The idea of politics often evokes images of old white men, but the Hamden elections on Nov. 2, showed a large change in that idea. A majority of those elected to local positions were neither old nor white.
Lauren Garrett stands to be the first female Hamden mayor in 20 years. Karimah Mickens, a Black woman, ran unopposed in her election for town clerk. However, the election of Justin Farmer, Abdul Osmanu and Mariam Khan, the JAM Slate, goes beyond diversity.
The slate is the first in Connecticut to call themselves socialist in 60 years.
Farmer, Osmanu and Khan were all endorsed by the Central Connecticut Democratic Socialist’s of America on Aug. 30, prior to Election Day via social media.
“Change for the working class is long overdue in Hamden and across Connecticut, and CCT DSA is excited to work with JAM to build a transparent & functional Hamden city government that responds to the needs of every person,” wrote the CCT DSA on Twitter.
While there are some perceived “negative connotations” that Osmanu noticed surrounding socialism, the group wants to look past them to get real work done.
“A lot of things that the Democratic Party says that they want to work on can only fundamentally be changed through a lens of socialism,” Farmer said. “This is the opportunity to share that perspective with people.”
Farmer ran for reelection to the 5th District, Osmanu ran for the 3rd District and Khan ran for Board of Education. Khan previously served on the Hamden Board of Education as a student representative, having gone through Hamden Public Schools for 13 years. Despite identifying as socialists, Farmer, Osmanu and Khan ran with the Democrats in the Hamden 2021 election.
“I think we need to put people over party,” Farmer said. “For the most part, when we think about American politics, we think about Democrats and Republicans, but there’s many spectrums of power use inside of those two camps … Those are two very distinct groups. We talk about people as if they’re monoliths, but they’re not.”
Osmanu and Khan are the youngest legislator and Board of Education member, respectively, that the town of Hamden has ever seen. Both Osmanu and Khan are 19 years old. Osmanu is also the first Muslim person to be elected to serve on the Legislative Council in Hamden history.
Running under the JAM Slate was not the first time that Farmer, Osmanu and Khan worked together. Both Khan and Osmanu helped Farmer campaign on his run for the Connecticut State Senate in 2020.
Although Farmer did not end up winning his senatorial race, the three were able to gain experience through the campaign about organizing their voter base.
“As someone who’s been involved in politics and working on campaigns for the last four or five years, (I’ve seen that) sometimes hard work and organizing that has been done well doesn’t always translate into votes,” Khan said. “It was really exciting that this time it ended up lining up in that way where the work we put in really resulted in a tangible victory.”
The group is looking to make significant changes in the Hamden government, setting an example for other local governments and the changes they can make at that level.
“I think the first thing that I want to do getting into office is to really re-envision what government’s role is,” Farmer said. “Oftentimes, we look to Congress as the great equalizers to fix problems and issues, but there’s so much that we can do at the local level.”
Khan is focusing her ambitions towards educating the community on the Board of Education’s processes in an effort to be more transparent with the residents of Hamden.
“… There’s a lot of hoops to get through to get something passed,” Khan said. “And having that goal of educating on what that process looks like and how to be most effective in terms of reaching policy goals and having a more community-oriented solution to issues we’re facing, like redistricting.”
Upon the beginning of his term, Osmanu is looking toward “opening up the books financially” on the Hamden Legislative Council.
“How we could better spend our money on our community services, things that are really tailored towards public safety in a communal manner that will bring people together within our town,” Osmanu said.
To be able to run with friends, compatriots and colleagues, what else can I say? I’m blessed.
Justin Farmer
The JAM slate endorsement was the first of the DSA’s National Electoral Committee for Connecticut in the past four years that proved to result in the election into office. The DSA previously endorsed Farmer during his 2020 senatorial campaign.
Osmanu and Farmer will both serve two-year terms on the Legislative Council while Khan will serve on the Hamden Board of Education for a four-year term.
All three elected officials have a positive outlook on their upcoming terms, incumbent and newcomers alike.
“To be able to run with friends, compatriots and colleagues, what else can I say? I’m blessed,” Farmer said.
2 replies on “Hamden elects its first socialist slate, JAM”
I remember meeting Justin while I was interning at the Hamden’s Mayor’s office during my days at Quinnipiac. He is the one of the nicest and smartest people I can count I have met in my life. He will do great things for Hamden and beyond.
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