Connecticut Republicans pick candidates to take on 2 veteran Democrats in Congress
With the battle for Congress hanging in the balance, Republicans are planning to lock in their candidates for the Connecticut elections, which haven’t sent a Republican to Washington in nearly two decades.
Tuesday’s primary comes as the candidates in the state’s key congressional race are already set: Democrat Rep. Jahana Hayes, seeking a fourth term, will face a rematch with Republican George Logan, a former state senator. Logan lost to Hayes in 2022 by about 2,000 votes, out of a quarter-million cast.
Republicans are now choosing the people they believe are best able to carry the party’s flag in less competitive races against two longtime Democratic Reps: Sen. Chris Murphy and Rep. Jim Himes.
In the Senate primary, Gerry Smith, the highest elected official in the city of Beacon Falls, is running against Matt Corey, a restaurateur from Glastonbury.
Both say they believe Murphy can be defeated, but acknowledge it will be a challenge. Connecticut voters haven’t elected a Republican to the Senate since the late Lowell P. Weicker in 1982.
Corey, who served in the Navy, lost to Murphy by a 20 percentage point margin in 2018, but he argues that the mood among voters in 2024 favors Republicans, given frustration over high energy costs and inflation.
“Listen, we live in a very tough state,” Corey said recently on WTNH-TV, referring to the state’s history of electing Democrats. “We have to convince voters that the policies of Democrats are not working for the people of the state of Connecticut.”
Smith, the first selectman in Beacon Falls, argues he is the best candidate because of his experience in governing a community and his success in local elections.
“My first race, I beat a 14-year-old Democrat incumbent. I can win this race,” Smith recently posted on the social media platform X. “The only (way) Mr. Corey is going to go to DC is if he vacations there.”
Murphy, who is seeking a third term, has far outpaced both GOP candidates in fundraising. As of June 30, he had $9.7 million in cash on hand for the general election, according to federal records. Smith had $4,245, while Corey had nearly $32,000 as of July 24.
In the Republican primary to choose a challenger to Himes in the 4th Congressional District, Bob MacGuffie, a finance executive who was a leader of the Tea Party movement in the state, is running against Dr. Michael Goldstein, who lost a primary in the same district two years ago.
Himes is seeking his ninth term. He had nearly $2.3 million in cash on hand as of June 30, compared with $42,750 for MacGuffie and $98,366 for Goldstein as of July 24.
As recently as 2007, Republicans held three of Connecticut’s five seats in the House of Representatives, but since Himes succeeded former U.S. Congressman Chris Shays in 2009, there has been no seat in the state’s congressional delegation.