Mary-Jane Foster, the vice president of university relations at the University of Bridgeport and co-founder of the Bridgeport Bluefish, said on Tuesday she will run for Bridgeport mayor this year.
Foster said she filed her State Elections Enforcement Commission form Monday and expects to make a formal announcement in the coming weeks.
“I made the decision to run after much consideration,” Foster said. “I’m a very clear alternative to who else is out there.”
Foster, a Democrat, will challenge incumbent Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch, who she lost to in the 2011 Democratic Party primary, and expects Joe Ganim, the former Bridgeport mayor convicted of receiving kickbacks during his time in office, to be her other primary challenger this year.
Foster, a graduate of the Quinnipiac University School of Law, served as CEO of the Bluefish until 2008 and became UB’s vice president of university relations later that year. She said she will take a leave of absence from the university at some point this year due to her campaign.
Foster said on Tuesday she will begin to raise campaign funds in the lead-up to the city’s Democratic primary, which will be held in August.
“We have an incumbent who spent the last two years doing nothing but that and a challenger who has already started raising money,” Foster said. “I need to catch up a bit on the two of them. I’ll be preparing literature and lining up endorsements.”
Foster last week said she was still considering whether to run for mayor, a decision she said came down to how she could “make a difference.” She cited tax increases, job growth and the current state of city education as issues she would address during her campaign.
“I’m looking forward to the discussion around these issues over the next few months,” she said before confirming her candidacy.
Finch, a Democrat, was first elected mayor of Bridgeport in 2007. During his two terms in office, Finch has been an advocate for environmentally friendly measures and in recent months has thrown his support toward the potential construction of a second train station in Bridgeport. He is also a member of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
Ganim, also a Democrat, served as Bridgeport’s mayor from 1991 until 2003, the same year he was charged with bribery and extortion and several other crimes stemming from an FBI investigation that found he received hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of kickbacks from local contractors.
When asked what would differ between this campaign and that of hers in 2011, Foster said, “I’ll win this time.”