted by: anonymous on September 10, 2019 9:04pm Maybe New Haven will finally get safe crosswalks and bicycle lanes now. Elicker’s secret plan since 2011: https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2011/10/new-haven-debating-the-best-road-forward/328/ “Elicker’s position is backed by a good deal of recent evidence. This summer a pair of Yale doctors, Clara Filice and Gregg Furie, compiled a summary of the existing literature on health and road design. They found evidence that narrower lanes can reduce travel speed and that fewer lanes increases road safety, among other things. (To give a sense of just how long a 55-foot crossing is — the length of a five-lane, 11-foot road — Elicker brandished a tape measure all the way across a room at a recent community meeting.)”

posted by: NH4All on September 10, 2019 9:13pm Yay, Justin!!!!! 👍🙋

posted by: AverageTaxpayer on September 10, 2019 9:23pm Wow! Imagine New Haven with smart, honest, ethical government?

posted by: THREEFIFTHS on September 10, 2019 9:26pm I heard Elicker Peeps are playing this. James Brown - The Boss https://youtu.be/jC2ZY2loo74

posted by: ElmCityAle on September 10, 2019 9:31pm “Elicker’s secret plan…” - hopefully you are speaking for yourself and not Mr. Elicker, because no candidate for mayor should have any “secret” plans, all the more so ones which represent the preferences of a small minority of city residents. Safer roads are in everyone’s interest (especially when traffic laws are enforced for all violators on the road); leftie wars against motor vehicles are not.

posted by: newhavenlives on September 10, 2019 9:35pm Yay. Here comes Elicker to take credit for all of the Mayor’s work next year. Let’s see how you save all the poisoned children, hire back former employees who engaged in egregious behavior and put together an administration that looks like the city.

posted by: WSQres on September 10, 2019 9:41pm I am stunned at the size of the margin. If Mayor Harp runs as a third party candidate it might make for a more interesting general election. But considering the magnitude of her defeat among her fellow Democrats would she have much of a chance? In any case I find it remarkable that this is the first time an incumbent mayor has lost a city wide race in 40 years.

posted by: Rachel in Ward 25 on September 10, 2019 9:46pm Hmmm… Asked, after the speech if she plans to run again in the general election, she said, “I will let you know.” I surely hope not. Let’s accept the decision of the voters and focus efforts on moving New Haven forward.

posted by: ShadowBoxer on September 10, 2019 9:55pm As a nerd who parses data at a granular level, this race was shaping up to be a nailbiter and down to absentee ballots like Ganim’s in Da’port as we speak. I did see a massive shift in the data after the “Drone On” commercial - one of the - and maybe the most egregious cases of political PR malpractice I have ever seen. It did not fall on deaf ears that Justin joked about “droning on” tonight at his speech. As petty as it may sound, dirt bikes and their menace were a legit concern across the city, and Mayor Harp’s ad about Justin using drones to “spy on” communities of color was a gross lie. I have never seen in my years of data crunching such a massive shift in public opinion in one media cycle. Every one plugged into the political scene in NH knew the context in which Justin was speaking. That is was racialized - and taken so far out of context -was a case of political malpractice. If I were a community college professor I might incorporate the “Drone On” mailer and commercial into my own textbook as a classic case of a public relations backfire. The mailer that also placed the drone above a bed peering through the curtains was hyperbolic and convinced many women of color to switch votes. In my lifetime only one commercial had such a data - shift: Joe Lieberman’s commercial depicting Weicker as a “bear” in the woods. But that had its intended result. The data shift of the DRONE ON mailer and TV commercial was an egregious example of a campaign spending $$$ to lose votes and thus the entire ball game. The numbers swung 14.8% in the wake of that ad - against Mayor Harp, and the stunt over the weekend w/ the apprehension of nine of 200+ bike riders was too transparent. Mayor Harp may have earned a bad rap, but the ad about drone spying on black communities backfired big time and will be used as a textbook case of how a late breaking half-baked brainstorm ad can swing an election. May our city be as resilient as the elms that swoon over it.

posted by: NHcares on September 10, 2019 10:02pm New Haven needs changed, good luck Mr. Elicker! Now, cam we start thinking about saving New Haven Apublic schools before all the talented people leave. Stop protecting the incompetent superintendent and her pack and hire a capable, honest, fair, and knowledgeable superintendent! I wish up the best.

posted by: ElmCitier on September 10, 2019 10:06pm Alas, Justin will inherit many of the same problems as Toni. His greatest enemy will be the state govt, which owes us bigly; Yale, which underpays; and the other town legislators, who shaft the city thru the absurdity that is home rule, to name but a few of our baddest actors. Toni’s strengths as NH’s rep to the state, which was what had recommended her, could not outweigh the fact that she employed the typical govt modus operandi of trying to get things done by keeping operations opaque. This in turn led to her losing control of staff—e.g., Bartlett—who took advantage of that opacity to help friends, themselves, her campaign, etc. I don’t think Toni was corrupt. (I didn’t think De Stefano was either.). But lack of transparency inevitably breeds bad behaviors. That’s what did her administration in, I believe. Will Justin—or rather his administration—fare better? That’s an open question. He will get benefit of the doubt…for now. But a wise man or woman would not, and ought not, take such for granted. Total aside. If Seth Poole does not run as an independent in the Mayoral race (or even if he does), I personally could not recommend anyone more highly than him for Jason Bartlett’s job as director of youth services in the next administration.

posted by: cellardoor on September 10, 2019 10:06pm Here’s hoping that Elicker promotes fiscal transparency and responsibility, and begins to right the ship. There is a lot of talent and passion in this city: I hope a new administration will tap into it.

posted by: zampano777 on September 10, 2019 10:17pm CONGRATULATIONS to Justin. He won fair and square, with honesty and transparency as the centerpieces of a campaign for bringing real change for New Haven.

I am finally proud to say I live in New Haven, even if a lot of hard work remains to be done to make this a great, small city. Hooray for Justin and Hooray for New Haven!

posted by: mrschramm on September 10, 2019 10:19pm Elicker’s win is a win for New Haven.

posted by: AverageTaxpayer on September 10, 2019 10:22pm The Democratic Party has spoken, clearly. Harp has to drop out of New Haven, and she will, if not tonight then tomorrow, when the shock of it all wears off. She has no path to victory, and the Union and WFP will not go out on a limb for her.

posted by: THREEFIFTHS on September 10, 2019 10:28pm Good thing Amazon had a job fair at city Hall.I hope a lot of them apply who work for the mayor.

posted by: ShadowBoxer on September 10, 2019 10:36pm At the end of the day, Mayor Harp in my view ushered our city through the recovery, and assembled a solid team at first. Say what you want about personalities, Mike Carter, Matt Nemerson and the late Andy Wolf added value to our city. The Chinese are fond of quoting the Tao te Ching, and as the Tao proclaims, “the only constant is change” and it may have been time for one. I am reminded of the motto on our state flag: Qui Translustet Sustinet - He Who Moves Sustains, or, They who change remain. It all depends on one’s school of Latin. I just wish every time we hear the prez drone on about the wall someone would remind him of our navy blue state flag and motto: they who get with the times and move on will thrive. That red wine grapes sway in the wind of our azure flag is a testament to many earthy sentiments. That our state is the one state to have red grapes on the flag, speaks to the virtue EN VINO ES VERITAS - in wine there is truth, and those who change now and then remain and sustain. Mayor Harp is a fine and competent person and navigated the city through rough seas. Now, the New England winds have shifted, and Toni knows when to bow out gracefully. Nemerson, Wolf, Carter all should be given credit too. That the city engaged in a civil and spirited debate among the populace is something to be mindful off as well. I will turn my Psalms at the End of the Mind to Wallace Steven’s poem: An Ordinary Evening in New Haven. Any a reader may simply google that poem: An Ordinary Evening in New Haven, and maybe even contemplate it in an Ordinary space, where Stevens first wrote it. May New Haven continue to be a haven for those who need one.

