A look at each of Hamden’s municipal election candidates

Hamden municipal elections are coming up and newcomers and incumbents alike are seeking office in the mayoral, town clerk, board of education and legislative council races. Here is who you can expect to see on your ballot on Nov. 7. 

Mayor 

Republican 

Crystal Dailey: A Hamden Board of Education member and healthcare administrator, Dailey is hoping to be the town’s first Republican mayor in decades. Dailey, a Yonkers, New York native, moved to New Haven to raise her two children in 2013 before relocating to Hamden several years later. Dailey’s campaign advocates for affordability, crime reduction, transparency and bipartisanship. She told HQNN that if elected, she plans to lower Hamden’s property tax rate, the third-highest in the state. Dailey also plans to work with the police department to hire and retain more officers amid a nationwide shortage. 

Democrat

Lauren Garrett (incumbent): Garrett is seeking a second term as mayor after winning her first election in 2021. Garrett has promised to tackle the town’s large debt and high taxes. Her platform has also focused on attracting businesses to Hamden, creating equitable schools and supporting climate policies like the Olin Powder Farm cleanup. She has overseen the hiring of more than 30 police officers in her tenure as mayor and aims to “seek equal and restorative justice measures for our black communities,” according to her campaign website. Garrett is from Michigan and graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering. 

Town Clerk 

The town clerk’s office is in charge of municipal recordkeeping. 

Republican 

Brian Walton: Walton is the minister of operations at Varick Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion church and is running for the town clerk role on Dailey’s ticket. 

Democrat 

Karimah Mickens-Webber (incumbent): Mickens-Webber is the treasurer of the Hamden Democratic Town Committee and has been a Hamden resident for two decades. She is the current town clerk and is running for reelection this November. Mickens-Webber holds a MBA in management from Southern Connecticut University. She ran her 2021 campaign on the goals of creating a more user-friendly town website where people can view town meeting minutes and agendas and digitizing Hamden’s permanent town records. 

Councilmen-at-large

Councilmen-at-large represent the whole of Hamden in the legislative council, voting on appropriations, ordinances, community services and the town budget. 

Republican 

Robert Anthony: Anthony is a retired Hamden firefighter of more than 25 years and an Army veteran. The Republican Town Committee appointed Anthony to fill a vacancy in the ninth district of the council in 2022 and he is running to be one of four councilmen-at-large this November. He ran for mayor twice in 2013 and 2015, losing both elections to Democrats. As a mayoral candidate, Anthony ran on correcting Hamden’s town debt. 

Thomas Figlar: Figlar previously ran for both the seventh district town council seat and the 91st district state house seat and lost both races. He is an accountant and finance manager at Sarah Inc, an organization that provides services to people with intellectual disabilities. In his previous campaigns, he advocated for budget oversight and growing the business community in Hamden. 

Democrat

Dominique Baez (incumbent): Baez is a current councilmember-at-large and the president of the legislative council. Running for her second term, Baez’s website says she’s worked to balance the budget, beautify southern Hamden and enable the police department to hire more officers in the past two years. 

Tasha Hunt: Hunt works in the Connecticut judicial branch as the Director of Juvenile Probation. She sits on a number of statewide and local committees focused on tackling juvenile crime and incarceration, child abuse and youth homlessness. She is an adjunct professor of juvenile justice at the University of New Haven. She earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a master’s degree in education at Southern Connecticut State University. 

Katie Kiely (incumbent): Kiely is an elementary school teacher at Ridge Hill School in Hamden and a Quinnipiac University graduate. She was first elected as a councilmember-at-large in 2021. She believes that “educators and residents of Hamden belong everywhere that decisions are made,” according to the Hamden DTC. 

Laurie Sweet (incumbent): Sweet is running for a second term in the council. She serves as the chair of the Environment and Conservation Committee. In her first term, Sweet supported the remediation of the Olin Powder Farm land and supported the plan to create Six Lakes Park. She also supported amending the town housing ordinance to recognize tenant unions and worked to pass a new town charter. A progressive candidate, Sweet ran her first campaign on increasing equity in schools and calling for the accountability of a Hamden police officer who shot and injured Stephanie Johnson, an unarmed Black woman, in 2019. 

Board of Education 

The Hamden BOE is in charge of district curriculum, finance, operations, personnel and policy. 

Republican 

Marcia Brown: Brown is a teacher of more than 30 years. She supports putting resource officers in schools. This is the first time she has run for public office. 

Mario Ciccarini: Ciccatrini is a longtime Hamden resident and the principal of Bradley School in Derby, a job he’s held since 2013. He holds a doctorate in teaching from the University of Bridgeport. This will be his first time running for public office. 

