Challengers’ Night: Bermudez Defeats Moore, Sabin Defeats Dillon In State Rep Primaries

By Paul Bass, Dereen Shirnekhi, Tom Breen, Laura Glesby, Maya McFadden, Brandon Cortes and Lisa Reisman, New Haven Independent

NEW HAVEN, CT — Challengers beat New Haven’s Democratic Party establishment Tuesday night in two state representative primaries, signaling a weakening of control of local politics by the Democratic Town Committee and Yale’s unions.

Wildaliz Bermudez overcame a strong vote by Leland Moore in Morris Cove’s 18th Ward to win the Democratic primary for the open east-side 97th General Assembly District seat. The race was close: Bermudez defeated Moore 869-723 at the polls and in early voting, according to unofficial tallies by the Independent. Another 109 absentee ballots remained to be counted as of 8:36 Tuesday night, according to the city clerk’s office. Even if Moore gets 100 percent of the vote, he would lose the race.

“This was a people-powered campaign. It was the voice of the community that spoke. It is the voice of the community that I will represent” in Hartford, Bermudez told the Independent after the election. She held a victory party at Mexcalli restaurant on Farren Avenue. (Click here to watch her victory speech.)

Asked about running without receiving the party endorsement, Bermudez said, “It means I had to work ten times harder. It was important to work harder, because when I get to the state Capitol I’m going to continue working hard for every single ward.” Moore called Bermudez to congratulate her on the victory. In a conversation with the Independent, he said he is proud of his campaign and is looking forward to continuing his work as a Ward 18 alder.

Challenger Eli Sabin unseated 21-term incumbent State Rep. Pat Dillon in the Democratic primary on New Haven’s west side 92nd General Assembly District, pending the count of absentees.

According to unofficial results collected by the Independent, Sabin defeated Dillon by 1,164 to 940 votes, or 44 to 36 percent, not counting absentee ballots. A total of 243 absentee ballots, slightly larger than Sabin’s margin of victory in votes cast at polls, remained to be counted. But Dillon conceded the race.

A third candidate in the race, Justin Farmer, collected 544 votes, or 21 percent, not counting absentee ballots.

Tuesday’s Connecticut primaries took place against a national backdrop of younger challengers (often, not always, from the left) taking on incumbents. Josh Elliott did that in his Democratic primary challenge to incumbent Gov. Ned Lamont; former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin did that against incumbent First U.S. Congressional District Rep. John Larson.

Lamont easily defeated Elliott, while Bronin defeated Larson.

New Haven’s two Democratic state representative primaries also pitted political organizations against each other.

In the three-way 92nd General Assembly District race — covering the west side of town as well as part of the Hill — it was the Democratic Town Committee (DTC) and Yale’s UNITE HERE union as well as other politically active unions (backing Dillon) against Democratic Socialists of America (DSA, and like-minded activists, backing Farmer) against a team of veteran Democrats and young volunteers assembled by Eli Sabin.

Dillon first won the state representative seat in 1984. Sabin, a former New Haven alder, waged an energetic challenge; he had 100-120 volunteers working Tuesday and said he personally knocked on over 6,000 doors during the campaign. Farmer, a former Hamden City Council member, attracted volunteers inspired by democratic socialist candidates winning primaries in New York and Colorado.

In the 97th General Assembly District race — covering the east side of town, including Bishop Woods south through the Heights and the Annex and Morris Cove — it was the DTC and UNITE HERE backing Moore and an activist coalition backing Bermudez. Moore, a Morris Cove alder, works for the state attorney general’s office. Bermudez, a former Hartford City Council member, runs the city’s Fair Rent Commission.

Both challengers Tuesday “ran completely impressive campaigns, and they should be proud of the outcome,” Democratic Town Chair Vin Mauro Jr. told the Independent after the results came in. “Eli knocked on thousands of doors and I think you saw the results today. And he should be very proud of the work he did.” He also praised Justin Farmer’s challenge.

“Primaries are never easy. They’re very emotional and a lot of ways it’s neighbor versus neighbor. We’ve had some tough primaries in the city, and we have managed to put personal differences aside for the greater good,” Mauro said, looking toward the November general election.

UNITE HERE began getting more involved in city elections in 2011. It won control of both the Board of Alders and the town committee. Its endorsement was considered the key to victory in city races.

That began to change in 2019, when UNITE HERE backed Toni Harp for mayor in the Democratic primary — and lost. It has since lost an alder race in Ward 1 and failed to elect another candidate in Ward 15 — and tonight in the two state rep races.

Mayor Justin Elicker, meanwhile, came out a winner Tuesday night. He bucked the DTC and UNITE HERE — which has backed his mayoral campaigns since the 2019 primaries — and endorsed the two challengers in Tuesday’s races.

Elicker was present at the Sabin victory at Delaney’s Tap Room in Westville.

Sabin thanked Dillon in his victory speech, citing her work on issues maternal health, public safety and food assistance as a “pioneering” record that he hopes to build on. Click here to watch the full speech.

“I’m so excited to work with all of you and keep on doing this work and fight for the city we all love,” Sabin said.

Dozens of supporters crammed Manjares restaurant a block away to cheer Dillon, who offered emotional remarks. (Click here to watch them.)

“I am really proud of the work I was blessed to do in my time on the Board of Aldermen and my time in the legislature,” she said, to applause. “Everything that I was able to do happened because people helped me do it.” She spoke of “incredible headwinds” that “we couldn’t control” in this race. “This is not something we could have changed. We had an incredible team.”

Thanks to the volunteers who collected results from polling places across the city: Marc Gonzalez, Brandon Cortes, Lesley Heffel, Amy Marx, Brian Slattery, Karen Ponzio, Jessica Tubis, Norma Rodriguez-Reyes, Abiba Biao, and Lisa Reisman.

The New Haven Independent is a not-for-profit public-interest daily news site founded in 2005.