Ethan Wolin, Contributing Photographer

Gary Hogan, a retired New Haven housing official and Democratic organizer endorsed by his party, won a special alder election Tuesday night in Beaver Hills’ Ward 28, beating former Alder Claudette Robinson-Thorpe by a wide margin.

From ballots cast on Tuesday, Hogan received 222 votes, while Robinson-Thorpe, a public school social worker, got 67. Including a handful of early and absentee ballots, the election saw about 16 percent turnout — far below the ward’s 67 percent turnout in the presidential election two weeks earlier. Hogan will fill the Board of Alders seat last held by Tom Ficklin DIV ’75, who died last month.

“I am looking forward to helping my neighborhood ameliorate some of the issues and concerns that they have. I’m looking forward to the challenge,” Hogan said. “The first thing I want to tackle with my neighborhood is the crime issue, which came up in every meeting, every door knock.”

During the short campaign, residents and both candidates emphasized the problem of car thefts, including by the so-called Kia Boyz. Hogan told the News before the election that he would explore legislation to increase the consequences for repeat offenders, and potentially to require families to compensate the victims of property crimes.

When an election official announced the results in the Floyd Little Athletic Center after polls closed at 8 p.m., cheers erupted from about a dozen Hogan supporters. Among the crowd was former Alder Jill Marks, who defeated Robinson-Thorpe in 2015 to take the Ward 28 seat.

Robinson-Thorpe, who was not present to hear the tally read aloud, wrote in a statement: “Thank you everyone who came out to support me. Congratulations to Gary and I look forward to working with Gary in the future!”

Tuesday’s vote marked the second special alder election this fall in which a Democratic ward co-chair — among the 60 hyperlocal party organizers in New Haven — prevailed. Ward 3 Alder Angel Hubbard won her seat by a much closer margin in a September race in the Hill against the businessman Miguel Pittman.

It also marked Hogan’s second electoral victory this year, following March elections in which he, Hubbard and incumbent Democratic ward co-chairs across the city beat back challengers who criticized the political dominance of Yale’s UNITE HERE unions. Hogan received 267 votes in that election, the most of any co-chair candidate in March and more than he won on Tuesday to ascend to New Haven’s legislative body.

Hogan and Robinson-Thorpe sat outside the polling location throughout the day. Mayor Justin Elicker, supporting Hogan, stopped by. Several Beaver Hills voters who spoke with the News after casting their ballots declined to share whom they voted for, some mentioning their relationships with both longtime neighborhood residents in the race.

Rev. Katrina Jones of Bethel AME Church, a former Ward 21 alder whose home now sits in Ward 28, said she hoped the next alder would “think about the legacy of the alder that passed, Tom Ficklin.” She added later that she hopes Hogan will work to get to know more of his constituents, beyond his work as a Democratic co-chair.

After voting in the mid-afternoon, Chana Shmeeler said she hoped the next alder would address public safety since her family had experienced multiple car break-ins. Her priority in the special election, just two weeks after the presidential one, was “making the neighborhood a more family-friendly environment,” Shmeeler said.

“It’s a lot of voting, but I still think it’s important, because this is our little section of the world,” she added.

Hogan worked as the vice president of operations at Elm City Communities, New Haven’s housing authority, and earlier as the deputy director of the Livable City Initiative.

Correction, Nov. 27: This article has been corrected to reflect that Gary Hogan won more, not fewer, votes in the March co-chair election than he did to become an alder.