Andrew Tammaro (two year term): Tammaro is running to fill a two-year vacancy in the Board of Education. He is the previous chairman of the Republican Town Committee and currently works as a press secretary at the Connecticut House Republicans office. He ran for a council-at-large position in 2021, which he lost. His 2021 council platform included fully funding police and fire services while not increasing taxes.  

Democrat

Peter Downhour (incumbent): Peter Downhour was appointed in 2022 to fill a vacancy in the board. He is a teacher in Woodbridge and a Navy veteran. 

Greta Johnson: Johnson is a former security guard, a grandmother of 11 and a resident of Hamden’s third district. DTC campaign manager Hailey Collins said Johnson “is interested in being a part of change for the betterment of our children’s education while building positive lives for families across town.” 

Christopher Piscitelli (two year term): Piscitelli grew up in Hamden and is the current associate dean of student affairs at Southern Connecticut State University. Throughout his career, he has trained other educational professionals on campus and school safety and Title IX compliance. Piscitelli is running to fill the vacancy and will have a two-year term if elected. 

District Legislative Council 

District council members represent the nine legislative districts in Hamden. 

District one 

Republican 

Debra Rigney: This is Rigney’s third time running for office after losing legislative council and state representative elections in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Rigney ran her 2019 council campaign on promises to lower the mill rate and break through Hamden’s Democratic stronghold. 

Democrat

Sean Cardwell: Cardwell is a civil engineer and the chair of the Hamden Human Rights and Relations Commission. He also serves as the executive director of Fixing Fathers, a local non-profit organization that aims to educate fathers on parenting and reunify fathers and children. Cardwell’s page on the DTC website calls for economic development, stronger infrastructure and better educational institutions in Hamden. 

District two

Republican 

Democrat

Jeron Alston (incumbent): Alston is running for his second term after the DTC appointed him to fill a vacancy in the second district in 2021. He is an accountant who focused his first campaign on town finances. 

District three 

There is no Republican running in district four. 

Democrat

Abdul Osmanu (incumbent): Osmanu is a 21-year-old graduate of Hamden High School and Southern Connecticut State University. A self-described democratic socialist, Osmanu has called for progressive policies in southern Hamden. 

District four

There is no Republican running in district four. 

Democrat

Sarah Gallagher (incumbent): Gallagher is a senior project director at the National Low Income Housing Coalition, which advocates for affordable housing and rental assistance in low-income communities. Gallagher has also worked in prison reentry programs. She has called for increased affordable housing, equitable schools and financial stability in Hamden.  

District five 

Republican 

There is no Republican running in district five. 

Democrat

Rhonda Caldwell: Hoping to replace outgoing Democrat Justin Farmer in the fifth district, Caldwell is seeking the election in district five, which encompasses Newhall, Prospect Hill and Whitneyville. She is seeking to address infrastructure and drainage issues in Newhall and traffic buildup on Dixwell Avenue, according to the DTC. Caldwell also plans on championing programs focused on preventing substance use, housing insecurity and youth crime. Caldwell is the former chair of the Hamden Police Commission, a post she left in June after disagreements with the board. 

District six

There is no Republican running in district six. 

Democrat

Paula Irvin (incumbent): Irvin is a Florida native and a MBA graduate of the University of New Haven. Her campaign is focused on “fiscal stability, environmentally friendly strategies, community safety and economic development,” according to the DTC. 

District seven 

Gary Walsh: Walsh is a current member of the Hamden Board of Education and a teacher at Our Lady of Victory School in West Haven. 

Democrat 

Adrian Webber (incumbent): Webber serves as the chair of the Public Safety Committee. He is a former social worker who has worked for the Department of Children and Families and the New Haven Board of Education. 

District eight 

There is no Republican running in district eight. 

Democrat

Ted Stevens (incumbent): Stevens was raised in the Hamden area and previously worked for the New Haven City Plan Department as a transportation planner. He is running to “ensure that the Hamden government is fiscally responsible, transparent, communicative, committed to equity, and properly investing in infrastructure and neighborhood development,” according to the DTC. 

District nine

Republican 

James Anthony: Anthony is the Hamden Republican Town Committee-endorsed candidate for district nine. No information was publicly available about the candidate. HQNN has reached out to Hamden RTC and has not yet received a response. 

Democrat 

Barbara Walker: Walker has been a resident of Hamden for nearly two decades and has sat on the Board of Alders and the Hamden Economic Development Committee. She is a retired probation officer. Her goals in the council are to “lower taxes, improve Public Safety and increase economic development,” Collins said.