Former Mayor of Hartford Eddie Perez sat down with NBC Connecticut's Keisha Grant on Wednesday to announce he is running for mayor again.
Perez served as the mayor of Hartford from 2001 to 2010. He resigned from office after being convicted by a jury on felony corruption charges.
In his first television interview since his conviction, Perez acknowledged that he made serious missteps while in office.
"I made a big mistake, very big mistake," Perez said. "I am sorry."
Perez was convicted in 2010 and sentenced to three years in prison for taking a bribe from a contractor in the form of home improvements and attempting to extort $100,000 from a developer. The State Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 2016, saying the two incidents were improperly combined into one trial.
Perez pleaded guilty to bribery and larceny by extortion charges in 2017 rather than face new trials. He was given a suspended prison sentence.
Perez told Grant Wednesday he wanted to remind the residents of Hartford about his accomplishments while mayor.
He said he plans to focus on bringing the city together.
"The city is divided," Perez told Grant. "When any neighborhood feels like they are left behind, we pay the price."
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Hartford's current mayor, Luke Bronin, issued a statement about Perez's challenge.
"We've come a long way in the last few years, and I'll be working hard every day to make sure we can keep Hartford moving forward. Hartford's heading in the right direction for the first time in a long time, and this isn't a time to slow down or go back."
Perez has already filed the paperwork to run and is scheduled to make his formal announcement Thursday at 5 p.m.
