Campaigns 2013 Elicker first ran for mayor at age 38 in 2013, when 20-year incumbent
John DeStefano Jr. announced he would not seek another term. Four candidates qualified for the Democratic primary, including state senator
Toni Harp, who had won the endorsement of local party officials. In the primary, Elicker finished a distant second to Harp, receiving 23% of the vote to her 50%. But he gathered enough signatures to run in the general election as an independent. Elicker labeled himself the candidate of integrity and sound government who would not show favoritism in hiring for city jobs. He attacked Harp over her family's real estate business being the largest tax delinquent in Connecticut. Meanwhile, Harp's supporters painted Elicker as a
carpetbagger who had only lived in the city for six years. After his defeat, Elicker was hired as executive director of the New Haven Land Trust, an organization that manages and preserves open land in the city. Harp's campaign was impacted by a
FBI corruption investigation into elements of city hall, specifically the youth services department. Harp's campaign manager, Edward Corey, accused Elicker's wife Natalie, a federal prosecutor who handled only civil cases, had been "manipulating the FBI" into the investigation, which received pushback. Harp, then 72, had won 17 consecutive elections in the city, between her time in the state senate and as mayor. She again won the endorsement of several local party officials, despite Elicker outraising her. Elicker won the Democratic primary with 58% of the vote. He and Harp each won about half of the city's wards, but turnout was higher in the whiter areas of the city than in Black and Hispanic neighborhoods. Harp already had a place on the November general election ballot thanks to her endorsement by the
Working Families Party, so she had the opportunity for a rematch, just like the one Elicker had pursued in 2013. On September 25, she announced she would suspend her campaign and not actively seek votes in the general. But a month later, she announced she was "unsuspending" her campaign and was "in it to win it." Elicker won the general election with 68% of the vote. He was inaugurated as New Haven's 51st mayor on January 1, 2020.
Tenure As mayor, Elicker negotiated a new deal with
Yale University that nearly doubled its annual payments-in-lieu-of-taxes to the city. In the wake of the murder of
George Floyd, Elicker launched a new program called COMPASS that created non-police crisis-response teams to citizen issues. He also oversaw passage of a new inclusive zoning bill to require the construction of more affordable housing in the city and pushed for an expansion of
Tweed New Haven Airport that attracted
Avelo Airlines. During his second term, hackers stole more than $6 million from the city's school system, though $3.6 million was later recovered. Elicker was
reelected to office by wide margins in 2021 and 2023. ==Personal life==