Blumenthal endorses Bergstein in 36th District
GREENWICH — U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., will endorse the state Senate candidacy of Alexandra Bergstein Sunday afternoon in Stamford.
Blumenthal, the state’s senior senator, will appear with Bergstein at 3 p.m. at 111 W. North Street in the city and then canvas the neighborhood to drum up support for the upcoming election.
Bergstein, a Democrat, is challenging five-term incumbent state Sen. L. Scott Frantz in the state’s 36th District, which includes all of Greenwich as well as portions of Stamford and New Canaan.
Bergstein and Frantz are both Greenwich residents.
“It’s an honor to be endorsed by someone with the courage to stand up for the integrity of our Democracy in these turbulent times,” Bergstein said. “Sen. Blumenthal has dedicated his career to defending the public interest and ensuring that individual freedom transcends political ideology.”
Bergstein also has been endorsed by Connecticut Against Gun Violence, the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters, Moms Demand Action Against Gun Violence, Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America.
Frantz, co-chair of the Finance Revenue and Bonding Committee and the Commerce Committee, and vice chair of the Government Administration and Elections Committee, said Friday he only sought two endorsements for his campaign, both of which he received — from the Connecticut Association of Realtors and the Connecticut Business and Industry Association.
He said he wanted those because Realtors are the “best barometer for how we are doing as a state” and because of his “laser focus on the desperate state of Connecticut’s fiscal condition and business environment.”
On Friday, Blumenthal said he wanted to “add my voice and my support” to Bergstein.
“I know her personally and I admire her past service to the community,” Blumenthal said. “She would be a great state senator for Greenwich and Stamford and New Canaan. Plus she would be my state senator if she is elected so there is a personal connection to this race. She is a person of intelligence and integrity and she is devoted to our town and to our state.”
He praised Bergstein for her positions on women’s rights and women’s health and on gun safety, an issue that has emerged in recent weeks on the campaign trail as Bergstein has made it a centerpiece of her pitch to voters.
Frantz on Friday shared rankings just put out by the Mercatus Institute, a nonprofit think tank at George Mason University, which listed Connecticut at 50th in cash solvency, 48th in budget solvency and 47th in long-run solvency.
“At the end of the day, this election is a referendum on who can actually be in a position to save the state from insolvency,” Frantz said. “With the massive amount of borrowing the (Malloy) administration has undertaken in a rising interest rate environment and the unaffordable, long-term contracts they have signed with state employees ... I cannot emphasize enough that this is an absolute disaster in the making. The people of the 36th Senate District can help save our state by sending up a legislator with a ton of experience in fiscal affairs and finance.”