Chris Murphy’s New Ad Stars Richard Blumenthal

Freshman Sen. Richard Blumenthal can probably give his fellow Democrat Chris Murphy plenty of advice about running against multimillionaire Republican Linda McMahon.

But Blumenthal doesn’t talk about any of that in the new ad he shot for the Murphy campaign. Instead, the 30-second spot, which began airing Saturday, focuses on Murphy.

“We need people in Washington who care about progress, not partisan divisions,” Blumenthal says. “I’m supporting Chris Murphy, the candidate who can help me break the gridlock and get results.”

The ad also touts the editorial board endorsements Murphy collected from the Courant and the Norwich Bulletin.

Murphy faces former Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz in the Aug. 14 Democratic primary. McMahon will face former Congressman Christopher Shays in the Republican primary that same day.

McMahon, the former CEO of WWE, was the Republican party’s 2010 U.S. Senate nominee; she lost to Blumenthal by 12 percentage points despite spending about $50 million of her own money on the race.

Asked recently if he has any advice for Murphy in running against McMahon, Blumethal said he’d remind voters that “this is an election, not an auction.” It was a line he used repeatedly during the 2010 campaign. 

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