NY Times: New Haven Mayor Declares Win in Primary for Governor

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NY Times: New Haven Mayor Declares Win in Primary for Governor

The New York Times August 09, 2006

By Marc Santora

With strong support from organized labor, Mayor John DeStefano Jr. of New Haven declared victory last night in a close race for the Democratic nomination for governor of Connecticut, even as his opponent, Mayor Dannel P. Malloy of Stamford, refused to concede.

With 99 percent of the vote counted as of 12:45 this morning, Mr. DeStefano was ahead by about 1.6 percentage points, or about 4,000 votes in a race in which more than 265,000 Democrats cast ballots.

Mr. Malloy said that he called Mr. DeStefano to congratulate him, but cautioned that the final vote could still fall within the margin that he said would lead to an automatic recount, one-half of one percent of the total votes cast.

But even Mr. Malloy acknowledged to his supporters, gathered at the Hartford Hilton, that his odds of winning were slim.

"It appears that my friend and colleague John DeStefano has won," Mr. Malloy said at 11:45 last night, though he cautioned that all the results were not in. At the same time, he sounded a conciliatory note in what had become an increasingly bitter race.

Speaking to about 200 cheering supporters at Hula Hanks, a restaurant in New Haven, Mr. DeStefano said, "Tonight in the governor's race, Democrats of Connecticut stand united." Later, he said simply, "We won."

The race between the mayors was aggressively contested, but largely overshadowed by United States Senator Joseph I. Lieberman's failed struggle to hold on to Democratic Party support. As they reached out to voters in the race's final days, what had largely been a civil contest devolved into personal attacks.

The Senate battle drew thousands of new voters to the polls, although it was hard to gauge last night what role the high turnout played in the primary for governor. Both candidates gained votes because of large turnouts in their home cities. Because Mr. Malloy had officially secured the party's endorsement, he ran on the same ballot line as Mr. Lieberman, while Mr. DeStefano ran on the same line as Mr. Lieberman's challenger, Ned Lamont.

Campaign officials in both camps said they did not believe the ballot arrangement played a significant role in their vote totals.

In fact, Mr. DeStefano and Mr. Malloy largely steered clear of the Senate fight, both gingerly endorsing Mr. Lieberman but saying they would support the primary winner. Instead, they focused on trying to draw distinctions in how they would govern, a task made harder by the fact that, on paper at least, they looked similar.

The two candidates, both 51, pointed to their records as mayors of two of the state's largest cities for more than a decade. Both promised universal health care and more aggressive job promotion. And both have said that the current Republican governor, M. Jodi Rell, while genial, had failed to address major problems, especially those involving transportation and health care.

Governor Rell remains extremely popular, with high approval ratings in recent polls, so the primary winner will face a difficult challenge.

Still, the two candidates proved they could raise money, setting a record for fund-raising in a primary race for governor in Connecticut. Mr. DeStefano raised $4 million, and Mr. Malloy raised $3.8 million.

With both candidates well financed and no clear front-runner, the primary became bitter as the election neared.

Mr. Malloy contended that New Haven was a dangerous place to live and that Mr. DeStefano, as mayor, had failed to make it safer.

Mr. DeStefano said that the problems Mr. Malloy had in dealing with the police union in Stamford had put public safety in jeopardy.