I am pretty proud of my city tonight. Before Zimbardo did the Stanford prison experiment on cruelty, he was interested in kindness. He dropped mad letters w. stamps all over the country and observed which city mailed them as a random act of kindness. The number one city? New Haven. Good hearts + mind

posted by: SparkJames on September 10, 2019 10:51pm Good work, New Haven. Harp should have challenged DeStefano 20 years ago. It was arrogant to jump in in 2013. I’m glad Elicker has planted roots in New Haven and has kept at it.

posted by: BetweenTwoRocks Dear Toni Harp, Thank you for your service to New Haven. Under your guidance, the city is in a better place than before you took over. But the voters have spoken. Please do not Lieberman us. Yours truly,

New Haven Democratic Voters

posted by: LoveNH on September 11, 2019 12:53am A 17 point margin is extraordinary and totally beyond my wildest expectation. It’s the kind of mandate for change that I hope will bring about some soul searching about what the local democratic electorate is trying to tell the local Democratic Party. I look forward to hearing those discussions.

posted by: Bill Saunders on September 11, 2019 1:27am This ‘referendum’ is a National News Story about the Power of People vs. Machine Politics. If we can’t make change ‘at home’ there is no reason to believe that real State or National Change can ever happen. New Haven deserves to be the City that leads the charge!!!!!

posted by: Bill Saunders on September 11, 2019 1:37am Shadowboxer, A great analysis, but it all really boils down to Harp making more poor Hiring Decisions (that she doesn’t know anything about).

posted by: Bill Saunders on September 11, 2019 1:48am Wheres Alex?

(who actually introduced himself to me across from ‘the party’.)

posted by: Bill Saunders on September 11, 2019 3:49am New Haven Lives, You’re a real Card!!!!!

posted by: CityYankee on September 11, 2019 4:54am If Mayor Harp puts her pride before the people of New Haven, she will run and tear the party apart before the new administration even has a chance. I hope she will not go so low because it would not be like her.

It’s nothing personal but it’s time for a new broom to sweep clean. Don’t think that the forces of corruption and nepotism will go quietly, though. All the good people of NH must support the new mayor with the huge task ahead. Democracy is not a one day job. The presence and voice of the people must be part of NH’s recovery and improvement. Our hopes are with Justin Elicker surrounding himself with honest, competent people and removing those who are not.

Godspeed; Justin Elicker. Wishing you success , for all of us. Now, if the BOE had the same guts to change superintendents and other top admins!!!........

posted by: CityYankee on September 11, 2019 5:35am @ shadow boxer—- can you please share the source of the Zimbardo letter experiment? I ‘d like to read about it and cannot find it. Thanks!

posted by: DMH464 on September 11, 2019 5:42am WOW, I didn’t see that coming. Full transparency, I am not a Toni Harp or Elicker fan but I will give him a chance. It ‘s long overdue for Harp to go.

posted by: jamesj@newhaven on September 11, 2019 6:25am Seems to me that a resounding defeat like this is also a message to Vinnie Mauro and the Democratic Machine—I mean party! It’s time for wholesale change there as well.

posted by: Stephen Harris on September 11, 2019 6:32am Congratulations Justin! You have the integrity and drive to be a very good Mayor. First thing is to fully fund the City Plan Departmemt. It was ignored by the last two mayors and is badly under funded. A modern, progressive city needs a modern, progressive planning department and development code. Reach out to the Congress for The New Urbanism for ideas.

posted by: Stephen Harris on September 11, 2019 6:43am I hope Toni Harp doesn’t run on a third party ticket. It would just be a vanity project and would sully her name.

posted by: Noteworthy on September 11, 2019 7:00am Can You Hear Me Now Notes: 1. There is a mandate for change, for a different way of governing. There is a demand for accountability, for rational, transparent and open government; for rampant use of paid leave to end. There is a call for a balanced budget, not with debt, but really balanced with a real Rainy Day Fund. 2. The Unite, union backed alders and the rest of them who denigrate our voices, ignore us at public hearings; who railroad us with BS and self serving nonsense that serves themselves, not the public: You have destabilized our finances. Pay Attention. 3. Unite and their minions have ruined this city. The accounting has begun.

posted by: JMS on September 11, 2019 7:52am @ noteworthy… Well said.

