CT voters head to polls Tuesday for big-city mayors, small-towns

From large cities to small, rural towns, voters will head to the polls Tuesday to decide largely local issues in the off-year elections.

Voters will choose the mayors of Hartford, Bridgeport, New Haven, Waterbury and other communities as all 169 municipalities will pick their leaders.

One of the most contentious races is in Bridgeport, where Mayor Joe Ganim is facing off against challenger John Gomes in a bitter contest. After allegations of absentee ballot fraud that were caught on videotape and led to a civil trial, a Superior Court judge ordered a new Democratic primary. But the judge has no power to stop Tuesday’s general election, which will proceed. If Gomes wins, he would drop his lawsuit and become the mayor. If Ganim wins Tuesday, a primary would be held at a future date, according to the judge’s ruling.

In a rare referendum, Simsbury residents will decide whether marijuana can be sold at retail shops in their  town. Most communities have already allowed their town councils or zoning commissions to make those decisions since recreational marijuana was legalized.

Connecticut is known for not having California-style referendums where voters can weigh in on a wide variety of major issues. But a local voter collected nearly 2,000 petition signatures and forced the referendum in Simsbury, a Hartford suburb with about 24,000 residents.

Connecticut voters are concerned about property taxes, education, and economic development, but the issues cut differently in each town depending on how much taxes are going up or whether voters are content with the public education system.

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While former President Donald J. Trump remains a major force in American politics, officials said he is not seen as having as much impact during the off-year election as he did in the 2016, 2018, and 2020 races.

“In some places, people are trying to bring in the Trump factor,” said state Republican chairman Ben Proto.

“I’ve had conversations when somebody asks that question, and I say, ‘Can you explain to me what Donald Trump has to do with how the streets are plowed in that town? Or how the trash is picked up?’ I don’t get it. I don’t see him on the ballot,” he said.

“At the end of the day, municipal elections are literally about plowing the streets, picking up the trash, making sure the parks are safe, making sure the schools work, making sure the health department works properly, making sure the police, fire department, and EMS services are properly deployed. It always amazes me that the single most impactful election that we have has the lowest turnout of any election.”

Like Proto, Democratic state Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo said she, too, is concerned about potentially low turnout in an off-year when the president, governor, and members of Congress are not on the ballot.

“It’s unfortunate, and it’s pretty ironic,” DiNardo said in an interview. “You can’t call the president up and complain about something, and yet you can call your mayor or first selectman, and chances are you are going to get a response back to your question. Where it makes the biggest difference for you personally, we don’t get people to come out and vote.”

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One of the lowest turnouts has been in Hartford, where political newcomer Arunan Arulampalam won the Democratic primary in September with only about 2,100 votes in a city of about 120,000 residents. Two challengers, former state Sen. Eric Coleman and Sen. John Fonfara, received about 1,500 votes each. The voter turnout was only 14% in the primary.

On Tuesday, Arulampalam is seen as the favorite in a large field of seven candidates that includes Republican Mike McGarry with Coleman as a write-in candidate in an overwhelmingly Democratic city.

“Arunan will make a great mayor,” DiNardo said. “He relates to people well, and he does want to hear from people.”

13 candidates from 5 political parties on ballot for Hartford city council seats

While Connecticut is considered an increasingly deep blue state and all statewide offices are held by Democrats, Republicans currently control at least 58% of the municipalities statewide. Republicans have not won a Congressional race in Connecticut since 2006, but they routinely win in small and medium-sized towns.Democratic candidate for mayor of Hartford, Arunan Arulampalam, is the frontrunner in Tuesday’s election. Here, he accepts the nomination at the Democratic convention with his family by his side at M.D. Fox School in Hartford. (Jessica Hill/Special to the Courant)

Bridgeport

The long-running battle in Bridgeport pits Ganim against Gomes, who is running as a third-party candidate in a race that also includes David R. Herz and petitioning candidate Lamond T. Daniels.

Although Gomes won more votes on the election tabulators on primary day, Ganim pulled ahead in the final tally by 251 after receiving an overwhelming number of absentee votes. Gomes soon after filed a civil lawsuit that led to a trial.

The judge ordered a new primary after seeing a video that has been broadcast by television stations around the state and has been viewed multiple times on YouTube. The video shows a city employee walking back and forth outside the Bridgeport government center and dropping papers into an absentee ballot box. The time stamps, Gomes says, show that seven drops were made during the span of two hours on Sept. 5, including six by the same woman and one by a man.

The Gomes campaign attorney said that the videos showed about 420 people placed ballots into the special collection boxes, but more than 1,250 ballots were actually collected from the boxes.

Ganim, who testified at the trial, spoke strongly on the issue.

“I want to state unequivocally that I do not condone, in any way, actions taken by anyone
including any campaign, city, or elected official, which undermines the integrity of either the
electoral process or city property,” Ganim said.

Ganim served several terms as mayor before being convicted in a bribery scheme. He spent seven years in a federal prison after being convicted of 16 felonies, including bribery, extortion, racketeering, and conspiracy, stemming from kickback schemes when he was mayor.

After leaving prison, he staged a comeback and defeated then-Mayor Bill Finch in a primary in September 2015. He has served as mayor ever since.

By early Friday, 2,521 absentee ballots had been issued to registered voters in Bridgeport, the highest number in the state, according to statistics from the Secretary of the State’s office. Of those issued, 1,230 had been returned with votes for Tuesday’s election.

