The mayor of Connecticut‘s largest city won an unusual Democratic primary on Tuesday night after a ballot-harvesting scandal led to a rare court-ordered do-over of the election.
Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim was elected as his party’s nominee for the mayoral race, beating challenger John Gomes by over 1,000 votes as of Wednesday.
“I am moved and grateful for the opportunity to continue to serve the people of the City of Bridgeport,” Ganim told the Connecticut Post on Wednesday. “I asked the residents to come out and make a strong statement with their votes, and they responded. The results show a turnout and plurality of victory that both greatly exceeded the September primary.”
Ganim had beaten Gomes for the nomination in September 2023 by 251 votes and by a smaller margin in the general election in November, but a judge overturned the results after shocking video surveillance showed a Ganim supporter allegedly dropping stacks of absentee ballots into a drop box. Connecticut has strict laws regarding who can turn in someone else’s ballot, and ballot harvesting is illegal.
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The Connecticut Democrat has accused people in Gomes’s campaign, who ran as an independent in November after losing the nomination, of also partaking in “unlawful ballot box behavior.” No evidence has surfaced, and Gomes has denied the allegations.
The primary results do not guarantee that Ganim will continue his eighth term as mayor because the judge also ordered a redo of the general election, which is scheduled for Feb. 27. However, the general election could be canceled if all challengers, which includes Gomes as an independent, drop out by Feb. 1.