In the September mayoral primary John Gomes received 3,953 votes. On Tuesday’s redo he netted 3,894 votes, according to unofficial returns. An intriguing similarity comes down to one thing: it’s the base anti-incumbent vote with Gomes receiving less votes in the redo.
Gomes has spent about $500,000 for a base vote that came up short in the initial run and then well short on Tuesday because the Ganim campaign, 4,971 votes for the incumbent, got it’s act together after the September scare when many voters stayed home and then the hullabaloo over the absentee ballot controversy with Gomes went abuzz fanned by pack of sanctimonious zealots.
Ganim fine tuned his message be it “doer versus divider” or “record versus revenge” after he fired Gomes last year. He also worked his butt off, announced a tax cut for seniors, trotted out some good news on the housing and economic development fronts in the final weeks that reinforced progress. A number of political backers across the city also stepped up heavily for Ganim. More on that soon.
Tuesday’s vote was a punch to the solar plexus of Gomes and the haters. They thought they had this in the bag. But when you unpack the focus of Gomes campaign most of what he kicked out was basic cookie cutout mantra. Nothing original about his direction for the city including his “mayor for all the people” thing which he poached from Ganim’s 2015 return to the mayoralty.
Gomes has no salient rationale for running, other than a simple purging of cathartic anger. A band of fire-breathing dragons jumped on board not because Gomes inspired them, but solely to take out Ganim, damn the potential consequences to the city.
Ganim, for sure, is no boy scout, with plenty of baggage. You don’t like him? So be it. To think a hothead such as Gomes is better for the city is simply negotiating against yourself out of anger. The deeper into this extended election cycle the more the Gomes cracks opened up the trap doors of the hypocrisy train from locomotive to caboose. He lacks the correct temperament for the job as he reinforced in his cringeworthy debate performance on WICC.
For Gomes a campaign manager came and went, another came and went, a strong communications director kicked to the curb, supporters mishandled absentee ballot applications. His chief absentee ballot harvester City Councilwoman Maria Pereira called the police chief and his entire department “pigs” with a flaccid response from the candidate.
The walk-in results tell a clear story in the 138th District that Pereira represents. Hooker School Ganim 244, Gomes 164. JFK Ganim 305, Gomes 195. Ganim had several other blowout precincts, Gomes just one, the always reliably Ganim haters in Black Rock. You can place Osama Bin Laden on the ballot in Black Rock and most would vote for him over Ganim who managed 259 votes from pragmatic precinct voters in the waterfront hamlet.
In September a lot of Ganim voters stayed home that came out in January, be it city progress, candidate messaging contrast, the campaign’s strong field operation.
In the final days of the campaign the saintly sanctimonious leaders of Bridgeport Generation Now Votes led by Callie Heilmann and Gemeem Davis jumped on the Gomes band wagon thinking Ganim was toast and they could dance happily on his political grave. The wagon, however, blew a few wheels.
Despite Ganim’s nice primary redo win this thing is not over yet. Looks like another general election will take place as long as one opponent is in the field. One is Republican David Herz. Another possibility is Lamond Daniels as a petitioning candidate but that seems unlikely. That leaves Gomes who has a slot on the Bridgeport Independent Party line but word is leadership of the party is also unhappy with Gomes.
The nosiest myopic Ganim haters will try to keep Gomes in the game, but how can he finance it given February 27 around the corner. He could cut a deal with Gen Now Votes but will big daddy Niels Heilmann, treasurer of the organization, open up his mighty wallet for the task.
Then there’s this issue: by state law it cannot be a coordinated effort with the candidate. That means making battle plans to discuss how and where the money is spent with an independent expenditure group is a no no that could lead to another investigation by the state among mountain ranges of others in this mad election cycle.
Don’t be surprised if the venomous haters try to fabricate another election narrative as a wedge issue to revive September’s ballot controversy that still has a number of investigations to play out.
So Gomes has one last crack at this but the momentum, for now, has shifted back to Ganim.
