New London — Republicans intend to make the city's mayoral contest a three-way race when they endorse a candidate at the party caucus next Wednesday.

"I can assure you that we will have a candidate on the 22nd," said Bill Vogel, chairman of the New London Republican Town Committee, on Monday. 

Members of the city's Democratic, Republican and Green parties will assemble at separate caucuses next week to endorse candidates for the Nov. 3 municipal election, including mayoral, council and school board hopefuls.

Two Democrats, incumbent Mayor Daryl Justin Finizio and City Councilor Michael Passero, have announced for the mayoral race.

Finizio said Tuesday he anticipates Passero will receive the party nod at the July 21 Democratic caucus and that he will prevail for the party's nomination at a Sept. 16 primary.

The Green Party does not plan to draft a mayoral candidate, said party spokeswoman Ronna Stuller.

Vogel would not disclose the name of the Republicans' intended mayoral candidate, but said at least one person has expressed an interest and that other names could be proposed at the party caucus.

"We will have a person running," he said.

But some of the rumored GOP contenders, such as former city ceremonial mayors Rob Pero and Martin Olsen, who is a current city councilor, said they will not be mayoral candidates.

"I'm leaning heavily towards running for City Council," said Olsen, who said he believes he would be a good mayor, but is not confident that there is broad enough support for him to be elected.

"I think I bring a good body of work to the table, but the key to doing a good job is getting elected first," he said.

Pero, who unsuccessfully ran in the mayoral race four years ago, said while he would never absolutely rule anything out, it is not his intention to be on the mayoral ballot this year.

"I'm watching the current discussion and listening to how it's developing, and (city Republicans) will have a candidate, but it's not going to be me," said Pero.

Keith Robbins, a former Bozrah first selectman who is now a New London resident, said Tuesday he also will not be running. Robbins ran for City Council two years ago and has been rumored to be a possible city Republican mayoral candidate.

Robbins said his focus these days is his job, not politics.

"I'm not running," he said.

Both Passero and Finizio have campaign-related events planned for Wednesday evening.

At 5 p.m., at Passero headquarters at 227 Bank St., the candidate will host a gathering to detail and take questions on his economic development policy vision.

At 6 p.m., at 102 Golden St., Finizio will open his primary election headquarters and release his campaign platform. A press release also stated that the mayor "will make several significant new policy announcements."

Four years ago Finizio finished last in a three-way race for the mayoral nomination at the party caucus but went on to easily defeat endorsed Democrat Michael Buscetto at a Democratic primary.

This year, he said, he intends to follow a similar path.

"My campaign is focused on the primary election," said Finizio. "We are going to a primary on Sept. 16 and we believe we are going to win in September just like we did the last election cycle."

Passero said he is concentrating on winning the necessary votes at the 60-member Democratic caucus next week and then on winning the general election.

"I will primary if it doesn't turn out my way," he said.

Democratic Registrar of Voters William Geising said 67 major party voters switched their affiliation by a June 16 deadline, many from Republican to Democrat to be able to vote in a Democratic primary. Only registered Democrats can vote in the party primary.

Whoever loses in the primary will have other options to remain in the race, including running as a write-in candidate. 

A candidate also could circulate a nominating petition, as U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman did in 2006, when he lost in the primary to challenger Ned Lamont. Lieberman petitioned to create a new party and won a fourth term.

Those petitions, which would require a number of signatures equal to 1 percent of the people who voted in the same race the time before, must be submitted to the Office of the Secretary of the State by Aug. 5.

Another option would be if a party's candidate withdrew from the race and that party agreed to fill the vacancy with the person who had been ousted in the primary.

a.baldelli@theday.com

Twitter: @annbaldelli