Matt Corey is making his fourth run for an elected job in Washington. He previously ran uncompetitively against John Larson for the First Congressional District.
Corey says he feels 2018 is different because there’s an opportunity for someone to work the president’s administration, unlike the past two years.
“You need somebody down in Washington who can work with this administration,” Corey said during an interview. “We have lawyers down there that are supposed to litigate the cases of their constituents. Send a business guy down there, send somebody down there.”
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy is up for reelection following his first term in the US Senate. Murphy won after serving in Congress, representing Connecticut’s Fifth Congressional District.
Corey is a Navy veteran with a small business background. He’s owned a window washing business for about three decades, and also previously owned an Irish bar in Hartford.
When asked why voters should take his campaign seriously, Corey says he more in common with Connecticut residents than Murphy.
“I represent the small business owners and the working families.”
Politics
Corey said he would review Trump policy ideas before simply being a rubber stamp, but urged that having a relationship with President Donald Trump would be an improvement.
“Absolutely, because the biggest complaint we get from our congressional delegation, and I ran for office a few times before, is I can’t get anything done because I’m in the minority. Well, look, step aside. Let somebody down there who wants to work with this administration.”
In the most recent Quinnipiac University Poll released on August 23, Murphy held a 59-31 percent lead over Corey, but most troubling for the Republican is that 67 percent of respondents needed more information on Corey to form an opinion, suggesting a high degree of anonymity to the electorate.
Corey is also trailing in fundraising by a staggering margin. Murphy, with the support of a national network of donors, has raised more than $13 million and has more than $8 million in cash on hand, while Corey has raised $31,000 and has about $7,000 left in his campaign account.
In order to make the race competitive, Corey says, “We need to make this a national race.”