Gomes has to figure out if running and losing a fourth time is worth the risk or better to become a martyr for a future run. Will his ego allow it?
Win lose or draw, John Gomes still has a path to victory, in the General Election.
Win lose or draw? Try: Loss, loss, loss.
It looks like John Gomes is the person JML refered to as getting ready for a Hollywood try-out. The title of the movie is: Cocky–From Red Rooster to Mayor.
Why did we have 2 primaries and 1 general election, already? Was it necessary or positive? Perhaps.
What evidence showed up to substantiate statements regarding AB corruption and allow all voters to see the breaking of AB rules to such an extent that the CT Court ruled for a re-do set of elections? Were the distribution of absentee ballot requests handled by each party for the January primary legal though different as to specifics? Word from SEEC on the matter?
Where are the “political activitists” today, who were captured on film, breaking the law by likely placing more than one ballot in the box, and what consequences do they face?
And why has the DTC with over 40,000 residents signed on to their line, have no word to voters, before, during , and after these election exercises? Is it because a vice-leader of the DTC has been busy getting ready for a Hollywood try-out? Or does the party have ‘nothing to say’ when they endorse a candidate?
Is such organization of 90 fellow voters silently, without comments about democratic practices followed for the benefit of party voters, healthy for Bridgeport? Go to the polls early in March to vote for a slate of DTC electors you know and favor.
Look for word from Lamond Daniels and David Herz before February 1 as to whether they wish to be considered as candidates on February 27. Time will tell.
“Or does the party have ‘nothing to say’ when they endorse a candidate?
Is such organization of 90 fellow voters silently, without comments about democratic practices…”
Didn’t I tell you not to come in my classroom? Now I gotta get hearing aids too? Are you folks in Black Rock really paying attention to what actually transpired during the last 5 months?
About the day after the first Video featuring Wanda Geter, Retired Judge Carmen Lopez submitted her resignation as member of the Democratic Town Committee for the 130th. District. Don’t tell me Carmen had to give you or anyone an explanation for her decision. Those who know her, don’t have to ask why.
There is a report circulating around the “underground” Internet and airways: LAMOND DIDN’T SEE HIS SHADOW AND WILL BE CAMPAIGING IN THE NEIGHBORHOODS BY THE WEEKEND! THE WINTER RACE FOR BRIDGEPORT MAYOR IS ON!!! KEEP YOUR EYES OUT FOR BRIDGEPORT’S NEXT DEMOCRATICALLY-ELECTED MAYOR, LAMOND DANIELS!…
GO, LAMOND!! (Don’t slip on all those discarded absentees from the other guys’ camps — as you’re walking and door-knocking the neighborhoods…)
I heard the judge hasn’t made up his mind as to whether or not there will be a round four (4). Lamond didn’t qualify for the ballot did he?
Discussion going on between the court and the Secretary of the State. It sounds like the February 27, election was ordered assuming the possibility of John Gomes winning the special primary. Then keep in mind the matter of the violation of the court order in regards to the distribution of AB applications. Lennie, what are you hearing other than voices in your head?
Professor Gonzalez,
I have heard your comments but your course is about Gun Safety, isn’t it? And while I am in favor of such measures in the community at large as well as in normal family life, I did not understand your transfer to POLITICAL SCIENCE especially as a defender of the local DEMOCRATIC Town Committee. 90 Democrats who say nothing about embracing democratic practices, as commonly understood in othe parts of CT, even by some Republicans, and provide endorsements through this process that many have to endure for far too lengthy a time period.
So, I continue to focus on an opportunity to change “do nothing slates of endorsed Democrats” through the ballot box. If Black Rock is such a hot bed of anti-Ganim2 momentum, who is organizing an alternate slate? Even if February 27 does not occur offering all registered voters an opportunity to express their voice and vote, registered Democrats can still show up and vote the “unresponsives” out of office. Where are DTC rules enshrined in Bridgeport? Time will tell.