The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Democrats tap Murphy
Senator accepts nomination for second term
HARTFORD — Facing an uncertain primary season and a make-or-break fall election, state Democrats on Friday descended on the Connecticut Convention Center to reconnect and cheer their odds-on favorite, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy.
Met with a standing ovation before close to 2,000 delegates, Murphy told the convention that while primaries may appear divisive, they are healthy for a party as diverse as state Democrats.
During an 18-minute address, the senator, a leading figure in the national debate on gun safety, said progress is being made.
“We’re Democrats because we want every child in this country to grow up free from the fear of gun violence,” he said.
“We support the real Second Amendment, not
the imagined Second Amendment. We support the Second Amendment that allows Congress to do what the overwhelming majority of Americans want us to do, like pass mandatory background checks and ban assault weapons.”
Murphy reached the convention stage after an incendiary, partisan address by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, followed by a brief rules squabble. The nominating process began at about 7:35 p.m., when U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal put Murphy’s name into nomination.
“He has worked tirelessly and relentlessly to end gun violence in the United States of America, and we will do it,” Blumenthal said, continuing with a litany of Murphy’s advocacy, from women’s health care to the opioid crisis.
“In every one of these areas, he has been a champion,” Blumenthal said. “They are not just Democratic values, they are American values.”
After a brief video of TV news clips, Nick Balletto, party chairman, declared Murphy’s endorsement by acclamation.
The first-term senator warned that Connecticut Republicans “can taste control” of state government.
“This is the party of Trump,” he said. “This is the party of the tea party. It’s the worst of America First.”
Unlike other statewide candidates up and down the top-of-the-ticket, Murphy, with $7.7 million in the bank, had no opposition in the nomination process that started the two-day convention.
Arriving downtown at about 5 p.m., the 44-year-old, first-term senator greeted about 100 red-shirted, chanting supporters. While a blue-state icon nationally, Murphy adopted the red T-shirts during his 2006 run against Nancy Johnson, the former longtime representative.
Meeting with reporters outside the convention hall, Murphy said Friday’s school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas, would be another step in the gunsafety momentum that has built nationally since Sandy Hook in 2012.
“Eventually we are going to be stronger than the gun lobby and there are signs that that moment may be upon us,” Murphy said. “More voters today care about the issue of guns than ever before.
“The polls have never been higher with respect to background checks and assault-weapons bans,” he said. “This is a long-term social and political movement, not unlike the fight for marriage equality; not unlike the fight for civil rights in this country.”
Scheduled to start at 6 p.m., delegates were slow in arriving to the massive ballroom, festooned with more than 2,000 chairs, platforms for TV broadcasts, large video screen and signs designating the seating areas of the delegates, who hugged, schmoozed and contemplated various candidacies and challenges that could play out Saturday, particularly Eva Bermudez Zimmerman’s plan to seek the nomination for lieutenant governor, despite Ned Lamont’s plan to tap Susan Bysiewicz as his running mate.
“I’m proud that we’re strong and ready for what I believe will be a very big fight from the top of the ticket down,” Murphy said. “I think we’re going to come away with a really strong Democratic team from the governor on down. Whether get a candidate this weekend or we get a candidate in August we’re going to have a very-strong ticket and we’re going to have an energized base that is going to turn out in record numbers this fall.”
Murphy predicted the race for governor will be very close in November. He said the prospect of a primary contest between Lamont and Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim is not worrisome.
“I’m not somebody that’s afraid of primaries,” Murphy said. “I think primaries can often energize party members, and if that’s the way it goes, then I think our party will be stronger at the end of that process.”
He said President Donald Trump would certainly be an election issue, particularly his “sabotage of the American health-care system.”