Former Democratic Party state chairman Ed Marcus, who has a close relationship with Mayor Joe Ganim and receives legal work from the city, asserts in a Hartford Courant commentary that Ganim’s gubernatorial campaign is stronger if he qualifies for an August primary via a petitioning effort rather than the convention route where he came up short. From Marcus:
The recent Democratic Party convention to nominate candidates for statewide offices turned out to be a party divider. It demonstrated that trying to “fix” a convention in advance is not the smart or politically sound way to go.
The fact that Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim received only 13.2 percent of the required 15 percent to qualify for a primary may have proved that the party leadership was strong enough to stop him from getting to the promised land of 15 percent. The bottom line, however, is that Joe Ganim will accumulate the roughly 15,000 signatures (2 percent of those registered with the party) to win a place on the primary ballot. As a result, he will end up being a much stronger candidate in the primary.
The strong likelihood is that those signers of his petitions–at least a significant majority of them–will actually vote for Ganim in a primary, as will their family members. Once you sign a petition for someone, you tend to feel you have a vested interest in that candidacy.
Then there is the number two spot.
Former Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz made a smart deal for herself by taking the lieutenant governor’s spot on the Democrat’s ticket rather than continue her bid for the gubernatorial nomination. Nevertheless, she may or may not survive a primary challenge from Eva Bermudez Zimmerman, who won nearly 40 percent of the delegates voting at the convention. Bermudez Zimmerman was named Latina Citizen of the Year in 2015 by the Connecticut general Assembly, works as a union negotiator and lives in Sandy Hook.
Zimmerman will be a difficult opponent for Bysiewicz, who by no means can be considered a shoo-in.
Full commentary here.
Ed,give it a break, let’s get this straight, Zimmerman is NOT supporting or running with Joe Ganim, those words have never come from her mouth. One doesn’t have to like Lamont but Joe Ganim can’t beat him if Joe gets 30,000 signatures. The lesser of two evils.
In the interest of full disclosure (which Ed Marcus would never do) Ed is a contractor to the city of Bport under Joe Ganim so this has nothing to do with political strategy and everything to do with money.
Congrats Lennie, sorry I couldn’t be there.
With ayala verifying the signatures of course Joe will be on the ballot. Wait till the absentee voters come in during the primary.