The various scenarios are complicated. If Gomes wins on Tuesday, he would become the next mayor as he would drop his civil lawsuit, according to his attorney. If Ganim wins the general election, then a second Democratic primary would be held on a future date agreed upon by the two candidates.

“How many times will Bridgeport have to be embarrassed by its elected officials and insiders as they continue to abuse the voters’ trust and the taxpayers’ dollars before we finally get the chance to elect a Mayor who will truly fight for all of us?” asked Daniels, who is running as a petitioning candidate. “While this ruling is a victory for democracy and election integrity, it not only upends the mayoral race, but it also further tarnishes our reputation, and once more disenfranchises the voters with a low turnout off-cycle primary and subsequent general election.”

Simsbury pot referendum

One of the hottest local issues in the Farmington Valley is whether Simsbury residents will allow the retail sales of marijuana.

While the referendums are relatively rare, residents in Waterbury and Ledyard voted last year to allow the retail sales in relatively close votes, but Litchfield residents blocked the sales.

When the state legislature voted to allow recreational sales, lawmakers said that each of the 169 towns could decide whether the retail shops would be allowed in their town. Like other towns, Simsbury currently has a moratorium on sales while the issue is decided.

The decisions vary from town to town. Recreational sales are currently allowed in West Hartford, Canton, Hartford, Manchester, and Enfield, among others. But the sales have been banned in places like Avon, Glastonbury, Southington, New Canaan, and Greenwich.

Statewide, dispensaries can be found from Stamford to Danbury and Hartford to New London. After various delays to prepare for the openings at licensed retailers, recreational sales started in Connecticut on January 10, 2023.

Very simply, the 13-word question on the ballot is: “Shall the sale of recreational marijuana be
allowed in the Town of Simsbury?”

House Republican leader Vincent Candelora of North Branford said it is important for voters to decide about marijuana as its use has become more widespread in public.

“You go to carnivals with children, and you’re smelling it,” Candelora said. “Everybody is impacted by it because it is just like cigarette smoke. But the difference is children are now being exposed to it because it’s just everywhere. … This whole scheme was put in place to be able to get rid of the black market, but what we’re seeing now is the Wild West. There is no enforcement.”

Education in Avon

Both Democrats and Republicans are watching various races across the state.

In Avon, some voters are passionate about public education and the parental rights movement. The town’s senior center was the gathering spot for a recent meeting of Moms for Liberty, a nationally known conservative group that has generated controversy among critics for pushing book banning while the group says it is seeking age-appropriate books for children.

Signs along busy Route 167 in Avon show support for Democrats on Row A and Republicans on Row B. One prominent sign says, “Let kids be kids. Parental rights. Focus on excellence. Transparent curriculum. Vote only Row B.”

Further down the street, several blue-and-white signs call for support of Democrats on Row A. “We will not let hate win!” one sign says.

In West Haven, state Rep. Dorinda Borer is battling against Republican Barry Lee Cohen for mayor in an open seat as incumbent Democrat Nancy Rossi is not seeking reelection. Rossi has been under sharp scrutiny for nearly two years as the city was thrown into political turmoil with the arrest of then-city employee and state Rep. Michael DiMassa for stealing $1.2 million in federal COVID relief money by billing the city for pandemic-related consulting services that federal officials said he never performed. Cohen lost to Rossi in 2021 by only 32 votes in a harsh battle that went to a recount.

As Democrats have become stronger in recent years in Greenwich, Republicans are closely watching the battle for the 12-member finance panel that is known as the Board of Estimate and Taxation, where the party with the most votes gets to chair the evenly split board. They are also watching the outcome for the 230-member Representative Town Meeting, a sprawling, elected group that gets the final determination on key issues in Greenwich.

In Milford, the normally quiet race for city clerk has burst into charges and countercharges as Democrats have blasted Republican candidate Jack Fowler for social media posts on Israel and other subjects that date back more than a decade. Fowler, the former publisher of the conservative magazine National Review, is facing off against Democrat Karen Fortunati, an attorney who currently holds the $91,000-per-year position and has avoided getting involved in the criticisms of her opponent.

In Hartford, incumbent Democratic city treasurer Carmen Sierra holds a contract that means she would still have a job in the treasurer’s office if she loses the election Tuesday to longtime Democratic political operative Matthew J. Hennessy. Sierra says Hennessy is not a “legitimate” candidate because he received no votes at the city convention in July, but he collected enough signatures to gain a spot on the November ballot as a petitioning candidate.

Some residents are concerned about a possible drop-off in support as voters must turn the ballot over because the treasurer’s race is listed on the opposite side of the mayor and city council races.

Each party has its own strength in certain geographical areas in running unopposed for top spots.

Among Republicans, former state senator Toni Boucher is running unopposed for first selectman in Wilton, while former Rep. Dan Carter has no opponent in Bethel and Jamie Cosgrove has none in Branford. On the Democratic side, state Sen. Norm Needleman is running unopposed for first selectman in a seat he has held for 12 years.

Incumbent mayors Erin Stewart in New Britain and Justin Elicker in New Haven are expected to win in their cities, officials said.

“Taxes and education are the two top issues generally, but if nothing has changed, people aren’t paying attention,” DiNardo said. “But change one of those two issues, and you’ll get a lot of people coming out.”

Candelora and others say the politicians with the most popularity and the best get-out-the-vote efforts will likely emerge Tuesday as the winners.

“I think the old adage that all politics is local kind of rings through in this election cycle,” Candelora said. “I think these local races have less to do about party and more to do about the local candidates and how good they are.”

Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com