NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Tuesday, September 12th is primary election day in Connecticut.
That’s when voters will decide which Democratic or Republican candidates will be on the ballot come November for municipal and town-wide positions.
In New Haven, voters have the power to decide which of two democratic mayoral candidates will lead the way into the general election.
On the ballot Tuesday will be two-term incumbent, Mayor Justin Elicker, seeking re-election. Running against him is democratic challenger Liam Brennan, a former federal prosecutor and the current inspector general for the City of Hartford.
FOX61 caught up with both candidates ahead of the election.
"We've got a lot more work to do but we've made incredible progress over these last four years,” said Mayor Justin Elicker (D) New Haven.
Elicker gained the support of state leaders over the weekend, coming to New Haven to back his campaign.
Mayor Elicker said in his two terms, he's added 900 affordable housing units, cut down on the number of shootings taking place throughout the city, and increased the education budget by $8 million.
Moving forward, Elicker said he wants to improve the way they do housing inspections to hold landlords accountable and continue to focus on schoolchildren.
“What's high priority right now is ensuring that kids are in their seats, that we address the absentee challenges that we've seen. and that we're focusing on literacy,” Elicker said.
Elicker’s opponent, Liam Brennan, feels the city needs to have a better, clear-cut vision.
“That’s kind of been my critique of this administration up to now. Four years in, I don’t know where it wants to take the city,” Brennan said, the democratic challenger running against Elicker for mayor in the primaries.
Brennan also has his priorities lined up.
“We need to address housing affordability here in New Haven, we need to build a better school system that we invest in for the future. We need to take a new approach to public safety, and treat the climate crisis like it is,” Brennan said.
Brennan wants to update old zoning codes, add more traditional housing, and be more aggressive with landlords. When it comes to violence, he said we need to get down to the source of the problem.
“Really to address this, we have to address the gun pipeline. The people who are profiting off of bringing the guns into the city and getting these guns out of town, and I think that will make the biggest difference for our residents,” Brennan said.
But what’s the big difference between the two candidates? Mayor Elicker believes it’s the four years he already has under his belt as mayor.
“This election boils down to experience and I think when you compare the two candidates it’s pretty clear,” Elicker said. “The second thing is, the overwhelming support that we have seen from so many different levels of government and partners out there.”
Brennan disagrees with that point.
“I have been the director of a state-wide public corruption task force in the federal government. I ran a state-wide legal aid organization, and I launched the first permanent inspector generals office in Hartford. So, I have a lot more experience coming into this role than he ever had, so I don’t really think experience is really the issue,” Brennan said.
Elicker and Brennan may be the only ones on the ballot for the primaries however, there are two more candidates who hope to face them in the general election come November.
The winner of Tuesday’s primary will face Tom Goldenberg in November. He’s a registered Democrat with an endorsement for the Republican Town Committee and the Independent Party. However, Goldenberg did not get enough valid signatures to compete in the primary.
Wendy Hamilton will also be on the ballot, running as an Independent.
Elicker has also been endorsed by the Working Families Party. Therefore, if he doesn’t win this primary election, he will still be on the ballot for the other party come November.
As a reminder to voters, the polls open at 6 a.m. on Tuesday and they close at 8 p.m.
Julia LeBlanc is a reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at jleblanc@fox61.com Follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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