The field of candidates is set for the Sept. 12 Democratic Party mayoral primary in three major Connecticut cities.
The results might determine the next mayors of the heavily Democratic cities of Bridgeport, New Haven and Hartford.
In Bridgeport, the city’s Democratic Registrar of Voters has announced that the candidate who has qualified to challenge incumbent Mayor Joe Ganim is John Gomes.
Gomes had supported Ganim’s comeback to city hall in 2015 after the mayor had served time in federal prison for corruption. He was rewarded with a job in Ganim’s administration but fell out with the mayor a year ago.
“One of the reasons we don’t get the money is partly Ganim’s background and criminal past, that they don’t know they can trust coming into Bridgeport and doing business,” said Cass Shaw, a local activist and president of the Council of Churches of Greater Bridgeport.
Shaw had supported state Senator Marilyn Moore for mayor four years ago. At that time Moore lost to Ganim in a close primary due to absentee ballots. Moore did not submit enough signatures to qualify this time around.
The veteran politician could better serve Bridgeport by remaining in the Senate and gaining the seniority required to secure more state funding for the city..
“We don’t have the kind of strength and seniority and track record in the Capitol to really allow Bridgeport to get things done and have the money coming from the state to give us the tools that we need,” Shaw said.
Shaw now supports Lamond Daniels. He was the director of neighborhood initiatives for former mayor Bill Finch.
Daniels also failed to get enough signatures to make it onto the Democratic Party primary, but hopes to make it onto the November general election ballot as a third party candidate.
In New Haven, incumbent Mayor Justin Elicker faces a challenge from Liam Brennan. Shafiq Abdussabur has sued to get on the Democratic primary ballot, claiming that he was able to secure enough signatures contrary to reports from the city’s registrar of voters.
And for the open mayor’s seat in Hartford, two veteran politicians, state Senator John Fonfara and retired Superior Court judge and former state Senator Eric Coleman have qualified to take on town-committee endorsed candidate Arunan Arulampalm.
