Stewart Wins Election for Mayor, Carries in Other Republicans
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Stewart Wins Election for Mayor, Carries in Other Republicans

Republican Mayor Erin Stewart is the winner of the election for New Britain mayor, for a fifth term, while Republicans appear to have won every seat on the City Council except for the two representing Ward 3 and possibly one in Ward 2, and apparently every other office possible for them to have won.

Unofficial results from the Office of the Secretary of the State show Republican Stewart winning the election for mayor by 5,854 to 3,283 votes over State Rep. Sanchez (D-25).

Stewart also appears to have had long coattails in this election – with Republicans winning nearly every every office that was possible for them to win in this year’s voting.

Sanchez campaigned for Mayor on his plans, include reversing underfunding by City Hall of New Britain’s schools, improving the city’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and investing in economic development, housing and quality of life in all of the city’s neighborhoods.

Stewart campaigned on what she claims about her budget management, public construction and the two percent cut in the mill rate in the most recent city budget. Stewart also has claimed to increase local funding for education, but those claims have been criticized as inaccurate.

Stewart appears to have won in four of the city’s five Wards, with Sanchez apparently only prevailing in Ward 3. Likewise, it appears that Republicans also won in the Council Wards carried by Stewart, except possibly for one seat in Ward 2, as well as all five of the At-Large Council seats.

Voting Districts apparently won by Republican Stewart (red) and Democrat Sanchez (blue).

That appears to leave Ald. Iris Noemi Sanchez (D-3) and Ald. Aram Ayalon (D-3), and possibly Angel Segarra who ran in Ward 2 as the only Democrats left on the City Council, though results in Ward 5 appeared to not be certain and a recount appears possible in Ward 2. That mean that the Republican caucus on the Council would increase from 9 to 6 before the election to 12 to 3 in the 2021 to 2023 term of office.

Republicans also appear to have won three of the five seats on the Board of Education up for election – the maximum amount that they could win – once again returning the Board to an even split of five Republicans and five Democrats.

2021 Election Results

The following are the election results reported unofficially by the Office of the Secretary of the State as of November 3, 2021 at 7:35pm.
OfficePartyCandidateVotesApparently Elected
Mayor
Democratic  Robert "Bobby" Sanchez3149
Republican  Erin E. Stewart5854X
WFP  Robert "Bobby" Sanchez134
Petitioning  Alfred P. Mayo15

Town Clerk
Democratic  Bryan Sabin3488
Republican  Mark H. Bernacki5216X

Tax Collector
Democratic  Lanette Spranzo Macaruso3629
Republican  Cheryl Blogoslawski5064X

Treasurer
Democratic  Ronald Jakubowski4103
Republican  Danny Salerno4549X

City Council At-Large
Democratic  Richard Reyes3687
Democratic  Chris Anderson3718
Democratic  Francisco "Cisco" Santiago3517
Democratic  Amy Labas3572
Democratic  Violet Jimenez Sims3546
Republican  Willie Pabon4388X
Republican  Luz V. Ortiz-Luna4115X
Republican  Matthew Malinowski4509X
Republican  Alden Russell4162X
Republican  Desiree Costa4241X
WFP  Richard Reyes244
WFP  Chris Anderson249
WFP  Francisco "Cisco" Santiago232
WFP  Amy Labas237
WFP  Violet Jimenez Sims223

City Council, Ward 1
Democratic  Nate Simpson974
Democratic  Chris Porcher984
Republican  Howard B. Dyson1259X
Republican  Peter Scirpo1216X

City Council, Ward 2
Democratic  Angel Segarra581leader
Democratic  Colin Ivan Osborn512
Republican  Jerrell Hargraves575tie
Republican  Valerie Ruby Ingram575tie

City Council, Ward 3
Democratic  Iris Noemi Sanchez642X
Democratic  Aram Ayalon543X
Republican  Sara Piatti345
Republican  Jeffrey A. Gumbs345

City Council, Ward 4
Democratic  Todd Arasimowicz710
Democratic  Basil Green644
Republican  Robert Smedley837X
Republican  Michael Thompson826X

City Council, Ward 5
Democratic  Carlo Carlozzi Jr.1042
Democratic  Lee "Tre" Brown III862
Republican  Kris Rutkowski1055X
Republican  Paul D. Catanzaro1150X

Board of Education
Democratic  Eileen Ruiz3634
Democratic  Annie S. Parker3729X
Democratic  Diana Reyes3820X
Republican  Anthony "Tony" Cane4024X
Republican  Matthew T. Marino3983X
Republican  Tina Santana3794X
Petitioning  Nicholas D. Mercier186

Board of Assessment Appeals
Democratic  Wyatt Bosworth3389
Democratic  Candyce Scott3588X
Republican  Sheryl Mala3949X
Republican  Todd D. Cheney3991X

At one point, Democrats had three candidates lining up to run against Stewart and the Democratic nomination was settled in a September primary. Democrats have been frustrated over the years that Stewart has repeatedly eluded political consequences to her own re-elections of unpopular policies and politics of her administration, including low funding for the city’s schoolshigher property taxes, increased City Hall spending, floating city annual budgets with long-term taxpayer debt, the failed attempt to allow mining on public watershed land and what many view as the generally uncouth brand of the politics of her political machine.

But, in no past city elections have the Republicans’ wins been so complete. Stewart now has a supermajority of Republicans on the City Council and may have enough votes on the Board of Education to largely end its independence from her political machine.

However, the results of the election maintain the status quo for Stewart and Sanchez. Sanchez will continue to serve in the state legislature, as Stewart continues in the mayor’s office in City Hall. Rep. Sanchez will face re-election to his seat in the legislature next year, in the 2022 federal and state elections.

Editor’s note: This article has been continually updated on the evening of 11/2/2021, as more information becomes available.

Editor’s Note (11/3/2021): The article was updated to reflect the lead by Democratic Council candidate Angel Segarra in Ward 2, the addition of unofficial office-by-office results from the Office of the Secretary of the State and certain other details.