Bridgeport Mayor Can't Run on Minority Party Line: State

The Secretary of the State's Office says Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch cannot run for re-election as a candidate for the Jobs Creation Party, complicating his efforts to appear on the November ballot.

Av Harris, a spokesman for the office, said Monday that members of the minor party missed a Sept. 2 deadline to endorse Finch as their candidate. Finch now faces being a write-in candidate or replacing a candidate from another party who withdraws.

Finch planned to run as a third party candidate after losing the Democratic primary to former Mayor Joe Ganim, who was convicted of corruption and served seven years in prison.

Another Democratic candidate, Mary-Jane Foster, announced Monday she's withdrawing from the race even though she had a place on the November ballot as an unaffiliated candidate.