By Richard Weizel
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (Reuters) - A former mayor of Connecticut's largest city who spent seven years in prison for corruption narrowly won the Democratic primary on Wednesday over the incumbent, making him the likely favorite to win back the office in the November election.
Joseph Ganim was confirmed as the victor over current Mayor Joseph Finch by the Bridgeport clerk's office. Ganim was arrested in 2003 and charged with running a "pay to play" operation with real estate developers in the southern Connecticut city.
Ganim, 55, jumped on a table with his arms raised in the air to declare victory Wednesday night.
"It's a victory for the people of the city of Bridgeport," he told cheering supporters at his campaign headquarters.
Ganim's campaign manager Dan Roach said: "We are ecstatic, though it was a very close election."
"We were confident of winning and look forward to putting Joe Ganim back in the mayor's office in November," he said.
Finch conceded shortly before 10:30 p.m. but said he would run as an independent in November - setting up a rematch with Ganim in just two months, along with a Republican challenger.
Unofficial results had Ganim with 5,438 votes and Finch with 5,135, with some absentee ballots being counted that were not expected to change the results.
Ganim filed papers in May to challenge Finch, 59, who is seeking a third four-year term. Ganim insists he badly wants back the post he held from 1991-2003, when he was convicted.
"I want to finish what I couldn't during my last term," Ganim said.
Finch barely won the endorsement over Ganim from the city's Democratic Party in August.
Bridgeport's 40,000 registered Democrats far outnumber Republicans, making the winner of Wednesday's primary the favorite in November's election.
Finch argued during the campaign that Ganim's corruption is still impacting the city more than a decade after he left office.