The race for the 2nd Congressional District has turned into what might be an embarrassing history lesson.
On Friday morning, Janet Peckinpaugh’s Congressional campaign issued a statement saying, if elected, she would be the first woman to represent the state’s second district in Congress.
Her e-mail includes a list of names of people to hold the seat since 1835. Among them is Chase Going Woodhouse, who served from 1945 to 1947 and again from 1949 to 1951.
While Chase is not a common woman’s name, Chase was indeed a woman who ran because of her desire for “social change and economic justice for women,” according to her biography in Women in Congress.
“I look forward to being the first woman elected to the U.S. House from the 2nd Congressional District,” Peckinpaugh said in a release. “As a journalist, single mother and small businesswoman, I am ready to be an independent voice for eastern Connecticut.”
Peckinpaugh is in a race against incumbent Joe Courtney and it did not take long for Courtney’s campaign manager, Neil McKiernan, to call Peckinpaugh on what he called her “wildly inaccurate” claim.
“Peckinpaugh’s claim is an insult to the outstanding public service of Chase Going Woodhouse,” McKiernan said in a release. “Although Peckinpaugh routinely touts her experience as a journalist and investigative reporter, she once again demonstrated how ill-informed she is on even the most basic history of eastern Connecticut.”
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NBC Connecticut reached out to the Peckinpaugh campaign and they said they realize the mistake and Janet, if elected, would be the second woman to represent the district.
