There’s more to state’s mayoral diversity issue
I was surprised to see Dan Haar’s recent column “Every Single CT City Has a White Mayor. Will That Change?” The vast majority of Connecticut’s mayors are white and male. According to Haar’s estimate, only three out of 169 municipal leaders are minorities. But this is hardly shocking since so many majority minority cities have entrenched political machines, little political party competition and low voter turnout.
Interestingly, I stressed similar concerns to CT News Junkie readers a couple of years ago with my “Connecticut cities have a minority participation problem ” op-ed. Even WNPR had me discuss this issue further on their “Wheelhouse” show with Haar’s reporter colleagues, as they essentially dismissed my hypothesis that our larger cities lack minority representation in mayoral offices because a number of Democratic Town Committee leaders are entrenched white chairmen.
But in Haar’s recent piece, he didn’t venture into political party gatekeeping. Instead, he reached out to the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities about mayoral diversity concerns. CCM president Joe DeLong has been aware of mayoral diversity concerns and remains hopeful about diverse local legislative leadership. After all, legislative bodies can serve as political nurseries for mayoral candidacies.
It’s great that Haar and DeLong acknowledged mayoral diversity issues being a concern. But it’s more nuanced to explain and address local representational politics. Even if candidates of color run and win office positions, it’s not always a given that they represent minority communities since some officials politicize their backgrounds for symbolic purposes. In other words, a candidate’s background hardly translates into policy effectiveness for local communities.
Political scientists tend to frame this as symbolic politics versus responsiveness politics. In my prior New Jersey research life, I wrote about these concerns in my first book, “A Post-Racial Change Is Gonna Come” regarding then-Mayor Cory Booker and Newark’s politics.
But the most significant concern surrounding representational politics in Connecticut’s cities is one-party rule. Some cities operate as political machines with patronage politics and union-led operations. Since Democratic Town Committees are practical monopolies in urban areas, they gatekeep or support specific candidates especially for mayoral offices.
New Haven and Bridgeport, for example, had challenging mayoral primaries a couple of years ago, with Black female candidates. But their 2019 primary election turnout was about 25 percent in New Haven and Bridgeport (larger than usual voting turnouts). Clearly, many urban residents have been disenchanted and remain disengaged with their public officials and party leaders.
Political scientists often stress that party competition fosters more candidates and higher voting turnout rates, especially in primary elections. These factors are critical toward political representation as well as public officials’ responsiveness to community issues, according to Peter Burns’ book, “Electoral Politics Is Not Enough” about Connecticut’s cities. He discovers that many party leaders and elected officials stymie political competition.
Instead, the political status quo in too many Connecticut municipalities limits diverse candidates and reform-oriented politics to help confront machine politics. Party leaders, especially committee chairs, shape local politics, and having limited representation across diverse communities remains a problem in Connecticut’s municipalities.
Aside from my hoping that Haar would recognize local party committees’ politics, I wish Connecticut voters understand that party leadership makes an impactful difference. As a political idealist, I’ve been waiting for overdue political reforms in so many Connecticut municipal halls as well as party committees.
Effective coalition building politics across diverse local communities can be a good start towards confronting machine politics and political party monopolies. But residents must participate in the electoral and political processes. Local candidates should be diverse. But they must be responsive to communities’ issues first, no matter their demographic background.
Local candidates should be diverse. But they must be responsive to communities’ issues first, no matter their demographic background.