Karen Lin

On Tuesday, over a thousand New Haven residents turned up for same-day voter registration, creating a sometimes chaotic scene in City Hall as they waited in snaking lines to have their say in the nail-biter election.

Two days later, the Board of Alders met in the building’s second-floor Aldermanic Chambers to take up city business such as infrastructural improvements and tax refunds. On top of the ordinary rhythm of voice votes and statements to “Madam President” — board President Tyisha Walker-Myers, that is — there was a palpable solemnity, mixed with efforts at communal joy.

In between the Election Day rush and the Thursday evening meeting came the news that former President Donald Trump had clinched the race against Vice President Kamala Harris to return to the White House. New Haven voters backed Harris by a 63-point margin, and their alders are all, like her, Democrats.

“I’m tired and frustrated, angry and a little scared right now. Many feeling similar emotions might be tempted to turn inward,” Ward 25 Alder Adam Marchand told his colleagues and a few observers in the “divine guidance” that begins each full board meeting. “I invite us to open ourselves to others, to welcome the stranger, to show love and support for our neighbors.”

Alders who spoke during the meeting or to the News expressed dismay about Trump’s resounding victory and determination to see the Elm City through his second administration. Ward 27 Alder Richard Furlow, the board’s majority leader, said he wore all black as a symbol of mourning for the country.

The legislators echoed Mayor Justin Elicker, who wrote in a statement after the presidential race was called that New Haven would “come together as a city to stand up for what is right and just.” After Thursday’s meeting, which was delayed from Monday due to the election, Walker-Myers vowed to continue to tackle New Haveners’ problems no matter what the incoming Republican administration does in Washington.

“I’m still going to be here doing my job for my community,” she said. “What I don’t want to do is get the community so afraid thinking that they’re not going to be protected, because they will be. We’re going to do everything that we can possibly do.”

Among the 35,000 ballots cast, 80 percent of the city’s votes in the presidential race went to the Democratic ticket. Trump received the most support this year in Morris Cove’s Ward 18, where 694 votes went to the Republican ticket compared to 852 for the Democratic one from in-person Election Day ballots, according to data compiled by the New Haven Independent.

Ward 17 Alder Sal Punzo, whose constituents in the Annex delivered Trump the second-most votes of any ward, said he planned to ask in his neighborhood what motivated over 400 voters there to pick the Republican former president and whether they think the city should do anything differently.

In the section of the board meeting devoted to personal remarks, Ward 14 Alder Sarah Miller ’03 sought to reassure residents who she said might have reason to worry about Trump’s second term.

“I thought I would just say to our neighbors who are undocumented, who are immigrants, who are queer and others who are potentially targeted by the new administration, that we value you,” Miller said. “We will fight with you through whatever they throw at us.”

Fears of how the next administration might affect New Haven ranged from Trump’s rhetoric that affronts certain groups, such as transgender people, to policies such as affordable housing funding that Republicans may not prioritize, according to Marchand. But much remains to be seen.

He also cited Trump’s promises to crack down on undocumented immigrants through mass deportations and punishments for cities like New Haven that restrict local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

“We are a sanctuary city, and the president-elect has already stated that he plans to enact some kind of punitive policies to try to change our stance and to give us negative consequences,” Marchand told the News. “We need to be prepared for that.”

In 2018, Trump hosted a group of mayors at the White House and called out for Toni Harp, New Haven’s mayor at the time.

“Toni Harp, where is Toni? Toni? Toni?” Trump said to his audience. “Uh oh, can’t be a sanctuary city person, I know.” Harp had indeed decided to boycott the event to protest a slew of letters from the Department of Justice calling for cities to enforce federal immigration laws, although New Haven was not one of the cities to receive them.

Harris carried Connecticut with about 56 percent of the vote.