Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate Rob Simmons said this morning that he is suspending his campaign.
"We all felt strongly that I had the experience, qualifications and opportunity to be that Connecticut Republican Senate candidate. On this basis we set as an important goal to win the Republican Nomination at the Convention on May 21st. We fell just short of that goal last Friday," said Simmons in a statement relased today.
Former WWE executive Linda McMahon won the Republican State Convention last Friday.
This effectively puts her directly against the Democratic contender current Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.
Blumenthal handily won the Demoratic Convention which was running at the same time the Republican convention was going on, also in Hartford.
State Democrats were quick to respond to Simmons' withdrawal and wasted no time in taking the fight to McMahon's campaign.
“We now likely have a race in Connecticut between a crusading attorney general with a long record of delivering for Connecticut families and a wrestling mogul who made her millions peddling violence to kids, hiding widespread steroid abuse, and sending her employees into dangerous situations in exchange for their glory and her profit," said in a statement Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Communications Director Eric Schultz.
Meanwhile, Blumenthal is still mitigating the damage from his past statements that he had served in Vietnam. According to Blumenthal's own admission, these statements were not true and he apologized that he had said them.
Visit the ConnecticutPlus.com Politics blog at www.connecticutplus.com to follow political news and developments from all over Connecticut.