posted by: ctddw on September 11, 2019 8:34am Personally, I feel the list of Toni Harp’s accomplishments is what led to her election loss. You can’t say knowing how the government works at the state level is an asset and then complain the school budget is in a shamble because the state didn’t pay their fair share; You claim to know how state government works but you couldn’t get them to pay; You can’t claim crime is down when the murders declined after a huge federal drug sweep not by anything you did at a local level. Supposedly the crime was down because you worked at a community level trying to get offenders on the right track. But yet again there was another federal drug sweep that nabbed a large number of offenders. Recently young offenders are on the rise again with breaking into cars, home and stealing everything that isn’t nailed down - so obviously what you did was not a permanent solution. Then the ridiculous drone ads the campaign ran followed by a week of chaos with dirt bike / atv riders that actually demonstrated why Elicker feels drones can help. We are tired of being broke, unsafe, and being taken advantage of.

posted by: A_Republican You know, for a party that crucifies us for lack of diversity, the Democrats are gonna have the Governor, both US Senators, 3 congressman, senate president and majority leader, speaker of the house and majority leader, and the mayors of the 4 biggest cities in the state all being straight white men. Talk about pot calling the kettle white

posted by: 1644 on September 11, 2019 9:11am between two: Lieberman lost the Democratic primary, but used the support of unaffiliated and Republican voters to win the general election. Elicker, not Harp, explicitly stated that his strategy was the same as Lieberman’s, as she would have the party apparatus behind her for the primary (viz. the DTC endorsement), while he would have more support among unaffiliated voters and other party registrants such as Pat Kane. Of course, unlike Elicker or Lieberman, it’s hard to see a path to victory for Harp. If the unions and her aldermanic supporters couldn’t deliver the vote for her in the primary, how could they deliver it in the general? Moreover, why would they want to antagonize Elicker, who will almost certainly win the general? Would donors give to Harp when it is unlikely she will be able to direct tax dollars to them in return? I wouldn’t be shocked if Vinnie & Mike Giordano, and Al Secondino & his son, are writing $390 checks to Elicker right now.

posted by: 1644 on September 11, 2019 9:17am Noteworthy: Elicker said he was ready to work with Unite-HERE. He owes it nothing, but does not want to fight it. Hopefully, the power dynamic will have changed, although Unite-HERE alders often obstructed Yale construction supported by Harp such as the Elm Street LL Bean building and Gibbs Laboratory replacement.

posted by: 1644 on September 11, 2019 9:23am Regarding Elicker’s thank-you’s the sitting alders had a lot to lose in supporting the upstart, most notably Bracken, who could be accessed of being a traitor to his race. I don’t, however, see what Jefferson or Casanova had to lose. They were on the outs with Harp already, and their support for Elicker was likely motivated by revenge and bitterness, more than a desire for something better.

posted by: JohnTulin on September 11, 2019 9:28am I wonder what impact Sunday’s dirt-bike/atv chaos played in dooming Harp. Yes, the police arrested a few of them but it really reinforced the idea that the city is out of control. Harp’s anti-drone position was questionable in the first place and Sunday’s chaos only reminded us the Elicker is offering solutions (not more problems).

posted by: formerNHIT on September 11, 2019 9:52am Its all about the tax hike, Harp lost because her administration raised taxes to insane levels and her pick for Superintendent has destabilized the school district. At the end of the day people will vote with their wallets in mind if the taxes will make it difficult for them to live. You cannot blame them for that. Lets see if she does the honorable thing and exists now.

posted by: TruthHurts on September 11, 2019 9:57am I am so happy for Justin. New Haven definitely needs a change. Birks and her administration, Chief Reyes, etc, and any of Harp’s appointments, I would not get too comfortable!!

posted by: anonymous on September 11, 2019 10:27am Fair point, A Republican. But please also keep in mind that in 2018, Republicans elected 1 new woman to Congress while Democrats elected 22. White men are 90% of the Republicans caucus, while they are 38% of the Democratic caucus. Yes, white men are over represented in both, but that’s not just a matter of degrees, it’s a totally different world.

posted by: 1644 on September 11, 2019 10:41am jamesj@newhaven: Did you not see Vinnie Mauro at the Elicker party? Mauro works for Looney, with whom Harp picked a fight by blaming lack of state aid for New Haven’s financial problems, as well as being on opposite sides of the airport issue. Elicker’s win strengthens Mauro. Bill S.: Alex has been posting on Facebook. He blames state legislators for Harp’s loss, is reconsidering his support of Looney, and has changed his registration to Working Families.

