List of mayors of Bridgeport, Connecticut

The Mayor is the chief executive who is directly elected for a four-year term. He or she has the power to issue executive orders, declare emergencies, submit a yearly budget to the city council and makes appointments to city government offices.

As of July 2012, the Mayor of Bridgeport earns an annual salary of $132,459.^[1]

List of mayors

Name	In office	Party	Notes	Reference
Isaac Sherman, Jr.	1836-1837			[2][3]
Daniel Sterling, Jr.	1837-1838			[2][3]
Alanson Hamlin	1838-1839			[2]
Charles Foote	1839			[3]
Charles Bostwick	1840			[2][3]
William P. Burrall	1841-1842?			[2][3]
James C. Loomis	1843-1844			[2][3]
Henry K. Harral	1844-1847			[2][3]
Sherwood Sterling	1847-1849			[2][3]
Henry K. Harral	1849-1851			[2][3]
John Brooks, Jr.	1851-1852			[2][3]
Henry K. Harral	1852-1853			[2][3]
Charles B. Hubbell	1853-1854			[2][3]
John Brooks, Jr.	1854-1855			[2][3]
Philo Clark Calhoun	1855-1858	Democratic[4][5]		[2][3]
Silas C. Booth	1858-1860			[2][3]
Daniel H. Sterling	1860-1863			[2][3]
Clapp Spooner	1863-1864	Republican[6]		[2][3]
Jarratt Morford	1864-1865			[2][3]
Stillman S. Clapp	1865-1866			[2][3]
Monson Hawley	1866-1868			[2][3]
Jarratt Morford	1868-1869			[2][3]
Monson Hawley	1869-1870			[2][3]
Jarratt Morford	1870-1871			[2][3]
Epaphras B. Goodsell	1871-1874	Democratic[7]		[2][3]
Robert Toucey Clarke	1874-1875			[2][3][8]
Phineas Taylor (P.T.) Barnum	1875-1876	Republican[9]		[2][3]
Jarratt Morford	1876-1878			[2][3]
Robert E. De Forest	1878-1879	Democratic[10][11]		[2][3]
John L. Wessells	1879-1880			[2][3]
Daniel Nash Morgan	1880-1881	Democratic[12]		[2][3]
John L. Wessells	1881-1882			[2][3]
Carlos Curtis	1882-1883			[2][3]
John L. Wessells	1883-1884			[2][3]
Daniel Nash Morgan	1884-1885			[2][3]
Henry H. Pyle	1885-1886			[2][3]
Civilion Fones	1886-1888		A dentist, his son Alfred Fones was also a dentist and a leader in early oral hygiene and education.[13][14]	[2][3]
Patrick Coughlin	1888-1889			[2]
Robert E. De Forest	1889-1891	Democratic		[2]
William Henry Marigold	1891-1893	Republican[15]		[2]
Walter B. Bostwick	1893-1895			[2]
Frank E. Clark	1895-1897	Democratic[16]		[2]
Thomas P. Taylor	1897-1899	Republican[17]		[2]
Hugh Stirling	1899-1901	Republican[18]		[2]
Denis Mulvihill	1901-1905	Democratic[19]		[2][20]
Marcus L. Reynolds	1905-1907			[2][20]
Henry Lee	1907-1909			[2][20]
Edward T. Buckingham	1909-1911	Democratic[21]		[2][20]
Clifford B. Wilson	1911-1921	Republican[22]		[2][20]
Fred Atwater	1921-1923	Democratic[23]		[2][20]
F. William Behrens, Jr.	1923-1929	Republican[24]		[2][20]
Edward T. Buckingham	1929-1933	Democratic		[2][20]
Jasper McLevy	1933-1957	Socialist[25]	Longest-serving mayor	[2][20]
Samuel J. Tedesco	1957-1965	Democratic[26]		[20]
Hugh C. Curran	1965-1971	Democratic[27]		[20]
Nicholas A. Panuzio	1971-1975	Republican	Resigned toward the end of his second term to serve as deputy administrator of the General Services Administration in the Gerald Ford administration[28]	[2][20]
William Seres	1975	Republican	President of the Common Council who succeeded as mayor following Panuzio's resignation; served 55 days[29]	[20]
John C. Mandanici	1975-1981	Democratic[30]		[2][20]
Leonard S. "Lenny" Paoletta	1981-1984	Republican[31]		[20]
Thomas W. Bucci	1985-1989	Democratic[32]		[20]
Mary C. Moran	1990-1992	Republican	First and only woman to serve as Bridgeport mayor; last Republican to serve as Bridgeport mayor; unsuccessfully sought to have city declared insolvent in municipal bankruptcy[33][34][35]	[20]
Joseph P. "Joe" Ganim	1993-2003	Democratic	Second-longest serving Bridgeport mayor; was convicted on federal corruption charges in 2003; spent seven years in prison.[36][37]	[20]
John M. Fabrizi	2003-2007	Democratic	Did not run for a second term in 2007 after admitting to a drinking problem and use of cocaine while in office.[38][39]	[2][20]
Bill Finch	2007-2015	Democratic	Defeated by Joseph P. Ganim during the Democratic primary in September 2015.[40]	[2][20]
Joseph P. "Joe" Ganim	2015-present	Democratic	Second-longest serving Bridgeport mayor; was convicted on federal corruption charges in 2003; spent seven years in prison; re-elected to office November 3, 2015;[41][42][43] Sworn in on December 1, 2015.[44]	[20]

