Donald J. Trump entered Connecticut’s Republican primary Thursday night endorsing Leora Levy for U.S. Senate in a phone call to an audience in Montville that included Levy’s two rivals, Themis Klarides and Peter Lumaj.
“Tonight I give my complete and total support to Leora Levy, and she’s going to go out and win this primary,” Trump said, his voice coming from Levy’s phone, amplified by a public address system.
Levy and Lumaj are Trump stalwarts challenging Klarides, the convention-endorsed candidate and former state House Republican leader who has publicly acknowledged not voting for Trump in 2020.
The endorsement comes just four days before Republicans go to the polls to nominate a challenger to U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a two-term Democrat who was a favorite target of Trump on Twitter before the president was banned from the platform
It was unclear whether Levy’s campaign has the time or resources to fully capitalize on the endorsement in the waning days of a midsummer primary that has shown little sign of catching the interest of Republican voters.
“It’s going to help me tremendously,” Levy said. “I am very honored, humbled and humbled.”
Klarides and Lumaj downplayed its value. Although the phone call was unexpected, Trump stood by Levy, Klarides said.
“He’s been asking for your support since the winter,” Klarides said. “So it’s not really a surprise. It doesn’t change anything.”
Levy endorsed Jeb Bush for president in 2016. In a Greenwich Time op-ed, he blasted Trump: “He’s vulgar, rude and contemptuous of those he can’t bully.”
But she rallied to his cause after he clinched the nomination, raising funds for the campaign. He rewarded her with a nomination as ambassador, but the Senate never acted on her confirmation.
Trump has had a mixed record of picking winners in the 2020 primaries.
Two prominent Georgians who defied their demands to throw votes for Joe Biden, Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, defeated Trump loyalists. Trump’s election fared better in Pennsylvania and South Carolina.
Word that Trump was on the phone wanting to speak to the Republican town committee in Montville, a southeastern Connecticut town of 18,000, electrified the crowd of more than 100 people at the annual meat and corn fundraiser of the local party.
They cheered when Trump’s voice broke out about the Palestinian Authority at a picnic pavilion on the grounds of the Polish Club in Montville, a city that carried Montville in 2016 but not in 2020.
The city’s local committee has endorsed Klarides, as has neighboring Waterford.
Levy later said the call came unannounced from a West Palm Beach, Fla., phone number she didn’t recognize and barely answered.
“President Trump is full of surprises,” Levy said, smiling broadly.
The call came after the three U.S. Senate candidates and a dozen others gave brief speeches. Levy abruptly left the pavilion and walked across the parking lot, talking on the phone. It was Trump.
“I was wondering about the race,” Levy said. “I was wondering about the different candidates. I wanted to know the problems.”
Levy returned to the booth, Trump still on the line. She interrupted Wills Pike, the master of ceremonies, surprising him with the news that the former president wanted to address the gathering.
“I’m calling to say hi to Leora, who I’ve known for a long time,” Trump said. “He is an exceptional person.”
Trump quickly endorsed her and then turned on Blumenthal, whom he called “Danang Dick.”
“I call him Danang, because he never went to Vietnam. And he said he went there and he was a great war hero,” Trump said. “He’s a total liar. He’s a bag of shit.”
On some occasions, Blumenthal falsely referred to being in Vietnam, although in his official biography and in numerous speeches he correctly described his Vietnam-era service as a US Navy reservist. In at least one taped speech, Blumenthal both pointedly and imprecisely referred to his military record.
There is no record of Blumenthal making up stories of combat or heroism, as Trump has repeatedly and falsely claimed.
Trump followed up their lighthearted phone conversation with a scathing statement attacking Klarides for the support he enjoys from two of the nation’s most popular governors, Republicans Charlie Baker of Massachusetts and Larry Hogan of Maryland, as well as former Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey .
All three are critics of Trump, denounced by him as “3 of the worst RINOs in the country,” short for Republicans in name only.
He called Klarides, who has the support of two police unions, as “Weak on crime, weak on our military and vets, and won’t protect our Second Amendment under siege.”
Klarides voted in favor of Connecticut’s comprehensive gun control law passed after the Sandy Hook school shooting. Trump gave no justification for the accusation that he is soft on the military or veterans.
In the written statement, Trump also hit Blumenthal again on Vietnam, lying about the senator’s falsehoods.
“Blumenthal claimed, time and time again, that he had seen men die by his side while fighting in battle, talked about it and bragged about it incessantly, and yet it was a total hoax and a ‘scam,'” he said. Trump said.
Backed by veterans groups, Blumenthal was elected in 2010 and re-elected in 2016.
Pike, the master of ceremonies, celebrated his town committee by receiving a call from a president. “I want to see an RTC beat that puppy!” he exulted from the stage. “I want to see someone make it.”
But he later made it clear that his excitement over the phone call doesn’t mean he sees a huge boost in Levy.
“I don’t think anything will change,” Pike said. “I think it’s remarkable that the 45th president wanted to speak at an event in Montville. I don’t think it changes the dynamics of the race. I think Themis is solid and I think she represents Connecticut.”
State Sen. Paul Formica, R-East Lyme, Themis Klarides, a candidate for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate, and Mary Fay, a Republican candidate for the state intervention, watch as Donald Trump endorses Klarides’ challenger, Leora Levy for the nomination at a GOP event in Montville. Mark Pazniokas / CT Mirror
Trump teased the crowd about his possible involvement in Connecticut politics, perhaps later in the year.
“I’m going to get up there and do a big rally or something,” Trump said.