Two candidates are facing off for mayor in Central Connecticut State University’s hometown.
The Republican incumbent, Erin Stewart, has coalesced a unique coalition of landlords, real estate, developers, and city workers. Former mayoral candidate and co-founder of New Britain Racial Justice Coalition, Alicia Strong, suggested that support for Mayor Stewart among Puerto Rican Evangelicals may be slipping.
The Reverends Caremlo and Nancy Rodriguez have long worked to anchor their community in the GOP. When the RNC opened its first ever Connecticut office in New Britain for the 2022 midterms, the two helped lead a “Latino outreach” campaign. Evangelicals in the Puerto Rican community, like most Republicans, tend to be socially conservative.
Strong mentioned Mayor Stewart has had success courting Democrats with a socially progressive streak, wary of alienating traditionalists in her base. Stewart’s pro-choice stance and support for cannabis legalization seemed to foreclose her 2018 gubernatorial run during the Republican primary.
Mayor Stewart’s coalition crosses party lines thanks in large part to Sharon Beloin-Saavedra. The main organizer behind “Democrats for Erin” also supported conservative Superintendent Kelt Cooper, whom Mayor Stewart praised as a “trailblazer” and whose decision to cut bilingual education from New Britain schools increased racial disparities in learning outcomes.
Mayor Stewart is well into a project to push the Democratic base Rightward, appealing to them as she pulls Republicans behind progressive positions, balancing priorities of divergent forces within her alliance.
Erin Stewart isn’t New Britain’s first Mayor Stewart. Her father held the seat from 2003 to 2011, when he resigned to become a commercial realtor.
He briefly vacated his seat on the city School Building Commission after calling Connecticut’s 5th District Rep. Jahanna Hayes and other women in congress “bitches in heat” on his Facebook page. Two years later he was reappointed as chairperson by his daughter the mayor.
After successive attempts, Mayor Stewart could not be reached for comment.
Chris Anderson, the Democratic challenger, has been active in local politics since he and his wife moved to town from Colchester in 2016.
“We quickly fell in love with New Britain’s sense of community, its diversity, its history,” Anderson said. “That was right after Trump got elected, and then Merril Gaye lost.”
Gaye was a Democratic mayoral candidate in 2017 who lost to Stewart by approximately 1,000 votes.
“That was strange to me. Why is a Democrat losing in a city like New Britain?” said Anderson.
Most majority Black and Brown cities tend to be firmly Democratic, with Waterbury as the other Connecticut exception. Anderson became active in the local Democratic Town Council (DTC), using his background as an accountant to help craft fiscal policy proposals.
“That’s when I started volunteering. I was just a background person. I wanted to help,” said Anderson.
Anderson ran for Common Council in 2019 and won. He said that the increase of Republican influence in 2021 also had affects in New Britain and its Democratic Aldermen were swept out. He went on to chair the DTC, working to move local politics out of Republican control while addressing municipal pragmatism.
“Needs that come up at the city level are more things like, ‘I need my road paved; I need my kid’s classroom renovated.’ It’s a lot of dollars and cents talk, and that’s exactly my background,” said Anderson.
Neither time the Common Council voted to raise education spending since Stewart took office was enough to address existing cuts or stop new ones, Anderson said. The city continues to sit at the bottom for education funding in the state, Aderson said. It receives less than half the education funding of Darien, one of the wealthiest towns in the country.
Anderson wants to build a diverse coalition among people who don’t normally vote or have never voted, he said.
“Not just to win the election but to make things happen afterward, we need young people, people of color, women, LGBTQ people, everyone who wants to see change all together,” said Anderson.
He noted challenges for getting low-income workers to the polls, citing them as critical to the Democratic base.
“You go to work, pick up your kid from school, and then go straight to your other job, when are you supposed to vote?” Anderson said. “There’s mail-in but being busy people don’t take the time, or even think about it.”
Poverty as a barrier to political participation stands against Anderson’s chances, he said.
“But we’ve got diverse Common Council slate and all of us are out there knocking doors, so people know: this slate is representative of the people of New Britain,” he said.
Election day is Tuesday, November 7th with polls open from 6am to 8pm. Same day registration will be available in-person at City Hall in room 108.
To register now visit https://voterregistration.ct.gov/OLVR/welcome.do
