NEW BRITAIN – Beacon Falls First Selectman Gerry Smith won the Republican convention’s endorsement Monday night for the U.S. Senate, but longtime candidate Matthew Corey qualified for a primary in August that some Republicans blasted.

Party insiders said Republicans were already facing an uphill battle in the fall against U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, and Smith said that a primary would make it even tougher in the general election against a two-term Democratic incumbent with high name recognition in a blue state.

In addition, Murphy currently has more than $9 million in campaign cash on hand – a huge war chest when compared to about $20,000 recently on hand for Smith, who said it is difficult to raise money until receiving the party’s nomination.

Despite winning by more than a 2-to-1 margin, Smith initially told reporters that he was not going to deliver a victory speech due to health reasons. But then a few minutes later, after talking to a top adviser, Smith walked on stage after 10 p.m. and spoke for less than 90 seconds after most delegates had already left Welte Hall at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain.

“Unfortunately, I can’t take the race to Mr. Murphy the way I wanted to tomorrow,” Smith told the sparse crowd. “I want to thank each and every one of you for your support – hanging around here waiting for me. It’s a long day. … Victory can be had in November if we all row the boat in the same direction.”

But Corey told The Courant after the voting that he is definitely running in the primary.

“I bring name recognition, and I bring the fight,” Corey said. “Nobody is going to raise $9 million, but if you can’t hold the senator accountable, that $9 million is going to trickle down into other races – Congressional races and state races. So we need to hold Senator Murphy accountable for his failures in Washington.”

Regarding money, Corey said, “Look, if we can raise $1 million, that would be great. So that’s what we’re looking at.”

Corey told The Courant that he sees no reason for a nasty, personal battle against a fellow Republican.

“When I was primaried in 2018, I ignored my opponent and went after Senator Chris Murphy,” Corey said. “I ran a clean race. I’m the only candidate to win 169 towns in a U.S. Senate primary [in 2018]. I’ll run another clean race in 2024. My focus is on Senator Murphy.”

Murphy has declined to comment on his Republican opponents and told The Courant that he intends to run in 2024 in the same way as 2018 – by talking about his record and not about his opponent.

Republican state chairman Ben Proto said after the voting that it would be better for the state party to rally around a single candidate – and that Corey should seek other races.

“Obviously, Matt has the right to do whatever he wants to do,” Proto said Monday night. “The overwhelming support here shows that he doesn’t have the support of the party. I think there are probably better opportunities for Matt. … This is a guy who got less than 40% of the vote six years ago against Chris Murphy, and he raised very little money. To date, he really hasn’t raised anything. I think there are some real opportunities for Matt. It’s not a U.S. Senate race.”

The biggest question of the night was whether Republicans would hold a primary or whether they would coalesce around one candidate.

In the voting that was posted on a large screen on the stage in New Britain, Smith had 610 delegates or 68.39%, while Corey had 261 delegates that translated to 29.26%. Two other candidates received less than 1.5% each.

The pro-Smith forces pushed strongly against a primary, saying that it would drain the party’s resources and make it even more difficult to defeat Murphy in the fall. In the past, candidates in August primaries have spent virtually all their money in order to win and then woke up on the morning after the primary with essentially no money in the campaign coffers. Then they often disappear from the campaign trail for two or more weeks as they are frantically raising money for November.

Smith secured more delegates than Corey, who is well known among party insiders because he has run so many times. After winning all 169 towns in 2018 in the Republican U.S. Senate primary, Corey then ran against Murphy in the fall – losing by about 60% to 40%.

“This is a rematch against Senator Murphy,” Corey said before the convention began.

In addition to running against state Sen. Steve Cassano in 2010, Corey lost three races against U.S. Rep. John B. Larson in 2012, 2014, and 2016.

Outside of delegates and political junkies, many voters would have difficulty in recalling the name of Murphy’s 2018 opponent. The answer is Corey, a hard-working Republican restaurant owner and high-rise window washer.

Republicans are keenly aware that they have not won a U.S. Senate race in Connecticut since 1982.

“When I graduated from high school,” said Corey, who is now 60.

While some delegates wanted to avoid a primary, former state legislator Pam Sawyer of Bolton said that Corey was the best candidate and is widely known in eastern Connecticut.

“He has a solid streak of commonsense,” Sawyer told The Courant. “He’s practical, logical, and you can’t push him around.”

The convention marked a Who’s Who of Republicans, including 53 House members and 12 state senators among the delegates

“We know we have a tough road ahead of us, but looking at this crowd … we know that we are ready for November,” Proto said. “Ladies and gentlemen, I know we can change America. I know we can change Connecticut. I know the people in this room are ready to do that, ready to make that happen. … Without you, it just doesn’t work.”

State Sen. Heather Somers, a Groton Republican, nominated Smith as a five-time winner in his hometown where only 28% of voters are registered Republicans.

“That’s like being a Yankees fan in the middle of Fenway Park,” Somers told the crowd. “Gerry doesn’t just talk the talk. He walks the walk. Let’s be fair. He doesn’t have to walk across Connecticut to prove it. … Gerry has been tackling the tough issues – inflation, taxes … and the support of our law enforcement. … He’s a man of action, not just words. Let’s not settle for the status quo. Let’s not be content with the same old political games that we have been seeing.”

Dominic Rapini of Branford seconded the nomination, saying, “There are three things that I know : I know elections. I know cannolis, and I know a great candidate when I see one. … Gerry Smith knows how to win.”

Murphy’s two other potential opponents, former portfolio manager John J. Flynn of Norwalk and conservative Robert J. Krawiecki of Bristol, received only a relative handful of votes as they do not have widespread name recognition and have never held statewide office. In the first round of voting, Krawiecki had 1.46%, while Flynn had 0.9%.

