Anticipating September primaries, Democratic Town Chair Mario Testa looks to load up the treasury with an August 7 fundraiser to fend off challengers to endorsed candidates, although the only citywide action on the horizon potentially is for Board of Education after party regulars endorsed three candidates for school board, ex mayoral candidate Lamond Daniels, current school board chair Jennifer Perez and newcomer Jowanne Burks-Jennings, an accountant.
Incumbent school board member Joe Sokolovic and Orlanda Austin-Strong, an active public school parent are trying to signature their way onto the September 9 primary ballot. They must secure five percent verified signatures of Democratic electors.
The good news for primary petitioners is the Registrar’s Office recently cleaned up the list of inactive voters such as those not voting in the past two presidential elections so the Dem registration dipped from 42,500 a year ago to 33,515, the lowest it’s been in decades. That means they’d require about 1,700 solid signatures.
The donnybrook for City Council will take place in the Upper East Side 138th District where incumbent Maria Pereira and Keyla Medina are challenging party-endorsed incumbent Samia Suliman and District Leader Kevin Monks.
Both Suliman and Medina reside in Success Village so that will be an epicenter of action to pull a vote at the JFK precinct.
In the 137th District Ismael Sanchez Jr and Isaac Dickerson look to primary incumbents Aidee Nieves and Maria Valle
In the 136th District Christopher Rodriguez is operating solo against incumbents Alfredo Castillo, mired in election controversies, and Fred Hodges.
That is the extent of potential primaries so far, according to the Registrar’s Office.
Primary petitions for opposition candidates of a major party for municipal offices must be submitted to the Registrar’s Office by 4 p.m. August 6. Absentee ballots become available August 19. Early voting commences September 2.
Castillo & Pereira are in line already at the Registrar’s office”We’ll each take 500 AB’s please”
What does it mean to be registered to vote as a community resident of Bridgeport? If it is the first step towards casting a ballot in a future election, it is a good step. If the second step is to participate in a democratic activity, of a non-partisan nature, so that you learn about the operation of local governance, that is informative, too. A decisive step is to know what issues are and more specifically who is seeking to become an official on Election Day. It is about your civic responsibility to become an ‘informed voter.’
The Bridgeport Registrar of Voter Department has performed an assessment of its Active Voter listing in 2025. They found that ‘registered voters’ on the former list totaled about 70,000 people. But the recent review lowered the total number to 55,925, a decrease of more than 14,000 people. Democrats identified were 33, 526. Republicans counted nearly 4,800. Folks unaffiliated totaled nearly 17,200 and all other party members were 411 registered. The 25% drop in voters identified as Democrats was large.
The assessment of lower voting numbers saves the City money in printing ballots for all who may vote. But the number of potential voters tells only part of the story. In the most recent election that mirrors the upcoming election, held in 2021, the CT Secretary of State notes that whatever the number of potential voters, only 5,315 were counted, roughly 7.6% on the list. It is a tragic weakness when a neighbor does not exercise a right to which they are entitled! Voters who fail to participate in democratic activity fail to be informed about issues and candidate positions and fail to register their opinion every two years about municipal elected officials.
This year, Bridgeport is likely to see a Charter review document on the ballot posed as a question to the voters. The Review Commission, which I serve in three months has dealt with making the Charter simpler to use through better organization and dealing with Civil Service employment issues that have cost taxpayers delay and expense for years. Finally, a strong Ethics Office directs a path from rules to enforcement to place all City officials, citizens, and observers in a more just system, to take pride in. Where will you find useful information? Ask neighbors? Time will tell.
And what does it mean to be a registered Democrat in Bridgeport? The opportunity to hear and be heard by partisan leadership? The chance to learn from a website and a group as to activities, and opportunity to participate or learn about fiscal issues of the DTC? Where funds are directed in a non-mayoral year? If money is the cement of power politics, who are the masons and what accounting for the money is available, honest, and open to accountable communication? Time will tell.