Merrill Gay
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Merrill Gay is an at-large Democratic representative on the New Britain Board of Education. Gay advanced from the primary election on September 16, 2015, and sought re-election in the general election on November 3, 2015. Merrill Gay won the general election on November 3, 2015.
Biography
Gay earned a B.A. from Clark University and an M.S. from the University of Southern New Hampshire.[1] He is the executive director of the Connecticut Early Childhood Alliance. He has two children who graduated from district schools.[2]
Elections
2015
Opposition
Five seats on the New Britain Public Schools Board of Education were up for general election on November 3, 2015. Five at-large incumbents' seats were up for election in 2015: Carlos Piña (D), Nicole Rodriguez (D), James E. Sanders Sr. (R), Merrill Gay (D) and Stacey Rosado (R).
The three newcomers nominated by the New Britain Republican Town Committee—Elaine Perzan Zottola, Grisselle Aponte and Gayle Sanders-Connolly—were the top three highest vote recipients in the election.[3] The town's Democratic committee, meanwhile, nominated sitting incumbents Gay, Piña and Rodriguez for re-election.[4] While the incumbents survived a primary challenge from Agnes Kurzyna and Violet Sims, only Rodriguez and Gay succeeded on the general election ballot. Piña placed last overall.
Results
General
| New Britain Public Schools, At-Large, General Election, 2015 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  Elaine Perzan Zottola |
18.0% | 3,780 | |
| Republican | Gayle Sanders-Connolly |
17.9% | 3,756 | |
| Republican | Grisselle Aponte |
17.0% | 3,581 | |
| Democratic | Nicole Rodriguez Incumbent |
16.0% | 3,359 | |
| Democratic | Merrill Gay Incumbent |
15.6% | 3,289 | |
| Democratic | Carlos Piña Incumbent | 15.5% | 3,252 | |
| Total Votes | 21,017 | |||
| Source: Connecticut Secretary of State, "Prescribed Form for Return of Votes Cast At A Municipal Election," accessed November 5, 2015 | ||||
Democratic primary
| New Britain Public Schools, At-Large, Democratic Primary, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Merrill Gay Incumbent |
23.4% | 673 |
| Nicole Rodriguez Incumbent |
23.0% | 661 |
| Carlos Piña Incumbent |
21.8% | 627 |
| Violet Sims | 17.1% | 491 |
| Agnes Kurzyna | 14.6% | 420 |
| Total Votes | 2,872 | |
| Source: City of New Britain, Connecticut, "2015 Board of Ed Primary," January 11, 2016 | ||
Funding
The New Britain Town and City Clerk's office does not publish and freely disclose school board candidate campaign finance reports. If you have any information regarding the campaign finance disclosures in this race, please contact the school board elections team at editor@ballotpedia.org.
Endorsements
Gay received no official endorsements in this election.
Campaign themes
2015
In a candidate questionnaire from the New Britain Herald, Gay provided the following statement on his campaign:
| “ | As a parent whose children both graduated from New Britain High School, I believe that education is one of the most important duties of local government. My priorities going forward are to improve our special education pre-K program, support new teacher and get all children reading at grade level by third grade.[5] | ” |
| —Merril Gay, New Britain Herald candidate questionnaire (2015)[1] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Merrill Gay' 'New Britain Public Schools'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- New Britain Public Schools, Connecticut
- New Britain Public Schools elections (2015)
- Incumbency no guarantee of success in Nov. 3 school board elections (November 6, 2015)
- What happened in Nov.'s top board elections? (November 4, 2015)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 New Britain Herald, "Council, BOE contenders share their plans for city," October 23, 2015
- ↑ A-Team BOE 2015, "Biography," accessed October 28, 2015
- ↑ Hartford Courant, "New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart Gets GOP Nod To Run For Second Term," July 27, 2015
- ↑ Hartford Courant, "New Britain's Democratic Chairman Will Oppose Mayor Stewart," July 23, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| 2015 New Britain Public Schools Elections | |
| Hartford County, Connecticut | |
| Election date: | Primary Election: September 16, 2015 General Election: November 3, 2015 |
| Candidates: | Democratic Party endorsed:  Merrill Gay Carlos Piña Nicole RodriguezRepublican Party endorsed: |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
