Connecticut : U.S. Sen. Blumenthal and Republican Leora Levy battle in only debate. Trump, inflation and police issues take stage.

In an increasingly bitter campaign, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal battled Republican Leora Levy in a debate on inflation, taxes, the economy, and abortion.

In their only debate, Blumenthal portrayed himself as a champion for Connecticut consumers by fighting special interests and supporting abortion rights.

During the one-hour contest late Wednesday that was televised live on WFSB, Channel 3, Levy launched various criticisms at Blumenthal, including noting that he said he had served in Vietnam during the war when he did not.

“As your attorney general and now as your United States senator, I have stood up to special interests and fought for you,’' Blumenthal told television viewers in his opening statement. “Now, as the stakes are higher and families confront higher costs and price gouging ... I want to continue working for you — lowering costs, cutting taxes, protecting Social Security, and restoring reproductive freedoms.’'

In her opening and closing statements, Levy described Blumenthal as an out-of-touch career politician after 37 years in elective office who serves in the Senate as a “rubber stamp’' for President Joe Biden.

“You will hear two very different views of America and Connecticut...,’' Levy said. “I’ve never been so worried about our country. ... We have an invasion at our border. It is not immigration. It is an invasion.’'

Levy left the Channel 3 television studios Wednesday night without stopping in the “spin room’' to take questions from reporters.

Donald Trump

While former President Donald Trump is not on the ballot this year, he was still a factor in the debate.

“She supports Donald Trump. She celebrated the overturning of Roe v. Wade,’' Blumenthal said of Levy. “She wants more tax breaks for the wealthy - not the middle class as I have advocated. ... She told Donald Trump that she would always have his back. I’ll always have yours.’’

During the 2016 primaries, Levy once supported former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush over Trump. In an op-ed in February 2016, Levy blasted Trump in strong terms, and her critics have accused her of flip-flopping.

“He is vulgar, ill-mannered and disparages those whom he cannot intimidate,’’ Levy wrote of Trump.

But Levy later backed Trump, and she has been strongly supported by him, leading to a crucial, high-profile endorsement that political insiders say was the turning point in August that helped her win the Republican primary.

“I’m a uniter,’’ Levy said during the debate when asked about Trump. “I’ve been endorsed by a lot of people in our party from the former president to Nikki Haley to Rob Portman to Ric Grenell. ... I’m Leora Levy. I am on the ballot. ... I was very happy to take the endorsements from my party.’’

When asked whether he would support Biden in the 2024 elections, Blumenthal said Biden’s intentions are still unclear.

“My opponent has said to President Trump, ‘I will always have your back,’ ’ Blumenthal said. “If you always have President Trump’s back, you can’t have Connecticut’s back. If you are 100% for Trump, that’s 100% wrong for Connecticut. ... Now, as to Biden, he is not yet running. He’s made no decision. If he decides to run, I would probably support him, but we don’t know who else is going to run.’’

Inflation and economy

The candidates had sharply different views on the economy as inflation has hit a 40-year high, causing Biden’s poll ratings to sag and prompting candidates to say they can fix it.

“This inflation was deliberately inflicted on us by the Biden policies voted for by my opponent,’’ Levy said. “The first thing I would do is stop the spending. ... The Biden-Blumenthal Build Inflation Back Better Act ... will not reduce inflation, and it will not effect climate change. ... We also must reignite energy production.

“This is an intentional attack energy shortage, which has contributed to the inflation all of us are feeling. ... This is an intentional attack on American energy production. ... By killing our production on day one in office, canceling Keystone pipeline, canceling leases, ending exploration on lands and public waters, we have really crushed our energy industry. We have created this shortage, and everybody is paying the price.,” she said.

Blumenthal countered by saying he successfully pushed for $86.4 million in LIHEAP funding for low-income households during the upcoming winter.

“I pushed President Biden to release more Strategic Petroleum Reserve. He did it,’’ Blumenthal said. “Prices came down. My opponent opposed it. ... Keystone is a distraction. It never would have delivered any product. It was simply to export it abroad.’’

