Bridgeport challenger loses again on absentee ballots amid election fraud accusations, court-ordered redo

BRIDGEPORT — In a stunning turnaround, Democrat John Gomes said Tuesday night that he had lost by 173 votes to incumbent Mayor Joe Ganim in a nationally watched race.

The atmosphere at a Bridgeport social club had been raucous after Gomes told the large crowd that he had pulled ahead on the polling machines by 564 votes. Loud music reverberated throughout the crowded club, and Gomes conducted multiple interviews for television reporters as the celebration continued.

But then shortly before midnight, Gomes gathered the crowd together again to announce that he had been told that he lost because of a flood of absentee ballots. Gomes’s campaign manager appeared in the club with the news, and the word spread quickly. The atmosphere quickly changed as the somber realization hit the Gomes supporters.

“This is not over,” Gomes said to the stunned crowd. “That’s really all I can say. It’s not over. I urge the state of Connecticut, I urge the governor, I urge the Secretary of the State to now come out more than ever and speak against the injustice, the oppression that is being imposed on the people of Bridgeport. We cannot continue to say we live in America. We live in a system of democracy. … We, the people of Bridgeport, believe that we continue to be betrayed. It’s not over. I’m proud to say the fight is not over.”

Gomes battled Ganim in a bitter rematch of their Democratic primary in September that was overturned by a Superior Court judge who ordered a new primary after allegations of ballot stuffing.

Initially, Gomes told a large crowd of excited supporters that they would need to wait for more information.

“Let’s have some patience,” Gomes told the crowd. “Let’s wait for the result.”

After allegations of absentee ballot fraud were caught on videotape and led to a civil trial, the judge ordered a new primary that could be held on a future date. Since the judge had no power under state law to stop Tuesday’s general election, the voting proceeded.

Gomes’ supporters were initially encouraged because they said there were fewer absentee ballots cast Tuesday than in the primary, where Ganim had pulled ahead with a huge amount of absentee votes in the primary.

The Gomes campaign had said that if he was declared the winner Tuesday, he would drop his lawsuit and become the mayor.

Since Ganim won the general election, a new primary will be held at a future date, according to the judge’s ruling. That primary could come in December, Democrats said.

When Gomes was saying that he was ahead on the machine count on Tuesday night, the Ganim campaign did not return a message seeking comment.

Supporters of Gomes gathered at the Cape Verdean social club on Linen Avenue, which they surrounded him on a small stage – jumping up and down as they chanted his name. Ganim supporters gathered about a mile away on State Street in downtown Bridgeport.

“We have seen for the last two weeks, the spotlight has been unfortunately on Bridgeport,” Gomes told the crowd. “We need to eradicate the corruption, the illegal tactics, the voter suppression, the civil rights violations. … I ask you to stand united. Let’s wait for the result. Let people outside these walls know that this fight is far from being over.”

The turnout in Bridgeport was still unclear late Tuesday night as the Secretary of the State’s office released two different percentages.

The unusual nature of the Bridgeport race has captured national attention and has been mentioned on Fox News and Forbes.com, among others. A satellite truck from WABC-TV in New York City was parked outside the Gomes party Tuesday night.

After posting a link to a story about the new primary, former President Donald J. Trump said, “This is just a ‘tiny’ part of what’s happening in our country with voting. It’s all a giant scam! Congratulations to those that caught these criminals in action, and for having the courage to pursue it.”

Billionaire Elon Musk, who purchased Twitter and renamed it as X, mentioned Bridgeport to more than 160 million of his followers worldwide.

“That this happened here is beyond reasonable doubt,” Musk said in a tweet. “The only question is how common it is.”

Candidates and the news media have traditionally relied on The Associated Press to make an official call to determine the winner. But the complications changed that scenario.

“AP will not declare a winner in Tuesday’s general election for Bridgeport mayor until all legal issues and challenges related to the primary election are fully resolved,” the news agency said in a statement.

In another unexpected twist during the rough-and-tumble voting in Bridgeport, two Democratic candidates for city council were arrested Tuesday in unrelated incidents at the same polling place, officials said. Maria Pereira and Samia Suliman were arrested separately outside a public school, officials said.

The long-running battle in Bridgeport pitted Ganim against Gomes, who was running as a third-party candidate in a four-way race that also included David R. Herz and petitioning candidate Lamond T. Daniels.

Although Gomes won more votes on the election tabulators on primary day, Ganim pulled ahead in the final tally by 251 after receiving an overwhelming number of absentee votes. Gomes soon after filed a civil lawsuit that led to a trial. The margin in the primary was tight in a contest with 8,173 ballots cast.

The judge ordered the new primary after seeing a video that has been broadcast by television stations around the state and has been viewed multiple times on YouTube. The video shows a Ganim supporter walking back and forth outside the Bridgeport government center and dropping papers into an absentee ballot box. The time stamps, Gomes says, show that seven drops were made during the span of two hours on Sept. 5, including six by the same woman and one by a man.

The Gomes campaign attorney said that the videos showed about 420 people placed ballots into the special collection boxes, but at least 1,255 ballots were actually collected from the boxes.

Ganim, who testified at the trial, has spoken strongly on the issue.

“I want to state unequivocally that I do not condone, in any way, actions taken by anyoneincluding any campaign, city, or elected official, which undermines the integrity of either theelectoral process or city property,” Ganim said before the general election.

Ganim, 64, served several terms as mayor before being convicted in a heavily publicized bribery scheme. He spent seven years in a federal prison after being convicted of 16 felonies, including bribery, extortion, racketeering, and conspiracy, stemming from kickback schemes when he was mayor.

After leaving prison, Ganim staged a comeback and defeated then-Mayor Bill Finch in a Democratic primary in September 2015. He has served as mayor ever since.

By early Tuesday, 2,578 absentee ballots had been issued to registered voters in Bridgeport, the highest number in the state, according to statistics from the Secretary of the State’s office. Of those issued, 1,691 had been returned with votes for Tuesday’s election.

The various scenarios are complicated. If Gomes wins on Tuesday, he would become the next mayor as he would drop his civil lawsuit, according to his attorney. If Ganim wins the general election, then a second Democratic primary would be held on a future date agreed upon by the two candidates.

“How many times will Bridgeport have to be embarrassed by its elected officials and insiders as they continue to abuse the voters’ trust and the taxpayers’ dollars before we finally get the chance to elect a Mayor who will truly fight for all of us?” asked Daniels, who ran as a petitioning candidate.

In his 37-page ruling, Superior Court Judge William Clark wrote, “The court finds the plaintiff has met its burden of proof and established violations in the placing of absentee ballot into drop boxes by partisans who were not designated to handle such ballots and that the volume of ballots so mishandled is such that it calls the result of the primary election in serious doubt and leaves the court unable to determine the legitimate result of the primary.”

Two Ganim supporters – Wanda Geter-Pataky and Eneida Martinez – were called to the witness stand during the civil trial and used their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination regarding any handling of absentee ballots.

“They appear to be conscious acts with a partisan purpose that violates the mandatory requirements of how absentee ballots are supposed to be handled or delivered,” Clark stated in his ruling. “The mishandling of absentee ballots by Ms. Geter-Pataky and Ms. Martinez in violation of [Connecticut law] renders those ballots so mishandled, incapable of being validly cast and thus incapable of being counted.”

Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com