Thursday, February 29, 2024 – On Tuesday, Bridgeport voters woke up to a thick fog covering the city. It hung over Bridgeport like a dense blanket. By the middle of the day, however, the fog had cleared and our faces turned upwards to unexpected, warm sunshine. Just like the fog, the veil has been lifted from our city. While Joe Ganim may have won the battle in Tuesday’s special election for mayor, he and those in his inner circle are losing the war. 

We went into 2023 with our vision for “The Year of Change.” And although the change we were seeking in an independently elected mayor who’s ready to work on the issues didn’t come, what a year for change its been!

What we knew to be true after the 2019 mayoral primary was proved in a court of law in 2023. The systemic corruption in Bridgeport, which is sadly rooted at the heart of our local Democratic Party, knowingly and willingly abuses democracy to hold onto power. Wanda Geter-Pataky, the vice-chair of Bridgeport’s Democratic Town Committee and the District Leader for the 136th District and Eneida Martinez, an elected member of City Council for the 139th District, both plead the 5th amendment over 70 times while testifying under oath about their involvement in ballot harvesting caught on video surveillance – and investigations are still underway. Pandora’s box has been opened and no one can unsee what we all witnessed this election cycle. 

We also can’t unsee how Ganim ran his re-election campaign using the same standard operating procedure of authoritarians across the globe: declaring himself a candidate 16 months before the election, spending taxpayer dollars on his own self-promotion, using people with city jobs and pressuring people on city payroll to work for his re-election, rigging elections, raising campaign funds through special interests, and spreading disinformation through the media. Most importantly, Ganim has spent the last 18 months running for re-election – not on the strength of his own policy record – but around town pretending to be Mayor.

We will wait to see if the machine pivots and starts to take the issues of the community seriously. Certainly, watching Council President Aidee Nieves align herself so closely with Ganim casts serious doubt on her ability to run an independent, policy-driven legislative agenda. Last night, we saw the Board of Education deliberate its budget for the first time this year (we’ll have more to say about the budget delay later) and we’ll see who votes for fully funding the city’s $16 million portion of our public school budget. Will Ganim propose a city budget that fully funds our schools? Will the Ganim-backed Charter Revision in committee right now at City Council reflect the will of the people or the will of the administration? Trust and believe we’ll be paying attention. 

For those of us who went and exercised our right to vote on Tuesday, thank you for continuing to believe in democracy. We know better than anyone how hard it is to maintain a sense of optimism in the face of a system that seems so entrenched, so unbeatable. But just like what is happening to Donald Trump in numerous courts of law on the national level, what’s hidden in the dark in Bridgeport will eventually come to light. Our hearts are full knowing that just like after 2019, our collective anti-racist, pro-democracy organizing continues to grow the movement. People are more awake now than ever before. And eventually, the little lights that represent our consciousness will burn so bright that the darkness will be turned away. 

We also want to give a heartfelt thank you to John Gomes and his campaign for stepping up and providing the people of Bridgeport with a choice this election season. It takes a tremendous amount of courage to have been inside the administration, see incompetence and corruption up close and then decide to do something about it. Challenging the September primary in court – and winning! – is a win for democracy, not only in our city but for the country. We have been proud to support your campaign and fight for a better Bridgeport. We look forward to continuing our movement for change, together.

And for the thousands of us who didn’t vote yesterday, we have work to do! It is not lost on anyone that only 6,366 voters in Bridgeport chose the next mayor. That is no mandate and speaks to the deeper community-building we all need to do inside ourselves, with each other, with our neighbors, and out in community. We will continue to work on reforms at the state and local level that expand access to the ballot, protect voting rights, and protect voters from undue manipulation, intimidation, and fraud. We know that the day all the people of Bridgeport vote is the day that the people will win. 

So, our work continues. By electing strong, independent candidates like Tyler Mack, Aikeem Boyd, Fred Hodges and Albert Benejan who pledged to The 2023 People’s Platform, and Dasha Spell and Jorge Cruz who pledged to the Platform in 2021, we are already building the beloved Bridgeport we know is possible. We want us all to be free from the chains of racism and corruption. Our collective desire for truth, accountability, and justice is rooted in the deep love we have for our city. We can move Bridgeport out of the darkness and into that warm sunlight. And slowly, but surely, we will.