So far this election season — and granted, the 2016 election is 17 months away — we’re not hearing Republican candidates saying yes to running against Richard Blumenthal and his 64 percent approval rating as he quietly gathers funds for his run at a second U.S. Senate term.

While the national party’s roster of mostly serious candidates for president reaches double figures, only two Republicans have been heard from regarding next year’s Senate election and both of them have said, “No thanks.”

One of them, David Walker, who lost the Republican primary in his bid to be the party’s candidate for lieutenant governor in 2014, has not only rejected running again in Connecticut, he’s moved out, selling his home in Bridgeport and taking a job in McLean, Va. Mr. Walker would have been highly qualified, having been the U.S. comptroller general and head of the Government Accountability Office under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

The other, with an even more enviable record in Connecticut politics and government, is Rob Simmons of Stonington, the former three-term member of the U.S. House from the 2nd Congressional District, who lost his bid for a fourth term to Joe Courtney, in 2006, by 83 votes.

Four years later, when polls showed Mr. Simmons defeating Sen. Chris Dodd before the senator wisely decided to retire, the party convention rejected his bid for the seat and chose the professional wrestling executive Linda McMahon, who had never run for public office.

Ms. McMahon did as expected in losing to Mr. Blumenthal, but did it with millions of dollars of her own money, which is why, when faced with the opportunity to compete for an open Senate seat for the second election in a row, the party nominated Ms. McMahon and her money again to run against Rep. Chris Murphy, with the same result.

That’s not to say Ms. McMahon was the worst candidate the Republican Party has produced in this century. She actually represented a major improvement over the two mayors who ran before her.

In 2000, the party nominated Waterbury Mayor Philip Giordano, whose loss to Sen. Lieberman was followed by his arrest and conviction for using his phone while mayor to arrange appointments to have sex with little girls in the mayor’s office. He’s serving a 37-year prison term.

Six years later, Sen. Lieberman, running as an independent, defeated the Democratic nominee Ned Lamont and the third place Republican, former Derby Mayor Alan Schlesinger. Mr. Schlesinger was better known for being barred from the state’s casinos because of his proficiency as a card counter. He will also be remembered for receiving only 10 percent of the vote and was last heard from as an unsuccessful candidate for Congress — in Florida — last year.

Chances are the Republicans’ 21st century losing streak will continue in 2016 regardless of their choice as nominee. Actually, they haven’t elected a senator since 1982. But it would be refreshing, even inspiring, if the party could pick its best and brightest to articulate its views and not resort to its wealthiest or the candidate most likely to appeal to its extremist base.

Defeating the popular Mr. Blumenthal would prove very difficult, but a decent showing could help a qualified Republican build toward a future run.

The people of the state need a robust two-party system. Instead, when it comes to Senate and congressional races, the Republicans have gone bust.