Lessons learned in Bridgeport
January’s redo primary election had a larger turnout than September’s primary election. More than 800 voters showed up and it was a rainy, raw weather day.
For several months, I’ve been trying to follow — more than I usually would — Bridgeport’s mayoral election or more like “marathon elections” as there were four of them over the past five months. These elections were hard to avoid especially for someone like myself, as an urban politics researcher. But it seemed so many observers were following Park City’s politics, even beyond the Tristate area since the BBC also covered the elections and Elon Musk tweeted about the ongoing saga.
But after a few months and several elections, what lessons were learned about Bridgeport’s politics?
First off, the Democratic Town Committee remains a political stronghold and a pseudo political machine as they’re forceful with patronage politics. The city’s party committee may have few political reformers, but they know how to execute concerning tactics. This includes leaked video surveillance of absentee ballot stuffing by the DTC’s vice chairwoman and city hall official, Wanda Geter-Pataky. But competing against the committee and longtime Chairman Mario Testa also proved impossible for many candidates, within the Democratic Party and beyond.
Secondly, the state government officially interceded and political endorsements do matter. Our secretary of the state’s office instituted election monitors and our state’s Superior Court interceded. The state judge’s ruling to hold do-over elections while mayoral candidates dropped out and endorsed longtime and winning Mayor Joe Ganim. Interestingly (but hardly surprising) several Democratic politicians lined up to support the incumbent, including Gov. Ned Lamont. What should be most notable is the timing of these endorsements as Democratic officials decided to publicly support Ganim not before either primary election, but days prior to last week’s do-over general election.
Finally, voter fatigue appeared to set in for the city’s most recent redo election since 15% of voters turned out compared with almost one-third of registered voters in November’s general mayoral election. I was especially concerned about this turnout effect because elections not taking place in November often yield to lower turnout. It’s common wisdom that voters know elections are in November and when elections are held in other times of the year (especially winter months with troublesome weather), fewer voters turn out. I lived and voted in New Jersey’s northern cities where they held nonpartisan and runoff elections in April and May. Fewer voters indeed turned out even when there wasn’t a party-line election.
But there’s an interesting twist to Bridgeport’s turnout effect. January’s redo primary election had a larger turnout than September’s primary election. More than 800 voters showed up and it was a rainy, raw weather day.
Maybe that’s what we can take away from Bridgeport’s political tenacity: voters turn out when they’re motivated. Apparently in January with dreary weather, Park City voters were resolute to show up. It’ll be interesting if this uptick among primary election voters will be a trend in another four years when the city’s next mayoral election takes place again. At the same time, state officials will have to maintain a heavy presence in election monitoring future races. Despite the video evidence and media attention, it will be highly unlikely election reforms will be passed and instituted by city officials.
In light of Bridgeport’s political tenacity, I attended a recent city council meeting where a resident was recognized for a prison reentry community program. In his speech, he triumphantly declared Bridgeport is “second chance city” as council chambers erupted with supportive applause and praise.
Maybe Bridgeport’s Park City mantra should be renamed to Second Chance City, considering voters’ support of fellow residents and politicians. Even after Ganim served his prison sentence for corruption, voters supported their mayor in several reelections and now in multiple re-do elections.