References

Specific

1. "Finch, mayor of biggest city, doesn't earn biggest salary". ctnews.com. 30 August 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2012.
2. Bridgeport, Connecticut, The Political Graveyard.
3. Samuel Orcutt, A History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City Bridgeport of Connecticut (Vol. 2), Fairfield County Historical Society: 1886.
4. History of Bridgeport and Vicinity (Vol. 2), pp. 689-90.
5. A. H. Saxon, P.T. Barnum: The Legend and the Man (Columbia University Press, 1989), p. 217.
6. America's Successful Men of Affairs: An Encyclopedia of Contemporaneous Biography, Vol. 2 (ed. Henry Hall), 1896, p. 742.
7. Men of Progress, p. 145.
8. History of Bridgeport and Vicinity (Vol. 2), pp. 607.
9. Susan Nance, "Barnum, P.T. (1810-1891)" in American Countercultures: An Encyclopedia of Nonconformists, Alternative Lifestyles, and Radical Ideas in U.S. History (ed. Gina Misiroglu), M.E. Sharpe: 2009, p. 63.
10. Daniel R. Ernst, Lawyers Against Labor: From Individual Rights to Corporate Liberalism (University of Illinois Press, 19965), p. 41.
11. Gerald W. McFarland, Mugwumps, Morals, & Politics, 1884-1920 (University of Massachusetts Press, 1975), pp. 66-67.
12. Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, p. 165.
13. Mary K. Witkowski, Bridgeport at Work (Arcadia Publishing, 2000), p. 88.
14. Alyssa Picard, Making the American Mouth: Dentists and Public Health in the Twentieth Century (Rutgers University Press, 2009), p. 36.
15. Men of Progress, p. 389.
16. History of Bridgeport and Vicinity (Vol. 2), p. 616.
17. Robert Coltrane, "Taylor, Thomas P." in A Theodore Dreiser Encyclopedia, (Greenwood Press, 2003, ed. Keith Newlin), pp. 360-61.
18. Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, p. 165.
19. Bannister Merwin, Our Own Times: A Continuous History of the Twentieth Century (Vol. 1), J. A. Hill: 1904.
20. Bridgeport Mayors 1901-Present, City of Bridgeport.
21. Cecelia Bucki, Bridgeport's Socialist New Deal, 1915-36 (University of Illinois Press, 2001), pp. 96-97.
22. Political Corruption in Bridgeport, pp. 25-26.
23. Political Corruption in Bridgeport, p. 26.
24. Political Corruption in Bridgeport, p. 29.
25. Political Corruption in Bridgeport, pp. 31-36, 45
26. Political Corruption in Bridgeport, pp. 46-49.
27. Political Corruption in Bridgeport, pp. 51-54.
28. Political Corruption in Bridgeport, pp. 51-54.
29. Political Corruption in Bridgeport, p. 55.
30. Political Corruption in Bridgeport, pp. 56-58.
31. Political Corruption in Bridgeport, pp. 66-70.
32. Peter F. Burns, Electoral Politics Is Not Enough: Racial and Ethnic Minorities and Urban Politics (SUNY Press, 2012), p. 15.
33. Political Corruption in Bridgeport, pp. 90-92.
34. George Judson, U.S. Judge Blocks Bridgeport From Bankruptcy Court, New York Times (August 2, 1991).
35. Nick Ravo, A Novice Reigns as Bridgeport Mayor, New York Times, November 15, 1989.
36. Political Corruption in Bridgeport, pp. 97-98, 102-03.
37. Edmund H. Mahony, Joe Ganim: Is He Back?, Hartford Courant, January 12, 2015.
38. Alison Leigh Cowan, Mayor of Scandal-Weary Bridgeport Admits That He Used Cocaine, New York Times, June 21, 2006.
39. Brian Lockhart, Fabrizi exploring run for mayor, Connecticut Post, June 4, 2014.
40. Joseph De Avila, Ganim, Former Bridgeport Mayor Who Served Prison Time, Wins Primary, Wall Street Journal (September 17, 2015).
41. Political Corruption in Bridgeport, pp. 97-98, 102-03.
42. Edmund H. Mahony, Joe Ganim: Is He Back?, Hartford Courant, January 12, 2015.
43. Ex-convict declares victory in Bridgeport mayor’s race WTNH (November 3, 2015).
44. Associated Press, Ganim Sworn In As Bridgeport Mayor Five Years After Getting Out of Prison (December 1, 2015).

General

• Rob Sullivan, Political Corruption in Bridgeport: Scandal in the Park City (The History Press 2014)
• History of Bridgeport and Vicinity (Vol. 2), S.J. Clarke Publishing Co.: 1917, pp. 689-90.
• Men of Progress: Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Leaders in Business and Professional Life in and of the State of Connecticut] (ed. Richard Burton, 1898) p. 145.
• Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut: Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, and of Many of the Early Settled Families (Higginson Book Co.: 1899).
• Charles Burr Todd, The History of Redding, Connecticut, from Its First Settlement to the Present Time (Grafton Press: 1906).