on november 3, 2015, ganim won election as mayor by a wide margin, defeating mary jane foster (a democrat running as an unaffiliated candidate) and republican nominee enrique torres, a city councilman. ganim's successful return to politics has been compared to marion barry jr. of washington and vincent a. (buddy) cianci, jr. of providence, rhode island, other mayors who won re-election after criminal convictions. the "new york times" reported ganim's election victory as "a stunning return to public office ... remarkable for its sheer audacity, coming after a widely publicized fall from grace."