Voters trek to the polls Tuesday to determine at least some of the leadership that will make the decisions over the next two years. Voters all over the state will follow as the odd-year municipal elections are the focus of balloting this year.
West Haven, meanwhile, several certainties going into Tuesday’s vote: Mayor Dorinda Borer is assured of a second term, as are Democrats in the third, seventh and tenth council districts. Borer and the other three, Sarah Ackbarali in the third, Kathleen Tucker in the seventh, and Ron Quagliani in the tenth, are running unopposed. The city’s Republican Party was able to put up a partial slate, with no one taking the top spot, or the three uncontested districts.
The same is true for the Judge of Probate election. Judge Mark DeGennaro is retiring from the post with the Democrats putting up Attorney Timothy Gunning.
Another anomaly in this year’s election is a three-way race for one of the three council at-large seats on the 13-member panel. Under the city’s charter at least one minority party member has to be represented on the council, with the three top vote getters, the first two in the majority party, and the balloter in the minority party getting seats.
This year, both the Democrats and Republicans have put up a slate of two candidates. The Democrats have Sean Ronan and Peter Rivera running for the spots on row A, while the Republicans are putting up Bob Glass and Meli Garthwait on row B. But there is another candidate looking for that third slot.
Chairman of the city’s Fair Rent Commission Steven R. Mullins is running on the Independent Party line on Row C. Mullins, a long-time member of the GOP Town Committee and perennial candidate broke with the party shortly after the 2023 election, citing philosophical differences.
Mullins’ candidacy throws the entire third seat race into question as Mullins has name and face recognition as opposed to the GOP of candidates. If he can secure the seat, it would the second time in recent history Republicans have been shutout of the at-large spots.
In the early 2000s, former Mayor H. Richard Borer, Jr, began the A Better Future Party when he lost the Democratic nomination to John Picard. The ABF was able to secure councils seats and was the subject of a lawsuit due to the fact the candidates all retained their Democratic Party affiliations.
A court ruling allowed the candidates to take their seats, citing the charter and state law do not count registrants’ affiliation, but party backing as the criteria of determining minority representation.
A total of 25, 750 of the city’s more 54,403 residents are registered to vote (as of last week) in this year’s election. The city’s population has dropped 1.75 percent since the 2020 census, when 55,584 were counted.
City Clerk John Lewis provided the most recent tabulations, not counting late registrations. A total of 12,730 are registered Democrat, while 4,072 call themselves Republican, and 8,679 are unaffiliated. Under the category of “Other,” a total of 269 voters are registered with such parties as the Libertarian, Green and Working Families parties.
Voting in Connecticut starts at 6 a.m. and ends at 8 p.m. Valid photo ID is required for voting.