McNamara and Ortiz-Luna, Endorsed Democrats, May Be Primaried by Connors

The Democratic Town Committee last week endorsed incumbent Ald John McNamara (D-4), the City Council’s Majority Leader, and former Ald Luz Ortiz-Luna, as the endorsed Democratic candidates for Council in Ward 4. Meanwhile, incumbent Ald Neil Connors (D-4), who was not re-nominated, is attempting to petition for a September primary for one of the two seats to be nominated by Democrats.

Re-nominated by Democrats was McNamara, who received the most votes out of a field of five candidates running for the three seats on Ward 4 in the 2023 elections. He was then quickly made a leader of the new majority Democratic caucus on the Council, unusual for a first year Council member. McNamara has advocated for increased funding for infrastructure, including the long-delayed Allen Street project, education funding, fiscal accountability in City Hall, among other issues.

Also endorsed by Democrats was Ortiz-Luna, who, formerly as a Republican At-Large Council member, impressed many Democrats by breaking with the administration of Mayor Erin Stewart (R) on some issues, and for proposing a $4 million allocation toward the Allen Street project. That allocation was approved, but then Stewart’s administration administratively torpedoed her approved and confirmed $4M transfer for the Allen St. Project after the 2023 election. Ortiz-Luna was excluded from Stewart’s slate in 2023, and later received 133 votes running as an Independent Party candidate for Ward 4. She is now running for Council as a Democratic candidate.

Connors had been elected to the Council two years ago with McNamara. He worked on ordinances concerning housing and rents, but faced an uphill climb to be re-nominated by Democrats this year. Behind the scenes, over the past two-year Council term, Democrats’ had been expressing increasing consternation about Connors, who has been considered by some to be unreliable as a vote on key Democratic values.

In the end the votes were not there for Connors to be re-endorsed this year, but the Town Committee meeting had considerable controversy, with reports in the New Britain Herald of Connors’ wife being accused of, “harassing and trying to intimidate Ortiz-Luna and her family,” and of later being assaulted by a minor.

Democratic Registrar of Voters, Lucian Pawlak, confirmed that Connors has taken out petitions to primary. Primary petitions are due on August 6, 2025. If there is a primary, it will be held on September 9, 2025, with early voting voting available September 2nd to 7th. The two candidates in the primary with the most votes would be the Democratic Party candidates in the November general election.

McNamara, who is also a former Democratic Party Chair, and has a long experience with primaries in New Britain and elsewhere, pointed out that primaries are a part of the Democratic Party’s democratic process.