posted by: 1644 on September 11, 2019 11:05am Truth hurts: CT police and fire chiefs’ jobs are protected from polifical firings by statute.

posted by: MojitoMama on September 11, 2019 11:37am I am happy that the honest campaign won out over the dishonest, conspiracy theory-driven campaign.

posted by: Brian L. Jenkins on September 11, 2019 12:05pm Allow me to breakdown the numbers as I see it. Let me preface my remarks by congratulating Elicker and his supporters for their victory. And more importantly, I hope he succeeds well in the capacity of Mayor of the City of NH. Pardon me for not being pithy, but of substance I am: The Mayor ran a horrible campaign. Those awful numbers denote how detached she is with the voters who should’ve been construed as her base supporters. When you ignore your base, you lose. When you genuinely care, the people know it. When genuinely don’t give a (();&$;://:;)( the people know that too. That said, I applaud the voters that didn’t come out, more than I do the voters who did. Accountability matters! Let’s look at who did not show up for the Mayor? A) The Black community 55 and under were no where to be found; and the Blacks that did show up were pitiful in their numbers, understandably. B) The Latino community sat down for Harp. Notwithstanding the many opportunities she poured into their community. E.g., the police chief, firing Nicole Jefferson unjustifiably and filling her position with a Latino gentleman whose done nothing in the position, but was paid well for appearance. Not to mention how pathetic her chief of staff performed while neglecting to deliver the vote that she was dependent on. C) The White voters that she was trying to appeal to from the inception of her tenure, turned their back on her and decided to support a more appealing candidate. Do you blame them? Finally, let me say this, although DeStefano raised taxes exhaustively while mayor, and both never tried to control spending, in my view, it was the 13% tax increase that was the proverbial nail in the coffin for her reelection. But let me caution Team Elicker, if I had a desire to run for mayor of NH, looking at those abysmal numbers overall, I would be assembling my team immediately. And I know just the guy who can pull it off.

posted by: vpaul on September 11, 2019 12:26pm “The voters have spoken,” and Elicker’s “mandate”? Hilarious. 7,000 votes our of 40,000 possible! What a mandate! Less than one out of five. Only thing worse is the Harp result: 5,000 out of 40,000. Of course, when you’re double-crossed by the Town Chairman and you have no competent politicos working for you, what do you expect? The apathy of New Haven voters is beyond comment, except for one: PITIFUL.

posted by: alex on September 11, 2019 12:35pm If this poor turnout makes Elicker our mayor, I hope he is the greatest mayor our city has ever seen. I sympathize sometimes with Mayor Harp who has a difficult job as the manager of a diverse and vibrant but structurally oppressed municipality. I would sympathize - and offer to do my best to help - with Elicker should he take office. There can be No question that the campaign, the DTC, and the state party apparatus failed to honor what still is, in my view, a fine record of public service and service to the Democratic Party. What caused her defeat? The atmosphere of racism stoked by Donald Trump? The tax increase? The lead paint lawsuit? The employment lawsuits (which have always existed and will likely continue under every mayor)? Dr. Birks’ tenure at the Board of Ed? An amazingly effective negative campaign that took advantage of all of these factors led to victory. A final note: I hope the mayor keeps running. This race while negative has brought out energy in our city. We had two candidates who are at heart good people, who agree on fundamental issues like Sanctuary Status, and we have had debate that crosses racial and gender and class lines. After 30 years of public service, why shouldn’t our mayor have the chance to make her case — now unconnected from the party that abandoned her — that she should be able to retire on her own terms. It may have to start with a little cleaning house. No matter what, you all know I’m with Toni! Keep monitoring my social media ;)

posted by: Dennis Serf on September 11, 2019 1:22pm We need to take back the Board of Alders, and its not too late to do it THIS YEAR. The results tell us we have informed voters who want change. There is still time to mount a campaign as a WRITE IN candidate. In some wards you can win with as few as 150 votes. If you’ve thought about running, now is the time. Please reach out to me at

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)



It’s time to dismantle the machine!!!

