Ariela Lopez, Contributing Photographer

Last Monday, Mayor Justin Elicker and Alders José Crespo and Evelyn Rodriguez came to a polling place in the Hill to support Angel Hubbard, a Democratic organizer who faced an anti-establishment opponent in a special alder election.

A week later, they gathered at City Hall to see Hubbard be sworn in as the new Ward 3 alder, as a small crowd of relatives, allies and local officials cheered. Elicker, who had canvassed and called voters for Hubbard, administered her oath of office.

The brief ceremony in the Aldermanic Chambers on Monday afternoon returned the Board of Alders to a full 30 members nearly two months after the previous Ward 3 alder stepped down. It also ensured, at least until the end of next year, that the board will continue its legislative work without a prominent dissenting voice.

“It’s official,” Hubbard said after being sworn in. “I’m thankful for my ward for entrusting me with the vision for Ward 3. I had a great support team, a great support system, that helped me, so I keep saying that we did it. I did not get here by myself, and I’m very, very humbly thankful for that.”

Hubbard placed her official nameplate in front of her aldermanic desk and posed for photos with Elicker and her relatives and children.

Robin Ogman, Hubbard’s older half-sister, told the News that Hubbard’s new position was a source of pride for their entire family, including for their disabled mother, who could not attend the swearing-in but had followed the election.

“Coming from the projects, not expected from the outside to become nothing — to be here, this is historical, especially in the moment, the year of the woman, with Kamala Harris running for president of the United States,” Ogman said, referring to the vice president.

The swearing-in ceremony came three days after an automatic recount of the election results on Friday morning confirmed Hubbard’s win, by 162 votes to 146, against the restaurateur Miguel Pittman.

The Sept. 16 special election was set off by former Alder Ron Hurt’s resignation in August, after the New Haven Independent reported that he had been fired from his job at a drug rehabilitation center for developing a sexual relationship with a patient.

Pittman ran as a critic of New Haven’s current political leadership, which is allied with Yale’s UNITE HERE unions and often acts in tandem across the Board of Alders and Elicker’s administration.

“She had two state reps who backed her, two alders who backed her, and also the mayor she had in place,” Pittman, who owns the restaurant Sandra’s Next Generation with his wife, said after the recount. “When you look at the dynamics of that, you’re looking at a five to one. We went against the machine.”

Pittman said he plans to run again in the regular municipal elections in November 2025, setting up a potential rematch against Hubbard.

Hubbard, a home healthcare provider and Democratic Town Committee co-chair in Ward 3, opted not to seek UNITE HERE’s support in the race, meaning that both candidates funded their own campaigns. She pointed out that Pittman had more money to spend on the election. Two days before the election, he held a rally with free food, a DJ and a bounce house for children.

“This race is like the turtle and the rabbit. I’m the turtle,” Hubbard said while leaving the recount.

Her first committee meeting as an alder came later on Monday, for the Aldermanic Affairs Committee. Board President Tyisha Walker-Myers of Ward 23 said she did not yet know on what other committees Hubbard would serve.

Ariela Lopez contributed reporting.