Just a few weeks from hitting the streets in a labor-intensive quest to qualify for a September Democratic primary, mayoral candidate Lamond Daniels has rolled out endorsements from former mayors Bill Finch and John Fabrizi.
Mayor Joe Ganim is certain to win the party endorsement July 25. The next morning Ganim’s three opponents – Daniels, John Gomes and Marilyn Moore – will presumably fan out across the city to secure just over 2,000 verifiable signatures of Democratic voters, representing five percent of party electors.
Will they try to also fill out full slates of candidates for City Council, school board, as well as town clerk, city clerk and sheriff slots? It appears the Gomes camp is headed in that direction.F
Four years ago campaign veterans, former State Rep. Chris Caruso and Town Clerk Alma Maya ran on Moore’s slate for town clerk and city clerk respectively. The announcement was the highlight of Moore’s run when she lost a tight primary to Ganim. Souring on Moore’s disorganized campaign, Caruso and Maya are not supporting her this cycle.
They are among a significant number of operatives not backing Moore this time. Many have gravitated to Daniels, Gomes and even Ganim.
Daniels served in the Finch administration as director of neighborhood initiatives. They are simpatico policy wonks. Finch had pined to jump into the mayor’s race this cycle but lacked backing from the key operatives that guided him to the mayoralty in 2007 after a hard-fought primary against Caruso.
Finch won reelection in 2011 then lost a close primary in 2015 to Ganim.
In recent years Fabrizi has split his time between Florida and Bridgeport but has not lost his zest for all things Bridgeport. Having the backing of two former mayors is something to bring to the table, especially if they help secure signatures.
News release from Daniels campaign:
