New Bridgeport mayoral primary: What will it change?

A state judge has ordered a new Democratic primary in the Bridgeport mayoral race, saying all the video evidence clearly shows ballot fraud.

Tom Krosnowski and Robyn Karashik

Nov 2, 2023, 1:01 PM

Updated 387 days ago

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A state judge has ordered a new Democratic primary in the Bridgeport mayoral race, saying all the video evidence clearly shows ballot fraud.
Election day is five days away, but this result doesn't change anything for Bridgeport voters on Tuesday who are voting for the position of mayor. What happens next will depend on who wins.
News 12 Connecticut spoke with John Gomes' attorney who said that if he wins on Tuesday, running as the independent candidate, it will give him a sense of relief from the challenges he has faced thus far.
If incumbent Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim wins, there will be a new primary held sometime after Tuesday's general election -- with another election to follow that. Ganim called the prospect of a second primary "awkward at best."
Meanwhile, Bill Boss, attorney for Gomes, says the key takeaway is how much of a difference the alleged ballot stuffing video made in this case.
"It made reasonable factual findings based on what we all saw,” says Bloss. “I think the key line in the decision is Judge Clark expressing his shock at what he saw on videos with the drop boxes.”
"This has been a tumultuous time, but really what's important is that Tuesday, Nov. 7 is general Election Day in the city of Bridgeport,” says Ganim. “People need to come out and vote."
Absentee ballots should be expected to play a large role in Tuesday's election as well. The latest report from the secretary of state's office shows that Bridgeport has issued the most absentee ballots of any municipality tracked so far -- with a little more than 41% returned.