A former Rhodes scholar who worked in the administrations of both President Barack Obama and Governor Dannel Malloy will be the next mayor of Hartford.
Luke Bronin, a 36-year-old attorney, defeated Republican Theodore "Ted" Cannon and petitioning candidates Joel Cruz, Jr. and Patrice Smith on Tuesday. At Bronin's campaign headquarters, Malloy told the crowd that Bronin had won the race.
A political novice, Bronin managed to defeat the incumbent mayor, Pedro Segarra, in September's Democratic primary. Bronin had called for improving the city's neighborhood schools, boosting economic development, tackling crime, and addressing a drop in police staffing.
Bronin was largely raised in Greenwich. He moved to Hartford in 2006, later leaving in 2009 to work in Washington, D.C. and Afghanistan. He returned to the city in 2013, where he lives with his wife Sara and the couple's three children.
— Jeff Cohen (@jeffcohenwnpr) November 4, 2015
Bronin has been criticized both as a newcomer to the city and an insider candidate, but he had the significant support of Democratic Town Committee Chairman Marc DiBella and others. Bronin will take charge of a city that faces the big-picture problem of poverty as well as its fair share of self-inflicted administrative wounds.
On Monday, the city confirmed that Democratic Registrar Olga Vazquez fired Deputy Registrar Garey Coleman, who also serves as clerk of the state senate. He is the brother of Democratic State Sen. Eric Coleman.
This report contains information from The Associated Press.
