Lotto drops out of mayoral race, cites ‘venomous’ messages

HAMDEN — After allegedly receiving “venomous” messages, Albert Lotto, an Independent candidate running for mayor, has dropped out of the race.

Asked for comment, Lotto directed a reporter to a Wednesday morning Facebook post in which he claimed he had been pressured to drop out.

“When I chose to trudge forward I began receiving many calls and texts from members of this community with venomous opinions of not only myself but my family members,” he wrote. “I assure you I expected this, let’s face it that’s politics, but my family has and will always be my first priority at all costs. My children come before politics.”

Lotto, who runs the Facebook page Hamden Crime Watchers, owns the Branford-based record store Exile on Main Street and also is a school bus driver. He said he had also received a lot of support, including “requests for around 100 lawn signs in two days and donations pouring in based on my character.”

He thanked his supporters and called it an “honor and joy to have had this opportunity to have met so many people of this town along the way.”

“I have no big ego, no agenda, only to help make this town a better place and transparent,” Lotto wrote. “This town is in crisis and the call from residents is what I had intended to offer by throwing my hat in the ring, a voice for the working class residents of this community.”

Town Clerk Vera Morrison shared a letter she received from Lotto formally stating his decision to withdraw. She said she received the letter via email shortly before 10 a.m.

With Lotto out of the race, two candidates remain: Ron Gambardella, who is running on the GOP ticket, and Lauren Garrett, who received the Democratic Town Committee’s endorsement and then swept last week in a three-way Democratic primary.

Lotto was part of a three-person Independent ticket that in August petitioned its way onto the ballot, with Jay Kaye, who ran for mayor on the GOP ticket in 2019, seeking an at-large Legislative Council seat.

David Bretko also was on the ticket as an atlarge council candidate, but has since dropped out of the race, according to Morrison.