Joseph P. Ganim is now in his 7th term as Mayor of Bridgeport, including five terms from 1991 to 2003. After more than a decade of bringing fiscal responsibility to city government and holding the line on taxes, Ganim was re-elected in 2015 to address a rising mill rate and a significant budget deficit. Since 2015, the City of Bridgeport has experienced budget surpluses every fiscal year and an increase in the city’s bond rating. Ganim has overseen the largest growth in the grand list in the city’s history and a historic cut to the mill rate, which is now lower than most similarly sized cities in Connecticut.

Economic development has been a cornerstone of Mayor Ganim mayoralty both in the 90’s and today, including over a billion dollars of private investment in economic development projects that are now completed or underway. Building on previous successes of building the Harbor Yard arena and ballpark, Ganim led the effort to build a new $35 million outdoor amphitheater in Bridgeport. The Harbor Yard Amphitheater, the Sound on the Sound concert series annually reoccurring during the summer, and the various arts spaces around the city are transforming Bridgeport into the arts and entertainment capital of the State of Connecticut. 

Under Ganim’s leadership, the city is seeing development of Bridgeport’s waterfront, including a new marina, housing, retail, and hotel at Steelepointe Harbor, development of new community grocery store and library on Stratford Avenue, several transformative housing developments in Downtown Bridgeport, Black Rock, the south and west end, and the Wakeman Boys and Girls Club in the lower north end with plans to open in 2023.