Mayor Joe Ganim is moving closer to officially qualifying for the August primary ballot for governor. On Friday the Office of the Connecticut Secretary of the State reported Ganim has 11,295 verified signatures from Democratic electors in Connecticut of 15,458 required to challenge party-endorsed Ned Lamont for governor. On Friday the Ganim campaign thanked political operatives and volunteers for helping secure roughly 32,000 signatures around the state. See video above. A cushion is required to account for signatures that cannot be verified by local elections officials.
Petitions are reviewed by local registrars and then sent to the state for tabulation. Ganim submitted his petitions as the campaign collected them while others running statewide handed them in near the June 12 deadline. Democratic strongholds Bridgeport and New Haven represent more than half the signatures collected by the Ganim campaign.
The latest numbers tabulated by the state for gubernatorial petitioning candidates:
Joe Ganim (D) – 11,295 (needs 15,458)
Guy Smith (D) – 1,018 (needs 15,458)
David Stemerman (R) – 2,237 (needs 9,081)
Bob Stefanowski (R) – 5,590 (needs 9,081)
Now we need someone to step-up and become the Father of Bridgeport.