BRISTOL -- Bristol mayor Ken Cockayne has conceded Bristol Mayoral race against Democrat Ellen Zoppo-Sassu Tuesday night.
Results show 35-percent of voters cast ballots in Bristol and Zoppo-Sassu beat Cockayne by more than 2,300 votes.
"I’m feeling great, this has been numbers that we didn’t even imagine when we started out doing this and its just been a great validation of our platform issues and everything we’ve talked about in the last six months," she told FOX61.
In her last race against the Republican mayor, she lost by just over 100 votes.
During Cockanye's 2017 campaign, he was faced with allegations of sexual harassment. A report by an independent investigator said Cockayne showed compromising photos of a town council member and her husband to another town council member in retaliation for editorial decisions on a local internet radio station.
"My opponent ran one of the nastiest campaigns I’ve ever seen, there was a lot of anonymous mailers that were put out there, we know who they were tied to, we know where they came from," Cockayne said. "Unfortunately, that effected the campaign."
Cockayne said he's surprised at the results but proud of the work that's been done over his two terms as mayor citing reduced unemployment and lower crime. Other accomplishments include an economic boom with an increase in the tax base of $66 million which he says helped the city get a AAA bond rating.
"We’ve set her up very well, we have a lot of stuff in the pipeline, she can really sit back and enjoy the ride for the next two years," he said. "Really reap the rewards of what we’ve done over the last four years."
Zoppo-Sassu said she is excited for the work ahead saying her focus is keeping the city in a strong financial position.
"I think education is every community's marketing card and I think that it's important that we look at that in terms of how we’re attracting new families to Bristol," she said. "We also have a jewel of a theater at Memorial Boulevard School which is now being looked at for restoration in conjunction with a potential magnet school, so those are exciting projects as well."
Results:
- DEM - Ellen A. Zoppo Sassu: 7,433
- REP - Ken Cockayne: 5,052
- Write In Richard D. Kriscenski: 44
"Despite the drama and the other issues that have entered into the discussion in 2017, we do believe that we emerged stronger with stronger issues and a better representation of what we wanted to do that resonated with the voters," Zoppo-Sassu said.