Former Connecticut House GOP leader announces run against Blumenthal

A former top-ranking Republican Connecticut state lawmaker announced on Sunday that she would be running against Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) in the upcoming midterm election.

Themis Klarides, the former House Minority Leader in the Connecticut House of Representatives, announced on WTNH’s “This Week in Connecticut” that she will be running to be the GOP nominee in the race.

Speaking to WTNH’s chief political anchor Dennis House, Klarides cited “the palpable dysfunction and the palpable disgust of the dysfunction in Washington D.C.” as part of her reason for running. Klarides had been expected to be run for governor before making the switch to the Senate race, House noted.

Klarides said she was taken aback by the “how upset they are — Republicans and Democrats alike — with what’s going on in Washington” as part of her reason for running.

“After hearing all that I started to say to myself, ‘We have United States senator who’s up for reelection this November and is he just going to get a pass?’ He needs to explain to people why he votes almost 100 percent of the time with the Democrats in Washington. He has to explain what he’s doing for Connecticut and I think partisanship is over. People are sick of it,” she told House.

Klarides served in the Connecticut House of Representatives for six years before announcing in 2020 that she would not be seeking reelection.

House noted that a Republican has not won a Senate race in Connecticut in about 40 years and asked Klarides how she intended on reversing that trend.

“Well, listen, there’s different times and different candidates for different times. And I will say this, I believe that my version and my brand of Republicanism is really what the state of Connecticut wants on either side of the aisle,” she said.

“We are the eighth most expensive state to live in, the second highest taxed state in the country and have skyrocketing inflation and unemployment. That’s not a record of success to me,” added Klarides.

As WTNH noted, Klarides will face off against three other Republican candidates: Robert Hyde, who runs a lobbying firm in Washington, attorney Peter Lumaj, and portfolio manager John Flynn.

Blumenthal was elected to the U.S Senate in 2010 and was reelected in 2016 with 63 percent of the voting, beating former Republican Connecticut state Rep. Dan Carter by nearly 30 percentage points.