Arunan Arulampalam wins Hartford Democratic mayoral primary
Arunan Arulampalam, who emigrated with his parents to the US as a toddler and set down roots in a struggling central Hartford neighborhood as a young husband and father, has won the city’s three-way Democratic mayoral primary.
Tuesday’s win makes the Indian American bank executive overwhelming favorite in November to be elected successor to Luke Bronin as mayor of Connecticut’s capital, a city of 121,000 where Democrats outnumber Republicans by a 13-1 margin.
The 37-year-old Arulampalam, who oversees the redevelopment of vacant lots and abandoned houses as chief executive of the nonprofit Hartford Land Bank, defeated opponents whose political careers launched before his birth: state Sen. John W. Fonfara, 67, and former state Sen. Eric D. Coleman, 72, CT Mirror noted.
He claimed victory at 10:02 pm, stepping on stage with Gov. Ned Lamont, who once employed him as the deputy commissioner of consumer protection, and Bronin, the two-term mayor who endorsed him as his preferred successor.
“I am so glad to announce that we won with a broad base of support from every single part of this city,” Arulampalam told supporters at Dunkin’ Park, the downtown minor-league baseball park. “Our coalition is as diverse and vibrant as the city itself, and my city hall will be just as diverse and vibrant.”
Results posted Wednesday by the city showed Arulampalam with 39.59% of the vote, Coleman with 30.53% and Fonfara with 29.87%. Turnout was only 14%, much lower than 25% in 2019 when Bronin won.
“Hartford, you are an incredible city,” Arulampalam said. “You wake up every day and you work hard and fight for your neighborhoods, for your people, for your family, for this city. Sometimes you get knocked down, but you get right back up and dust yourself off and build stronger and better than ever.”
At the polls Tuesday, Arulampalam, had volunteers in green shirts stationed at nearly every location greeting voters, despite the low turnout, according to Ct Insider.
One volunteer for Arulampalam, Allan Smith, spotted bringing waters to Parker Memorial around 4 pm, said Arulampalam has attracted a large number of volunteers because he has run a “more positive campaign” while Fonfara has “harped on poverty.”
“We worked hard, and we did a lot of work leading up to today and including today,” Fonfara said Tuesday night in an interview with CT Insider.
