Trump-backed Leora Levy scores MAGA upset in Connecticut GOP Senate primary

Even blue-blood Connecticut Republicans are MAGA fans these days.

Republican voters handed former President Donald Trump a big victory when they backed his candidate, Leora Levy, over a much better known moderate rival in the GOP Senate primary.

Levy looked stunned by her sweeping win in her first political campaign over former state House Republican leader Themis Klarides

“We’re making history here. It’s really exciting,” Levy told a jubilant crowd in her hometown of Greenwich.

Levy won about 50% of the vote, and fellow staunch Trump supporter Peter Lumaj won about 9%, easily outpacing Klarides, who was considered the favorite by most political analysts.

Levy thanked Trump directly for his last-minute endorsement, which voters credited with making up their minds.

“I will not let you down,” she said to Trump. “Thank you for having my back.”

Levy, 65, a wealthy Cuban immigrant, will now face daunting odds in a general election contest against powerful incumbent Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who has never lost an election in the Nutmeg State.

But regardless of what happens in November, Levy’s solid win amounts to a political earthquake in Connecticut, which has long been known as a haven for moderate Republicans, especially on social issues.

Levy, a political unknown before entering the Senate race, strongly opposes abortion rights. She is also against any restrictions on guns, a shocking position in the state where a crazed gunman killed two dozen pupils and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

“This is a huge victory for President Trump in our state,” Lumaj said. “They still support the president regardless of who the endorsed candidate is.”

Connecticut hasn’t elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate since Lowell Weicker., a throwback liberal who served from 1971 to 1989.