"They've accepted Joe Ganim for the past, I hope. Those that won't, never will."
Joe Ganim
After coming up short for the Democratic endorsement, Bridgeport mayoral candidate Joe Ganim is focused on the September primary.
"In Bridgeport, the primary is tantamount to the election within the Democratic party because it dominates," Ganim said on WNPR’s The Colin McEnroe Show.
The statewide appeal of this race is largely because Ganim is running for his former job after serving a prison sentence on corruption charges. The re-election campaign of Mayor Bill Finch is trying to keep the focus on Ganim’s past. It recently launched a website that focuses almost entirely on the scandal that landed the former mayor in prison for seven years.
But Ganim said voters aren’t interested in the past. "In Bridgeport, in 2015, it’s about the future," he said. "They’ve accepted Joe Ganim for the past, I hope. Those that won’t, never will."
Listen below to Ganim talk about the scandal and his current campaign:
Finch won the endorsement of Bridgeport’s Democratic Town Committee last week -- 49 votes to Ganim’s 41.
"Yes, I wanted the town committee endorsement," said Ganim. "I think losing by a few votes here and there shows there’s a strong deterioration - not just in the neighborhoods - but in the party for support from [the Finch] administration because of what I like to call its failed policies."
Most of Ganim’s energy in this campaign cycle has been spent asking for a second chance, and criticizing the incumbent. But there is another candidate in the race, Mary-Jane Foster. Ganim admitted that he doesn’t know much about her.
The Democratic primary in Bridgeport is September 16. Ganim already submitted signatures to get his name on the ballot.
