New London — Incumbent Mayor Daryl Justin Finizio said tax increases in the city helped contribute to his defeat Wednesday in the Democratic primary against city councilor and endorsed mayoral candidate Michael Passero.

Finizio, 38, lost to Passero in all three of the city’s voting districts despite efforts by what campaign workers said was a small army of volunteers working to connect with voters.

Unofficial votes count had Passero winning by a margin of 1,242 to 798.

“We ran the best possible campaign we could run,” Finizio said during a post-election gathering at the Brass Rail Café on Bank Street.

“I feel that taxes just went up too much, and this was the backlash from it,” Finizio said. “With the deficits we were facing — even though we cut 25 percent of the city workforce and constrained all of the union contracts — there was still a significant tax increase and we heard that when we went door-to-door. We heard it at the polls. We thought we’d done enough to address it, explain it, overcome it, but it is what it is.”

Campaign workers at his Golden Street headquarters were clearly surprised. They stood in stunned silence as numbers came in from poll workers.

Campaign Chairman Zak Leavy congratulated volunteers on their efforts, especially for highlighting Finizio’s progressive ideals, before leaving to place a phone call to Finizio.

Finizio, the city’s first elected mayor in nearly a century, said he called Passero shortly after it was evident the numbers did not go his way.

“Our party has a new leader, and soon he’ll be the new mayor of our city,” Finizio said. “I called him to congratulate him and offer him all the support I could in the campaign and in the transition as well. He was very gracious. Hopefully we can unite our party and unite our city.”

Finizio said he had no plans to be on the November ballot as a write-in candidate. Passero will face Republican mayoral candidate Bill Vogel in November.

“As for myself, I’m not running for anything,” Finizio said. “And I look forward to resuming the practice of law. That’s my only immediate short-term plan. That will be on Dec. 8, the day after I leave office and will be at my home, where I am zoned for a law office. Anyone that needs a will or gets into trouble — feel free to look me up.”

Finizio was earning $86,000 as mayor and has said in past interviews he thought he thought with his background he could earn more.

He has also said he looked forward to taking a well-deserved vacation with his husband, Todd Ledbetter.

Ledbetter, on Wednesday, supported Finizio at the polls.

“I’ll be glad when it’s over, regardless of the outcome,” Ledbetter said.

He said both he and Finizio are planners, and the uncertainty of Finizio’s future career was troubling for both of them.

Finizio said he also planned to continue his support of Democratic presidential nominee Bernie Sanders.

“I was proud to be the first mayor in the country to endorse him,” Finizio said. “I will advocate for him as I will advocate for other progressives within the Democratic Party.”

g.smith@theday.com

Twitter: @SmittyDay