Simsbury landscaper Robert F. Hyde told The Courant that he has dropped out of the Republican race and is considering running against Murphy in November as a third-party candidate.

Numerous elected officials were for Smith, including state Representatives Greg Howard of Stonington and Jerry Labriola of Oxford, and former state Rep. Bob Maddox of Litchfield

New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart delivered a brief pep talk to the delegates near the start of the convention.

Noting that Democrats outnumber Republicans in New Britain by 7-1, Stewart said, “It’s proof we can do it. … You can do it. It’s not luck.”

Gerry Smith

As first selectman of Beach Falls, Smith, 62, is little known outside his hometown of less than 7,000 residents in the Naugatuck Valley. A father and grandfather, he also runs an insurance agency and is a partner in construction projects. But he is putting his businesses on hold as he runs for the Senate.

Once an unaffiliated voter, Smith has won four terms as first selectman through the force of his personality, rather than a political party. He registered as a Republican in 2011 only after winning the first selectman’s seat, but he later lost. He returned as a petitioning candidate in 2019 and won, and then created his own party, the Beacon Falls First Party, to win again in 2021.

Regarding the top issues in the race, Smith rattles them off.

“Obviously, the biggest one is the border with the migrant issue,” Smith said recently. “I thought my biggest issues would be inflation and the economy, which they still are, so I would say it’s inflation, the economy, the border, energy independence. But housing is a big issue with higher interest rates, and jobs.”

Corey

Corey, 60, has taken an unusual path to public office. One of seven children, he is the son of a postal carrier who often worked second jobs at night as a taxi driver and a bank courier. His mother worked at Pratt & Whitney and Royal Typewriter before raising her children.

Corey graduated from Manchester High School in 1982 and then at age 18 joined the U.S. Navy. He served from 1982 until 1987, during Ronald Reagan’s presidency, and his duties on Navy ships brought him to Grenada, which the U.S. invaded in October 1983, and then to Beirut — a hot spot during the Reagan years.

After leaving the Navy, he returned to Connecticut and later opened a window washing company that he ran until last year. He kept a busy schedule running two businesses, including McKinnon’s Irish Pub in downtown Hartford that he owned starting in 2002 and has since closed. He said previously that his bar business dropped by two-thirds as numerous corporations moved workers out of downtown Hartford.

Today, Corey runs a restaurant at the East Hartford golf course – saying he has slimmed down to one business.

On the issues, Corey is a strong proponent of the Second Amendment and has been a persistent critic of President Barack Obama’s health care law, commonly known as Obamacare.

A strong supporter of Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump, Corey had said he believes that conservative U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas “belongs on the U.S. Supreme Court.”

He has blasted the spending of more than $550 million in federal and state money on the New Britain-to-Hartford busway, which has been hailed by state officials and panned by critics.

As the owner of a window washing company for decades, he spent much of his time hanging off the side of high-rises. That brought him as high as the 38th floor of CityPlace, the tallest building in Connecticut – to a spot that few ever get to see.

The views were spectacular, but when Corey looked in the windows, he saw another side of Connecticut.

“I’ve been cleaning the skyscrapers for 26 years, so I see what’s going on in corporate America,” Corey said in 2016. “I see it through the windows. Some of the floors are empty.”

Washing windows since 1990, Corey saw the ups and downs, the booms and busts of the economic cycle as companies have come and gone in Hartford. The Goodwin Hotel closed and then reopened. New firms have replaced the old.

The perspective as a small business owner has driven Corey to try to make changes by running for public office.

Corey made three attempts to unseat the 1st Congressional District’s longtime Democratic incumbent, John B. Larson of East Hartford. All three ended in defeat, including as an independent with 0.8% of the vote in 2012, and again in 2014, when he first ran as a Republican, garnering 37 percent of the vote.

Former state Rep. David Wilson, a conservative Republican from the 66th district, nominated Corey as a strong Second Amendment supporter. “He’s an entrepreneur, employer and investor,” Wilson said, adding that Corey “can relate to blue-collar workers and businesses” across the state.

“Matt Corey is a fighter who will not throw in the towel,” Wilson said.

Rep. Anne Dauphanais and Rep. Doug Dubitsky, two of the most conservative members of the state legislature, both stepped to the podium together to support Corey as a complement to the national ticket.

“The head of our ticket is going to be Donald Trump,” Dubitsky told the crowd. “Whether you like Trump or not, this is where we are, and Matt is the guy who can get up there and do it. There is a populist wave coming in this country. You can feel it. You can see it. Look what happened in New Jersey the other day – 100,000 people in a blue state like New Jersey.”

Murphy

Murphy, 50, holds a commanding lead in the money race for reelection with more than $9 million in the bank.

The two-term Democrat has been developing a national profile on issues like gun control, immigration, and the Middle East war in Gaza, but he is simultaneously focusing on a bid to win a third term representing Connecticut. He announced recently that he had raised $1.4 million in the year’s first quarter, which boosted his cash on hand beyond $9 million. Of that, 97% of the contributions were $100 or less.

In a blue state where Republicans have not won a U.S. Senate race since Lowell Weicker in 1982, Murphy said he still needs to fundraise in case a wealthy millionaire or billionaire decides to run at the last minute. He won his first U.S. Senate race in 2012 against professional wrestling entrepreneur Linda McMahon, who spent $50 million of her own money in a losing effort.

Murphy has declined to comment on his opponents or criticize any Republican as he sits on the huge campaign cash advantage.

“I think I’ll probably run a race very much like the race I ran in 2018: focused on the work I’ve done and not likely focused on my opponent,” Murphy told The Courant.