Chris Murphy Defeats Susan Bysiewicz In U.S. Senate Primary

With wide advantages in fundraising, endorsements, and the Democratic Party’s backing, Chris Murphy roared to victory Tuesday night over former Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz in the U.S. Senate primary.

Murphy, 39, solidified his position as one of the rising political stars in the state, and he now faces a fierce battle against Greenwich multimillionaire Linda McMahon in the general election in November. Murphy said in an interview that he would not bask in the victory and intends to start his campaign against McMahon at 8 a.m. Wednesday.

“We knew the Linda McMahon attack machine was coming,’’ Murphy told reporters Tuesday in Hartford. “It didn’t work against Dick Blumenthal two years ago, and I don’t think it’s going to work this year. People want substance, not just attack ads.’’

McMahon has already been blasting Murphy in television commercials that are expected to continue for months.

Murphy pulled out to an early lead as soon as the results started coming in, and he was ahead at times by margins as high as 2 to 1 in some towns.

Even before he delivered his victory speech, Murphy sent out an email to his supporters shortly after 9 p.m., asking for campaign contributions.

The Associated Press called the race as a victory for Murphy shortly before 9 p.m. Minutes later, Murphy declared victory in an email.

The defeat for Bysiewicz was another blow to a career that once appeared to have her headed for the top of state government. At Christmas 2009, Bysiewicz was the leader in the polls for governor – ahead of Democrats Dannel P. Malloy and Ned Lamont. But she abruptly dropped out of the governor’s race in January 2010 to run for attorney general as soon as Blumenthal decided to run for the U.S. Senate. Bysiewicz was declared ineligible to run for attorney general because of a lack of legal experience, and she later decided to run for U.S. Senate against Murphy.

Despite being in the lead in the polls over Bysiewicz for months, Murphy said he had not pulled back any funds in order to have more money for the general election.

“Some people wondered why we weren’t running ads going after Linda McMahon during the primary, and it’s because we take this [primary] election very seriously,’’ Murphy said in an interview.

The Hartford Courant’s Shawn Beals filed the following report from Middletown as Bysiewicz left before 10 p.m. :

Bysiewicz said in a brief speech at her campaign headquarters at the Mattabesett Canoe Club in Middletown that she called Murphy to congratulate him, and urged her supporters to vote for Murphy in November.

 “We will work together to make sure that Democrats will win this United States Senate race,” Bysiewicz said. “[Murphy] will be the best person to carry forward the ideals we have talked about during this campaign.”

 She said fair tax policies, standing up for the middle class and “holding Wall Street accountable, holding Washington accountable and holding corporate special interests accountable” should be the party message during the campaign for the November election.

 “Over the last 18 months we had the opportunity to travel all across the state. We went to everyone one of the 169 towns. I had the opportunity to speak with thousands of voters and each of them had concerns about the future of our state and our country. I’m glad we were able to help frame the debate,” Bysiewicz said.

 Bysiewicz said McMahon is a symbol of “obstruction that has come to define the Republican party in our country.” She said Murphy is “the person who will put people first, and put people above profits.”

Guy Cecil, Executive Director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, issued the following statement on the Connecticut Senate race:

“Linda McMahon is a greedy CEO who made millions marketing sex and violence to little kids, all at the expense of the health and safety of her own employees.  If her business record wasn’t bad enough, her support for the reckless Romney-Ryan agenda that would essentially end Medicare in order to give billionaires more tax cuts would be devastating for Connecticut’s middle-class.  Everything about McMahon’s record, principles, and agenda prove that she is wrong for Connecticut.  There isn’t enough money in the world to convince Connecticut voters otherwise.”

One of the biggest battles of the campaign was over Bysiewicz’s constant charge that Murphy is a tool of Wall Street because of hefty campaign contributions he has received from those with financial interests. Bysiewicz ran a biting television commercial on that point, which Murphy and numerous Democrats derided as a lie.

Bysiewicz responded that it did not matter much whether Murphy ranked first or fourth among U.S. House members accepting the most campaign contributions from Wall Street. But Murphy and Democrats said the commercial soon backfired on Bysiewicz, hurting her more than it hurt Murphy.

“Susan Bysiewicz seems to have found religion on Wall Street reform in the last year and a half,’’ Murphy said at one point.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy released the following statement Tuesday night:

“Chris Murphy won tonight, and he’ll win in November because people know he’s not like a lot of politicians in Washington.  Chris doesn’t spend his time posturing or playing politics. He spends his time working to advance the interests of the middle class, especially when it comes to job creation.  And while Chris is willing to work across the aisle, he’ll also stand up to Republican attempts to destroy programs that are vital to the survival of the middle class, like Medicare.  Chris knows that while we’ve made progress over the past couple of years, we have a lot more work to do.  And if there’s one thing Chris knows better than just about everyone else in Washington, it’s how to work hard.” 

As the son of a prominent attorney at a major Hartford law firm and a graduate of the elite Williams College in Massachusetts, Murphy moved up quickly in politics. After an upset victory to beat an incumbent in the state House of Representatives, Murphy quickly moved to the state Senate. He then won his biggest race in 2006 with an upset victory over longterm incumbent Rep. Nancy Johnson of New Britain. Now, six years later, he is striving for one of the biggest prizes in American politics: the U.S. Senate.