Reading Political Tea Leaves – The Bradley Campaign’s Hypocrisy Boosts Black Rock For A Candidate Named Ganim

It’s time to unpack Tuesday’s results.

Ned Lamont had a huge primary win in Bridgeport and across the state, now well-poised for a third four-year term against Republican Ryan Fazio facing the headwinds of a blue-state electorate traumatized by Trump. Fazio will try to puncture through keeping the focus on affordability while countering the attacks on the GOP brand.

Judge of Probate Paul Ganim had a nice win – certainly not optimal – over Mark Bradley in a pathetically low mid-teens city turnout where an entrenched anti-vote manages to find its way to the polls.

Some voters were choosey, voting for the governor and Bradley, a product of an anti-vote sentiment and Bradley spending much more direct money on his race in Bridgeport than Lamont’s opponent Josh Elliott.

The Bradley campaign ran basically on two platforms: race and corruption. Bradley postured a self-entitled arrogance, vote for be because I’m Black, vote for me because I am Hispanic, let’s make history, let’s make change for the sake of change, beat Paul Ganim’s ass and then his brother Joe next year.

It’s difficult and thoroughly hypocritical to run on corruption when you’re corrupt yourself, a point the Ganim campaign hammered home relentlessly to counter Bradley connecting Paul Ganim to the anti-sentiment toward his brother, Mayor Joe Ganim.

Mark Bradley, himself, under multiple state probes for illegal voting and his brother Dennis Bradley, the former state senator convicted in March by a federal jury for election fraud, and as a result suspension of his law license.

And, then the gift from Dennis Bradley, the video showing him manipulating a senior citizen to alter an absentee ballot, sealed in an envelope, to benefit his brother.

Had Bradley run a strategically sound race, he wins.

Either way, the remainder of this year and into next year will be very difficult law enforcement realities for both Dennis and Mark Bradley.

The thing about the anti-vote, that’s votes in the bank, you already have those people. Screaming corruption from the mountain tops, without a viable contrasting message why you’re better, preaches to the choir, drains resources and wakes up the vote with a strong scent to hypocrisy.

The ultimate neighborhood where the Bradley’s thought they’d run up a huge number backfired in high-turnout Black Rock, the waterfront hamlet home to engaged voters. Mark Bradley spent most of his Tuesday campaigning in front of Black Rock School.

Since his return to the mayoralty in 2015, Joe Ganim has gotten swamped by opponents at Black Rock School, losing by hundreds of votes.

Inside the Paul Ganim campaign camp, considering the baggage oozing out of Bradley, was a plausible question: could a candidate named Ganim actually win Black Rock School?

Anecdotally, many Black Rockers affronted by the Ganim name, announced cringingly, “I can’t vote for Bradley.” That leaves two options: vote for Ganim or don’t vote for probate judge at all.

At Black Rock School, where education funding is a huge issue, Josh Elliott had his best precinct, losing to the governor by just three votes. What about Ganim versus Bradley? It was Ganim 231, Bradley 212.

That “What” in amazement you just heard echoed throughout Ganim canyon Tuesday night when the Black Rock number came in.

So it’s possible, with the right mix of circumstances, to win over voters anathema to a name.

What does this mean for Joe Ganim as he seeks another four-year term next year?

Another anti-vote battle for sure, depending on the quality of the opposition.

Meanwhile, Bradley has submitted signatures to continue his bid as a New Movement third-party candidate. As of Tuesday, those petitions were still being reviewed by the Bridgeport Town Clerk.