Erin Elizabeth Stewart is the 40th Mayor of the City of New Britain, Connecticut. She was first elected at the age of 26 in November 2013, was overwhelmingly reelected to a second term on November 3, 2015, and was elected to a third term on November 7, 2017. She is the youngest mayor in the city’s history and the only female mayor of New Britain to be elected to more than one term.
Mayor Stewart was born on May 4, 1987 in New Britain to Patricia (Badolato) and former New Britain Mayor Timothy Stewart, who served from 2003 to 2011. Her uncle, the late State Representative Dominic J. Badolato, represented New Britain in the Connecticut General Assembly for 22 years. Mayor Stewart’s entire family has a longstanding commitment to serving their neighbors in New Britain, and she is proud to continue that tradition.
Mayor Stewart has earned accolades for her leadership and results-driven style of governing. She closed a deficit of more than $30 million during her first term, increased the City’s Rainy Day fund to $15 million, and brought stability and responsibility back to the city’s finances. Under Mayor Stewart’s leadership, the City’s Standard and Poor’s bond rating has increased by four notches to “A+.” As a result of these efforts, Mayor Stewart and New Britain have been featured twice on the front cover of the Bond Buyer, the nation’s leading municipal finance newspaper as a model for other communities.
Under her leadership, New Britain is undergoing a dramatic economic turnaround. Over the last three years, the City’s Grand List has increased, due to the addition of new businesses like Costco, Polamer Precision, Addaero, Connecticut Cabinetry, the Alvarium Beer Co., Mofongo, YoYo Ice Cream, and dozens of others who have chosen to expand, relocate, or establish themselves in New Britain.
Mayor Stewart has leveraged the opportunities presented by the opening of CTfastrak in 2015 by creating a master Transit Oriented Development plan to turn vacant or underused parcels near the City’s three stations to create a community where people of all ages and economic backgrounds want to live, work, and play. Investments by the City have attracted numerous housing and development projects. One of these projects includes Columbus Commons, a $58 million mixed-use development featuring housing, retail, and office space at the site of the former New Britain Police Department, which is just steps from the City’s downtown CTfastrak terminal. Mayor Stewart’s commitment to transforming these neighborhoods has attracted other developments in the downtown area, including the historic renovation of 57 Court Street, along with additional apartments on Main Street, West Main Street, and several other areas.
Mayor Stewart has also invested significant resources in helping New Britain’s homeless population through her creation of the Building Hope Together Task Force: New Britain’s Permanent Workplan to End Homelessness. By bringing city officials, clergy members, and social services providers around the same table, Mayor Stewart is not only continuing New Britain’s tradition of compassion for those less fortunate, she is intent on finding housing, treatment, and work for those who seek it. Building Hope Together has become a model for other communities that are tackling the issue of homelessness.
In January 2016, Mayor Stewart launched an Energy and Innovation Committee as a way to make New Britain a “SMART City.” The goal of the committee is to reduce the cost of government, harness new technologies, and make more efficient use of existing resources. Projects recently implemented include a redesigned City website, a large solar array at the Shuttle Meadow Water Treatment Plant, electric vehicle charging stations, a fuel cell at New Britain High School, LEDs in City buildings, free downtown wireless internet, downtown parking meter upgrades, a free textile recycling program, and more. Future initiatives include a mobile app that will allow residents report a pothole or other issue directly to Public Works, upgrading downtown traffic lights so they can be realigned in realtime, and converting City streetlights to LEDS. Mayor Stewart has also hired a new energy manager, who is working with the City’s facilities manager to reduce electrical costs by at least 10 percent.
Mayor Stewart never passes up an opportunity to inspire other individuals—especially City youth and females—to develop the confidence and leadership qualities they need to grow and give back to their community or organization. A former volunteer New Britain High School softball coach, Mayor Stewart has been a keynote speaker at the Connecticut Business and Industry Association’s When Women Lead conference, a repeat speaker at Central Connecticut State University’s Elect-Her series, and a frequent visitor to area schools where she is proud to instill a lifelong pursuit of learning.
Mayor Stewart continues to be humbled by the recognition she has received for her service and leadership. In 2014, she received the Women’s Leadership Award from the Connecticut Republican Party. Also in 2014, Connecticut Magazine named her one of their “40 Under 40,” and the New Britain City Journal named her their “Person of the Year.” For her work in spreading awareness about domestic violence, the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence honored her with a “First 100 Plus” award in November 2015. She has been the subject of in-depth profiles by national media outlets like the New York Times, Cosmopolitan, Time Magazine, and Newsmax, which in January 2016 named her to the top of their “30 Most Influential Republicans Under 30” list.