With the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates again by 0.75% Wednesday in an effort to combat inflation, Blumenthal said the Congress should impose a windfall profits tax on the large oil companies that are making record profits of billions of dollars.

When asked to grade the economy, Blumenthal said, “I don’t think we can give it a grade midstream.’’

Levy responded, “I would grade the economy an F.’'

Police recruitment; defunding police

With the state police down by about 400 troopers and Bridgeport short by 128 officers, the candidates said they are concerned about police recruitment and retention.

Levy said she is concerned about Connecticut’s police accountability law, which was passed by the Democratic-controlled legislature and signed by Gov. Ned Lamont two years ago after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis while in handcuffs in police custody.

Noting that she has been endorsed by the state Fraternal Order of Police, Levy said that Blumenthal attended a “defund the police’' rally in Hartford in June 2020.

“Let me just correct the record, if I may,’' Blumenthal said forcefully. “I have never, ever supported defunding the police. That’s just plain wrong. ... I actually have spoken out about it at a number of those rallies, specifically saying we should not defund the police. I’ve done it on the floor of the Senate. I’ve done it in the constitutional subcommittee. To say that I have favored defunding the police is unfortunately just plain wrong.’'

Candidates at odds

Speaking in Spanish briefly at the end of the debate, Levy noted she fled from Cuba with her parents when she was 3 years old. That experience, she said, was different from Blumenthal.

“I escaped Communism. He attends the Communist Party, and then says he doesn’t,’’ Levy said. “He says he fought in Vietnam, but he didn’t. ... And he says he’s fighting for you.’’

Levy was referring to an event last year when Blumenthal attended an awards ceremony at a New Haven church that generated criticism by Republicans and conservative national media outlets. Blumenthal said later that he would not have attended the ceremony for three friends if he knew that the event had been tied to the Communist Party.

“My understanding was that this ceremony was strictly a labor event,’’ Blumenthal said at the time. “If I had known the details, I wouldn’t have gone. ... Let me just say very emphatically, I’m a Democrat and a strong believer in American capitalism. I have been consistently a Democrat and a strong supporter and believer in American capitalism.’’

Blumenthal apologized about Vietnam during the 2010 campaign before defeating Republican Linda McMahon by 12 percentage points. He did not respond to Levy’s statements on the issue.

Polls

With sky-high name recognition, Blumenthal leads by double digits in public polls against Levy, who was nominated by Trump to be ambassador to Chile but was never confirmed before Trump’s term expired.

Blumenthal, 76, would be 82 at the end of his next six-year term if he wins re-election.

A staunch conservative, Levy has appeared on the Laura Ingraham show on the Fox News Channel, as well as the Sean Hannity show. In another major event, Trump held a fundraiser for Levy at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Levy dismissed the idea that the visit might not help her with some Connecticut voters who strongly oppose Trump.

“Who turns down an invitation to Mar-a-Lago?’’ Levy asked. “It’s a lovely place.’’

Blumenthal has been far ahead of Levy in public polls, including up by 15 percentage points in the Quinnipiac University poll that was taken from Oct. 19 to 23, and up by 13 points in a recent Emerson College survey that was released by Channel 8 with 5% undecided. The margin of error in the Channel 8 poll was plus or minus 3 percentage points.

As a first-time statewide candidate, Levy has been having difficulties with name recognition as 31% in the Quinnipiac poll and 24% in the Channel 8 poll said they didn’t know enough about her to have an opinion.

The only poll that has been close was one by Fabrizio, Lee & Associates, released by CT Examiner, that showed Blumenthal leading by 49% to 44% with 7% undecided. Democrats strongly downplayed the survey as a Republican-leaning poll.

But Levy told The Courant the Fabrizio survey is accurate and is not an outlier. Instead, she views other public polls as being unreliable for oversampling Democrats and college graduates at a time when she says many Republicans won’t respond to polls.

Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com