Republican Leora Levy, a first-time political candidate, is hoping for an upset victory Tuesday as she tries to oust U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat who is seeking a third term.
A victory for the Republican National Committee member would make her the first GOP U.S. senator from Connecticut since Lowell P. Weicker Jr., who served from 1971 to 1989.
In the primary, Levy, 65, defeated the Connecticut Republican Party's endorsed candidate, former state House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, a social moderate. Levy received a late endorsement in that race from former President Donald Trump, who also held a fundraiser for Levy at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
Trump's political backing may not be as helpful in the general election in Connecticut, where Republicans are outnumbered by unaffiliated voters and by Democrats.
Blumenthal, 76, the state’s former attorney general, pledged in his campaign to be a backstop for abortion rights in Connecticut and Democratic policies in Washington. Blumenthal has vowed to fight any effort in Congress to impose a national abortion ban that would override the law in Connecticut, where abortion is legal with restrictions.
“There’s only one team here who will fight to preserve and restore women’s freedoms to make health care decisions. These personal health care decisions should be made by women, not by government," Blumenthal told reporters at an event Monday in Hartford.
He also has said democracy would be at risk if the GOP gains control of the U.S. Senate.
Levy has tried to make the race more about President Joe Biden than Trump, working to capitalize on voters' concerns about inflation and financial struggles.
She has also taken a socially conservative tack that hasn't been seen much in Connecticut statewide elections, opposing abortion rights except in certain situations and taking a stand against various gun control measures. Levy has also made parents' rights a major campaign issue, calling for the end of “indoctrination and discrimination” in Connecticut schools after a Greenwich assistant principal was apparently secretly recorded saying he’d prefer not to hire politically conservative staff, including Roman Catholics.
Some moderate Republicans predicted that Blumenthal, 76, would sail to victory after Levy won her party’s primary in August. Party leaders had originally hoped Klarides, who supports abortion rights, would be a strong contender, especially after Blumenthal registered his lowest job approval rating since taking office in 2011 in a Quinnipiac poll conducted in May.
