Ethan Wolin, Contributing Photographer

Angel Hubbard is a single mom, a healthcare provider and a Democratic organizer in her neighborhood. Miguel Pittman is a businessman who owns a soul food restaurant with his wife and chairs New Haven’s Development Commission.

The two Hill North residents are competing in a special election on Monday to represent Ward 3 on the Board of Alders. The seat became vacant on Aug. 1, when fourth-term Alder Ron Hurt resigned amid a scandal concerning his termination from a drug rehabilitation center for a sexual relationship with a former patient.

The race between Hubbard, 39, and Pittman, 60, in the largely Latino and Black district will test the popularity of a citywide political apparatus allied with Yale’s UNITE HERE unions. Although the unions and the local Democratic Party arm have not endorsed any candidate, Hubbard has aligned herself with incumbent officials — receiving support from Mayor Justin Elicker and others — while Pittman has run as an independent-minded alternative.

“We see a ward that is a product of years of political neglect and broken promises,” Pittman told a crowd of several dozen supporters at a campaign rally on Saturday. “This community needs a strong leader that is willing to stand up against the strings-attached politics of the city of New Haven. I’m running to be the alder of the people.”

Pittman’s message echoes that of an insurgent group assembled last spring in the hope of unseating Democratic Town Committee organizers known as ward co-chairs. The incumbent, union-backed co-chairs — including Hubbard in Ward 3 — trounced their challengers in unusual low-turnout elections in March, which marked a reaffirmation of the political status quo.

Now running for alder, Hubbard did not seek UNITE HERE’s endorsement or financial support, a union spokesperson said. Hubbard told the News she values the union’s political advocacy but wanted to manage this campaign separately given the stained reputation of Hurt, who worked closely with the union and the related political organization New Haven Rising.

“I didn’t want anything to reflect back on me for what people may assume from the previous alder,” Hubbard said. “Sometimes you are just guilty by association.”

The Democratic Town Committee did not pick a nominee for the special election, according to its chair, Vincent Mauro Jr., because the Ward 3 committee did not have time to meet the nomination deadline after the special election timeline was announced. Both contenders said they have funded their own campaigns.

Pittman bought materials such as yard signs and branded T-shirts and has driven around the neighborhood in a golf cart to promote his candidacy. The Saturday afternoon campaign event took place on a vacant property owned by Pittman and featured a bounce house for kids, free food and music played by a DJ. His campaign manager, the former mayoral candidate Shafiq Abdussabur, said he could not provide a total of campaign expenditures.

Supporters described Pittman, who owns Sandra’s Next Generation with his wife Sandra, as someone who gives back to the community through holiday charity at the celebrated soul food restaurant. Pittman said he has lived in the ward for over three decades.

Hubbard said she moved there five or six years ago and has spent about $1000 of her own money to fund the campaign. 

“My bank account may actually be in the negative right now,” she said. “I’m a real person that comes from real struggles. No, I couldn’t afford a fancy golf cart to ride up and down the street. But God blessed me with two feet to go up and down steps and knock on doors and talk to my residents.”

The competing candidates have highlighted similar concerns they would take to City Hall, without articulating specific policy proposals. Both stressed the scourge of drug use and criticized the presence of an APT Foundation methadone clinic in the neighborhood. Both said the New Haven Police Department needs more officers to patrol the area.

Pittman touted his testimony last week at the Board of Zoning Appeals in opposition to a proposed live poultry market that would have slaughtered chickens on its premises. Hubbard emphasized the need for more youth programs in the Hill. But the candidates’ greatest differences have lied in their efforts to cast themselves as the more authentic community figure and in their postures towards New Haven’s current leadership.

“The difference is experience,” Pittman said, adding that he did not feel welcome at the ward’s Democratic committee. “If you’re not really singing their song, they don’t want to have a conversation with you, and I’m not that type of person, because I’m an independent person.”

Pittman told the News he has never voted for Elicker for mayor and voted for a challenger candidate in March’s co-chair elections.

Elicker, who canvassed with Hubbard, said she has been genuine, hard-working and humble in her political work. The mayor objected to Pittman’s view of UNITE HERE’s political influence.

“The anti–quote-unquote-establishment narrative is one that people often bring up when they are not interested in finding concrete solutions to problems in the city,” Elicker said. “It’s a good sound bite, but it doesn’t reflect reality. It takes collaboration, it takes partnership and it takes hard work to get things done.”

Ward 3 has historically had among the lowest turnout of any of New Haven’s 30 wards. Only 10 ballots were cast in the special election’s early voting, which occurred from Wednesday through Saturday at the Hall of Records downtown, an election official told the News.

The winner of the election will serve until the end of 2025.