When Mayor Joe Ganim won the January primary redo against opponent John Gomes a deep momentum shift occurred when Ganim won the walk-in vote that had escaped him in two prior tries, propelled by absentee ballots.
The mo was with Joe with three straight wins and Gomes campaign running on empty, the moolah that feeds an assortment of logistics had evaporated with lots of bills to pay and promises unfulfilled.
Lamond Daniels announced he would not renew his general election spot as a petitioning candidate. Republic David Herz declared he’d withdraw his candidacy if Daniels and Gomes did the same, saving taxpayers $125,000 for the cost to run yet another citywide election for mayor.
Gomes had spent more than a year campaigning full time, a toll that impacted his personal finances. A number of key cogs that raised the money he needed to fuel competitive races said sayonara, can’t go back to the well.
Gomes refused entreaties to meet with Ganim to discuss avoidance of another vote. There were things that the mayor and political leaders could do for Gomes such as helping with a campaign deficit, recommendations for private sector work. Come away with something or run one more time with the potential to be smoked.
Gomes heard what he wanted to hear from his inner circle to stay in the game. The embers still burn after Ganim lanced Gomes by 20 percentage points.
Gomes keeps talking about a movement, making history. Well, yes, if you consider losing four times in five months that certainly is history making.
Politics is a funny business with ebbs and flows. Gomes has ebbed himself into a place his ego had not imagined. He comes up a big loser with an unknown political future. Plenty of others went along for the ride fixated myopically on taking out Ganim rather than building up Gomes: campaign operatives such as Christine Bartlett Josie, Maria Pires, City Councilwoman Maria Pereira who called Chief Roderick Porter a “pig” which turned off many voters, the vitriolic social media carpet bombers such as school board members Joe Sokolovic and Rob Traber, the saintly commandos at Bridgeport Generation Now Votes Gemeem Davis and Callie Heilmann.
Bridgeport politics is something of a contact sport. There will be other battles but for the crew above a number of wounds to lick.
The big takeaway from the 2023-2024 Bridgeport election saga is that the people of Bridgeport aren’t even an afterthought to the Connecticut Oligarchy/Connecticut “government.”
The thought of any disruption of the Oligarchy-serving (Gold-Coast/Suburb-serving), Bridgeport-as-Connecticut-bastard-stepchild-City status quo, was enough to bring out the presence and/or committed-endorsement of the highest levels of state government and Democratic Party leadership in order to maintain the Connecticut socioeconomic/political status quo (via maintaining the Bridgeport status quo)…
Lock in their votes; lock them out of the political arena!
Even with Bridgeport, and the State of Connecticut, once again in the national spotlight as bastions of corruption and rigged elections — in the context of the upcoming 2024 POTUS election and MAGA election-rigging hysteria/delirium — the Connecticut Band played on…
No election-rigging in these parts, Boss!! Only a disgruntled employee running against our “fixer,” causing trouble here, Boss! (Said the Governor to the POTUS…)
“Change” was running for mayor in Bridgeport, and “change” was either bought-off or excluded from the bails of “harvested” ballots dumped into ballot boxes and mailboxes. And the Big Boys called out to the media and the people of Bridgeport to look the other way and pretend that life is grand and things are looking up in the Park City — even as the gangs control the neighborhoods, and taxes and other housing costs continue to either remain high or go through the roof, as tax-less, jobless development sits on top of the stagnant Bridgeport grand list and Bridgeport residents work 2-3 jobs for the “privilege” of living here…
Now, maybe “Change” wasn’t the best mayoral candidate that Bridgeport could offer — but electing “Change” would have forced the Connecticut Oligarchy (appropriately led by the Governor and our Congressional delegation) to rethink the calculus of keeping Bridgeport chained in the Connecticut basement. (Mayor Status Quo is happy to govern from the basement — it’s a little dark, and dank, but it’s a great place to do political “business” and “pass time.”)
But, oh; what the hell! It’s over now… And; what’s good for Stamford-Greenwich is good for the state!… Said Ned Lamont, to himself, as he sipped his nightcap before turning off the election news and heading to bed on 2/27/24…
(The big question now is: Will EVERYONE just forget that Bridgeport’s political nightmare just delivered another rigged election season — ON CAMERA — and the NATION was told by the Connecticut Governor/Connecticut Oligarchy and Democratic Party hierarchy to just forget that anything corrupt-illegal ever happened here in 2023-2024, or before, and nothing like it will ever happen again?!) (Do I hear some rabid, mouth-foaming MAGA’s growling and ranting in the distance?!)