Dennis Serfilippi

https://www.facebook.com/SerfilippiForAlder-675305186265543/

posted by: TruthHurts on September 11, 2019 1:24pm @1644: Understood. As far as the Chief of Police, I meant to say that once Campbells contract runs out in 2021, Elicker may not sign Reyes to a new contract.

posted by: Kevin McCarthy on September 11, 2019 1:25pm Alex, while I respect where you are coming from, I think it would be unwise for Mayor Harp to continue the race. Both campaigns engaged in ugly tactics, and there is every reason to believe this would continue through the general election. And the city is facing some particularly thorny issues on education administration, lead paint, etc. While Mayor Harp is very competent, the laws of Newtonian physics apply to her. She can only be at one place at one time. While she is campaigning, she cannot be working on solutions to these issues.

posted by: The Cause on September 11, 2019 1:34pm Alex, This Italian American is with you. Ever since Mayor Lee bull dozed the homes of New Haven’s republican neighborhoods, this town has slowly become a one party town. Now, a town of 130,000 is to have its new leader picked with only seven thousand votes. Mayor Harp should adjuster her cabinet and show us what a 2020 administration will look like. Elicker is green an untested, he is backed by the party bosses. Say good by to an airport and an equal representative government. Mayor Harp you are a fighter!!! Fight for, The Cause !!!!

posted by: thecove on September 11, 2019 1:38pm @1644 Yes, Chief’s jobs are protected by state statute, which means they can only be removed for just cause. But….they are also under contract which the new administration does not have to renew. Chief Reyes contract, for example, expires in about a year and a half. If a new mayor does not want to renew it, he’s out.

posted by: New Haven Nuisance This primary’s turnout was good, a true representation of the democratic will of the people of our city, and similar overall to voter turnout in 2013 when there were six candidates with six campaign teams and six get out the vote operations running for hotly contested citywide seats (Mayor and City/Town clerk), versus the two candidates and two campaigns running in this year’s primary. The fact that with only two candidates that the turnout remained as high as it did and that Mr. Elicker won by the margin that he did, shows his teams’s dedication to grassroots community organizing and that he is serious about carrying this community service model into the Mayor’s office. Congratulations to Mr. Elicker and his team, and now the work begins!

posted by: alex on September 11, 2019 1:40pm I respectfully disagree Kevin. Your two points are well-taken. The campaign was ugly and there’s tons of work to do. But an improved campaign message that elevates the debate and brings in more participation addresses both concerns. I think it should be up to the mayor how she wants to proceed, and there’s some time to decide.

posted by: Tiggy on September 11, 2019 1:47pm The deciding factor for giving my vote to Elicker was the selection of Police Chief. As a Hispanic living in Fair Haven, where I never saw Harp, many of my Hispanic brothers and sisters felt you were trying to buy votes by choosing a Police Chief that looks like us. We never saw you in our neighborhood until your campaign began and many of us don’t even know Chief Reyes. I don’t vote based on whether someone’s last name ends is a “z” or “s” like mine. I vote based on who I feel will bring about change to this city. You obviously did not understand that and that was one of the reasons you lost in Fair Haven.

posted by: Honest in New Haven on September 11, 2019 2:22pm Mayor Harp was counting on “Black and Brown” votes to come out for her??? I wonder why she would think that when she did pitifully little for the “Brown” community while in office. Looks like Fair Haven stayed home. It’s clear for all to see that an endorsement from the Latino politicos isn’t worth much these days, when anyone who is watching can see Mayor Harp didn’t do much for that community. Only Candelaria and friends know why they choose to endorse her when she did so little for their community. No Latinos in leadership at City Hall, nor are there any being groomed for future leadership. Latina/o teachers leaving the school system and she could care less. Services for Spanish-speaking schoolchildren being cutback with no regard for how to these children will be properly taught. Her one senior hire who is Latino was a questionable hire at best.

posted by: Brutus2011 on September 11, 2019 2:34pm Elicker’s possibility of becoming mayor is a ray of hope that maybe, maybe, something will change for the better in New Haven. If he wins, I just might come back. Also, I’m not going to trash Mayor Harp and thank her for her service. Yay!

