Ganim Wins Fourth Vote In A Blow Out Over Gomes – ‘Bridgeport Has Spoken’

Mayor Joe Ganim put to rest this extended mayoral odyssey winning handily a fourth vote across the city with the walk-in vote and absentee ballots over opponent John Gomes, according to unofficial returns.

Overall, the mayor won with about 60 percent of the vote, 6,356 to Gomes 4,138. Republican David Herz tallied 283. The graphic above reflects only the machine count, not absentees which the mayor won 1,721 to 659 over Gomes.

Ganim carried every precinct on the machines except for Black Rock, Geraldine Claytor and City Hall, even there the mayor performed stronger than in previous three votes.

Ganim ran up huge pluralities in Black and Hispanic precincts on the East Side and East End including JFK, Hooker, and Dunbar as well as key precincts in Whiskey Hill such as Wilbur Cross and Hallen.

This historic mayoral cycle began after Ganim fired his once ally Gomes from his city position in 2022. Several other political operatives the mayor let go rallied behind Gomes’ run for mayor, raising hundreds of thousands for the cause.

Opponents surprised Ganim last September running close in a Democratic primary. A flashpoint occurred when a Gomes sympathizer working in the police department surveilling designated drop boxes approved by the state, following Covid, leaked footage to Gomes of Ganim supporters placing absentee ballots. Connecticut law limits the handling of absentee ballots to family, caretakers and police officers.

Video surveillance would also show that Gomes operatives did the same but since Gomes came up short in the primary he filed a complaint in state court urging a new primary.

The primary evidence presented to Judge William Clark consisted of operatives placing absentees into drop boxes.

Not one witness took the stand to explain their vote did not count, their ballot was confiscated or signature falsified. Still, the judge ruled the preponderance of ballots placed into drop boxes based on video compelled him to order a new election, claiming it was impossible to determine a rightful winner, according to state law. Some legal observers disagreed, claiming the judge took a lot of latitude in his decision.

Clark’s decision created national news providing Gomes a cudgel to attack his former boss. A general election advanced with both Ganim and Gomes on the ballot. Ganim won. But Clark concluded he had no authority to change the date of the general election so a new primary took place afterwards with Ganim winning again, leaving Gomes the option to run again in another general election because the Office of the Connecticut Secretary of State ruled that another primary must be married to another general election and the judge agreed.

Yes, a level of logistical whiplash is involved here for the common person.

Ganim retooled his message, declaring his former hire was running for revenge, highlighting a doer over a divider mantra. The mayor campaigned as a man on a mission to preserve a legacy transcending the absentee controversy.

Gomes also ran out of campaign cash that had kept him in the game and suffered several campaign gaffes that tarnished his reformer’s edge including failure to file campaign finance reports on time, operatives under scrutiny for violations of election law, another backer who called respected Police Chief Roderick Porter a “pig” and no real rationale for running.

Voters questioned his veracity for running. Gomes also provided no hopeful vision for the future, preferring to live or die politically in the past.

Gomes vote totals slipped along the way while Ganim righted the ship combining contrast of his opponent with leveraging power of incumbency, highlighting tax, public safety and development successes.

Along the way, voters suffered from fatigue and wondered how in the world could Ganim win three times and still fight for another vote. Many voters believed Judge Clark went too far.

On Tuesday, the fourth vote in five months, Ganim provided an exclamation point.