Bridgeport, Connecticut, held an election for mayor in 2023 and 2024. The original general election was held on November 7, 2023, with incumbentJoseph Ganim winning re-election. However, a state judge struck down the results of the September 12 Democratic primary due to evidence of election fraud and ordered a new primary scheduled for January 23, 2024. Ganim won this primary and was re-elected as mayor on February 27, 2024.
Primaries were held on September 12.[1] Democratic incumbent Joseph Ganim narrowly won re-nomination over his former aide, John Gomes.[1] Gomes had won the votes cast on election day, but his lead was surmounted by Ganim onceabsentee ballots were counted.[2]
Gomes declined to concede and alleged that Ganim's campaign had committedvoter fraud.[1] Bridgeport police launched an investigation regarding claims of "possible misconduct" after a video surfaced online of two women putting white envelopes in an absentee ballot drop-off box.[4] Gomes then released a video on social media that allegedly contained security footage of Wanda Geter-Pataky, a Ganim ally, stuffing an absentee ballot drop-box.[5] Additionally Gomes filed a lawsuit challenging his loss.[6]
On November 1, 2023, aConnecticut Superior Court judge upheld Gomes' challenge and struck down the results of the Democratic primary,[7] finding that 1,253 absentee ballots were submitted at Bridgeport drop boxes, despite surveillance videos only showing 420 people using the boxes.[8] A new Democratic primary was ordered, but the general election was still held on November 7th.[7][9]
Despite his loss in the Democratic primary, John Gomes won the nomination of theIndependent Party of Connecticut and secured a place on the general election ballot against Ganim.[10] They were joined on the ballot by Republican David Herz,[11] and petitioning candidate Lamond Daniels, a Democrat who failed to make the primary ballot.[12] If Gomes had won, his attorney said they would withdraw the legal complaint, which would make the redo primary unnecessary.[7] However, this did not occur as Ganim narrowly won the election.[13]
The court-ordered second Democratic primary was held on January 23, 2024, with Ganim and Gomes facing off for the third consecutive time.[15] Ganim won this primary by a wider margin than the initial primary, and won a majority of both in-person and absentee ballots.[16] Ganim could still run under the New Movement Party and Gomes could still run under the Independent Party if either lost the second primary.[8]
Because Gomes had qualified as an Independent candidate, a new general election was slated for February 27, 2024, unless all remaining candidates running against Ganim had withdrawn from the ballot by that date.[17][18] Prior to the election, petitioning candidate Lamond Daniels withdrew,[19] endorsing Ganim.[20] Ganim easily prevailed over Gomes in the second general election, and was re-elected.
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