posted by: anonymous on September 11, 2019 2:45pm “Say good bye to an airport” Sorry, but the airport isn’t going anywhere. It is mostly opposed by a few older, white homeowners who live right next to it. Leadership knows that if the city wants economic opportunities for younger entrepreneurs, who are now mostly Black and brown, it needs to have a viable transportation system. A couple of additional flights would bring hundreds if not thousands of jobs to New Haven, require no changes to the boundary of the airport, and probably double the property values in Morris Cove. Also, if the city for some reason didn’t support its critical infrastructure, Yale would pull its voluntary $11,000,000 per year. That money obviously comes with strings attached. Some of it is earmarked to the relatively tiny amount that the city contributes each year to Tweed’s budget. Other parts of it are earmarked to redeveloping downtown roadways so that Yale can construct more buildings near its medical campus. Yale is likely to pitch in even more money each year if the city promises to spend it wisely on projects like these that will improve the city’s financial situation over the long term.

posted by: missthenighthawks on September 11, 2019 2:57pm With the mill rate being as high as she made it, how long before ex-Mayor Harp moves from expensive Ward 25 to a low mill rate community? Nothing holding her in NH anymore. For that matter, maybe she’ll retire and move to Florida or South Carolina, or some other low tax state that hasn’t had their finances screwed up by career politicians.

posted by: cellardoor on September 11, 2019 3:37pm Here’s what I wrote to an activist friend in town: ” How proud you must be of your own hard work, and of our fellow citizens of New Haven, that an ugly racialized campaign was unsuccessful, that last-minute photo ops and police actions weren’t successful, that residents win out over regional union power structures’ and out-of-town developers’ money.” Justin has his work cut out for him, if he wins the general election. He’ll need lots of patience, insight, and help from New Haveners as we dig ourselves out of a deep hole. One of Harp’s signal errors early on in her six-year tenure was cutting property taxes: politically popular, fiscally exactly the wrong move, contributing to the need to borrow more money to counter structural deficit spending. Our children, if we ever can lure them back to town, will have to pay that bill, and we all will pay the cost of our near-junk-bond rating. Those New Haveners who voted in the 2019 primary seem to understand that we really are on the hook for real money, that we are not the US Treasury printing a reserve currency. I hope brilliant technocrats with heart step up to fill important roles in the Elicker administration. I hope Yale recognizes that New Haven and the University are conjoined twins: one cannot thrive if the other does not. Those of us who pay giant property tax bills will need to accept that our mortgages are significantly smaller than they would have been if we had bought property in Fairfield or Westport, and who would want to live there? But we shouldn’t agitate for lower property taxes until the city fisc is restored to health. Remember: if New Haven comes much closer to bankruptcy, the MARB will assume control of our finances, and their first move will be to raise property taxes. Believe it or not, ours are not the highest in Connecticut. Face the music, and come together to help a new, responsible city administration that promotes transparency and best practices in city management.

posted by: westville man on September 11, 2019 3:50pm The Mayor shouldn’t run. She’s a lifelong democrat and to now run against a democrat in the general election would mean she would not only lose twice but ignore the will of the democratic voters.

We voted for change. It’s time for her generation to step aside and let the next one in. I hope Justin doesn’t let us down. Mayor Harp did in a number of ways.

But I thank her for her years of service and commitment to the people of New Haven, especially when she was our State Senator.

Thank you, Mayor Harp. Do the right thing and help Justin with the transition.

posted by: BetweenTwoRocks alex: The idea that Harp could complain about negative campaigning with the campaign she ran is comical at best. Drones spying on us? Elicker’s wife is a Trump goon? Seriously? Both campaigns ran pretty negative, so the idea that anybody here can throw stones is pretty wild.

posted by: Bill Saunders on September 11, 2019 4:49pm Elm Citier: I second your nomination of Seth Poole to head up Youth Services!

posted by: Thomas Alfred Paine on September 11, 2019 4:51pm @alex

In this campaign I have observed your devotion to Mayor Harp.

One thing is quite puzzling to me. Often Harp supporters have criticized Elicker of running a very negative, bitter campaign. Many of his supporters felt that he should’ve been tougher in this fight. But he remained a gentleman, maintained his cool even when his wife was attacked, never made any personal attacks, but persisted in attacking Harp’s record AND HER POLICIES.

He never rendered tit for tat. When Harp went low, he never followed her to the cesspool to respond in kind. He stayed upbeat and optimistic.

