HARTFORD, Conn. — In an increasingly bitter campaign, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal battled Republican Leora Levy Wednesday night on inflation, taxes, the economy, and abortion.
In their only debate, Blumenthal portrayed himself as a champion for Connecticut consumers by fighting special interests and supporting abortion rights.
During the one-hour contest that was televised live on Channel 3, Levy launched various criticisms at Blumenthal, including noting that he said he served in Vietnam during the war when he did not.
“As your attorney general and now as your United States senator, I have stood up to special interests and fought for you,’' Blumenthal told television viewers in his opening statement. “Now, as the stakes are higher and families confront higher costs and price gouging ... I want to continue working for you — lowering costs, cutting taxes, protecting Social Security, and restoring reproductive freedoms.’'
In her opening and closing statements, Levy described Blumenthal as an out-of-touch career politician after 37 years in elective office who serves in the Senate as a “rubber stamp’' for President Joe Biden.
“You will hear two very different views of America and Connecticut tonight,’' Levy said. “I’ve never been so worried about our country. ... We have an invasion at our border. It is not immigration. It is an invasion.’'
Speaking in Spanish briefly at the end of the debate, Levy noted that she fled from Cuba with her parents when she was only three years. That experience, she said, was different from Blumenthal.
“I escaped Communism. He attends the Communist Party, and then says he doesn’t,’' Levy said. “He says he fought in Vietnam, but he didn’t. ... And he says he’s fighting for you.’’
Levy was referring to an event last year when Blumenthal attended an awards ceremony at a New Haven church that generated criticism by Republicans and conservative national media outlets. Blumenthal said later that he would not have attended the ceremony for three friends if he knew that the event had been tied to the Communist Party.
“My understanding was that this ceremony was strictly a labor event,’’ Blumenthal said at the time. “If I had known the details, I wouldn’t have gone. ... Let me just say very emphatically, I’m a Democrat and a strong believer in American capitalism. I have been consistently a Democrat and a strong supporter and believer in American capitalism.’’
Blumenthal apologized about Vietnam during the 2010 campaign before defeating Republican Linda McMahon by 12 percentage points. He did not respond to Levy’s statements on the issue.
Levy left the Channel 3 television studios Wednesday night without taking questions from reporters.
While former President Donald Trump is not on the ballot this year, he was still a factor in Wednesday night’s debate.
“She supports Donald Trump. She celebrated the overturning of Roe v. Wade,’' Blumenthal said of Levy. “She wants more tax breaks for the wealthy - not the middle class as I have advocated. ... She told Donald Trump that she would always have his back. I’ll always have yours.’’
During the 2016 primaries, Levy once supported former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush over Trump. In an op-ed in February 2016, Levy blasted Trump in strong terms, and her critics have accused her of flip-flopping.
“He is vulgar, ill-mannered and disparages those whom he cannot intimidate,’’ Levy wrote of Trump.
But Levy later backed Trump, and she has been strongly supported by him, leading to a crucial, high-profile endorsement that political insiders say was the turning point in August that helped her win the Republican primary.
“I’m a uniter,’’ Levy said Wednesday night when asked about Trump. “I’ve been endorsed by a lot of people in our party from the former president to Nikki Haley to Rob Portman to Ric Grenell. ... I’m Leora Levy. I am on the ballot. ... I was very happy to take the endorsements from my party.’’
When asked if he would support Biden in the 2024 elections, Blumenthal said Biden’s intentions are still unclear.
“My opponent has said to President Trump, ‘I will always have your back,’’’ Blumenthal said. “If you always have President Trump’s back, you can’t have Connecticut’s back. If you are 100% for Trump, that’s 100% wrong for Connecticut. ... Now, as to Biden, he is not yet running. He’s made no decision. If he decides to run, I would probably support him, but we don’t know who else is going to run.’’
With sky-high name recognition, Blumenthal leads by double digits in public polls against Levy, who was nominated by Trump to be ambassador to Chile but was never confirmed before Trump’s term expired.
Blumenthal, 76, would be 82 years old at the end of his next six-year term if he wins re-election.
A staunch conservative, Levy has appeared on the Laura Ingraham show on the Fox News Channel, as well as the Sean Hannity show. In another major event, Trump held a fundraiser for Levy at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Levy dismissed the idea that the visit might not help her with some Connecticut voters who strongly oppose Trump.
“Who turns down an invitation to Mar-a-Lago?’’ Levy asked. “It’s a lovely place.’’
Blumenthal has been far ahead of Levy in public polls, including up by 15 percentage points in the Quinnipiac University poll that was taken from Oct. 19 to 23, and up by 13 points in a recent Emerson College survey that was released by Channel 8 with 5% undecided. The margin of error in the Channel 8 poll was plus or minus 3 percentage points.
As a first-time statewide candidate, Levy has been having difficulties with name recognition as 31% in the Quinnipiac poll and 24% in the Channel 8 poll said they didn’t know enough about her to have an opinion.
The only poll that has been close was one by Fabrizio, Lee & Associates, released by CT Examiner, that showed Blumenthal leading by 49% to 44% with 7% undecided. Democrats strongly downplayed the survey as a Republican-leaning poll.
But Levy told The Courant that the Fabrizio survey is accurate and is not an outlier. Instead, she views other public polls as being unreliable for oversampling Democrats and college graduates at a time when she says many Republicans won’t respond to polls.
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