Joe Ganim declared victory Tuesday night in the high-profile primary election redo between him and John Gomes.

“Clear victory on the machines, hundreds of vote morality on the machines, which has always been a point of contention, at least in the last elections," Ganim said. "Redeeming, this is a redeeming and reassuring election.”

Gomes did not concede but said the numbers seen on Tuesday night were not in his favor.  

With 99% of the vote tallied by midnight, Ganim held a 4,948-3,901 lead and was declared the winner with a margin of nearly 12 percentage points in unofficial numbers. That result includes a 1,339-566 lead among absentee ballots.

“This is not a concession speech because we will never give up. As we stand united on this stage, I hope that we have made the city of Bridgeport proud,” Gomes said.

Gomes said more numbers need to come in. The campaign said it anticipated a low turnout for Tuesday's special election, but they claim the numbers appeared to exceed those of the September primary.

“This has been decided on the machines, we’ve won the machines, we have over 1,000 more people come out and vote in this special primary in January than people voted in the regular primary in September," said Ganim.

Supporters from both campaigns said there was a lot of energy at the polls and hope for change in Bridgeport.

Gomes said running in February is on the table, but he must evaluate the numbers and look forward to the general election.

Both campaigns told News 12 hundreds of their supporters stopped by the polling site to cast their vote.

"It's frustrating that we have to go and do this again but that makes it all the more important that we still keep showing up," said Bridgeport resident Brian Kelly. 

A state superior court judge ordered the third mayoral election to take place in Bridgeport all within five months, after ruling the number-counts in previous elections were compromised by absentee-ballot voter fraud. 

"Turnout, I think, is good. People are a little upset and don't want to come out to vote -- but if they want something done and make changes, people have to come out and vote," said Gina Hill of Bridgeport. 

There was a new complaint ahead of this special primary that someone not registered with the town clerk's office was circulating absentee ballot applications. The secretary of the state filed a complaint and has urged people in Bridgeport to vote in person.

The secretary of the state says there will be a general mayoral election held in Bridgeport on Feb. 27 unless all but one candidate drops out of the race.