Harp was the divider in this race, a division she should have repudiated. Harp exploited the race/ class issue to pander to those she thought was her base, many of whom did not even vote for her. Harp and her campaign started the race baiting with the now infamous Trump-Elicker ad designed to smear Elicker as an elitist suburbanite white man who cared less about people of color by comparing him to Trump. Then came the phony Trump-FBI-Mauro-Elicker conspiracy charge to foment a federal investigation of the Harp administration. Then came the accusation that Elicker wanted to use drones to spy on the black community. Then there was the charge that using the Democracy Fund benefited rich candidates and wealthy people, and hurt the poor that she “represented.” ALL LIES. All deceptions. All personal attacks.

You, sir, an officer of the court, supported and defended that and more, but the voters of this city saw through all the bunk and voted for Elicker anyway.

The Harp campaign was based in part on her record, but it was also based on a foundation of lies, and those who knowingly supported her anyway, from preachers to politicians, were complicit in that deceit!

I challenge you to produce any personal attacks, slanders, or lies, or mean-spirited, vicious comments made by Elicker. Attack a record is not a slander. Truth, though uncomfortable, can never be branded a lie.

In democracy majority rules.

posted by: alex on September 11, 2019 4:54pm BetweenTwoRocks, I see where you’re coming from but completely disagree. Justin Elicker was allowed to be angry and indignant about the drone attack. He was allowed to be angry and indignant about the Trump attack. But how hurtful were those attacks? As everyone is pointing out, they didn’t land. They didn’t seem to convince anyone. They were ginned up by ineffective consultants & a young and inexperienced campaign manager. And they didn’t seem to have much invested in them. But according to materials I read, Mayor Harp was responsible for poisoning children, causing overdoses on the Green and a spike in property crime, giving jobs to her friends, stealing money from the city, FBI investigation, you name it. She was made responsible for anything negative that happened in the city and given no credit for any of the positive. The comparison between those Mickey Mouse attacks and the full-frontal assault on the mayor is false equivalence. So was the disproportionate rage from Elicker’s camp . I got many many more times more mail from Elicker than I ever got from Mayor Harp. Mayor Harp wasn’t allowed to be indignant about the attacks on her record. The nasty things that were said about her. “Corrupt” and “stealing from taxpayers” were on the nice end of false things people were saying about her, but the system doesn’t allow someone who looks like Toni Harp to respond with indignant anger. She’s immediately portrayed as playing the “race card” or the “victim card” or as an “angry black woman.” And what really could the mayor say that was more plausible—Elicker has very little public track record to criticize. Anything she says can be plausibly denied by this clean young man. She was on a one-way street, facing many double standards, that put the mayor at a powerful disadvantage in this primary.

I think this op-ed powerfully describes some of the phenomena at play. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/opinion-angry-black-women_n_5bbf7652e4b040bb4e800249

posted by: 1644 on September 11, 2019 5:21pm She was made responsible for anything negative that happened in the city and given no credit for any of the positive

The above is true of all incumbents. Overall, voters in elections with incumbents weigh the positive against the negative. Challengers play up negative things, while incumbents play up positive things, even though the incumbent often has little effect on either the negative or the positive. Harp had the opportunity to emphasize all the positive things she had done for everyone in New Haven, yet she chose to run a racially divisive campaign.

posted by: alex on September 11, 2019 5:33pm 1644,

The very same forces that make life difficult for incumbents will challenge Elicker. I hope he rises to the challenge. I very much doubt that the mayor losing had more to do with choices she made about the campaign, and not fundamentals like taxes, BOE dysfunction, and lead paint, which Elicker exploited through his own brand of divisive campaigning. To say divisive campaigning is the loser here is decidedly one-sided analysis.

posted by: Bill Saunders on September 11, 2019 6:12pm As Dennis Serfilllipi mentioned—there is still time to register as a write-in candidate for Alder.

That deadline is October 22. And while ‘the write-in’ is generally seen as ‘last ditch, most difficult ‘path’ to election, just remember that Jarjuro kept his Mayoralty in Waterbury in 2005 as a write-in candidate after losing the primary. Lisa Murkowski also kept her Alaskan Senate Seat in 2010 as a write-in candidate. But on a Ward Level, with grassroots support, I believe the Write-in is a viable path to defeating some ‘entrenched’ Alders.