Mary Fay: Stop Saying I Endorsed Klarides.

Republican Mary Fay, the party’s candidate for State Comptroller, issued a terse statement Monday afternoon. The West Hartford town council member has not endorsed Themis Klarides in Tuesday’s U.S. Senate primary.

Fay has not endorsed a candidate in what has become an intense contest between Klarides and Greenwich Republican Leora Levy. She appeared to be gaining ground on party-endorsed Klarides for several weeks. Levy’s sharp turn to the right was magnified when she sprang a rambling, grievance-laden endorsement from Donald Trump on party voters Thursday night. The brief ode to Levy was surrounded by unhinged rants about Blumenthal and Republicans who have won elections.

The Klarides campaign, which has struggled to organize itself and present a substantive message, was not prepared for the Trump intervention. It has turned to social media and paid texts to unleash a torrent of endorsements by Republicans in elected office, including one purporting to be from Faye.

Fay, who is in a race to qualify for public financing of her campaign, understands there is nothing to be gained by inserting herself into the Senate campaign between Klarides and Levy.

Fay faces state Representative Sean Scanlon in November. Scanlon is the executive director of Tweed New Haven Airport, one of the great prizes of the state’s political hackarama. No job posting, no competition, just have the right friends.

Published August 8, 2022.