Richard Kehoe, who was Attorney General Richard Blumenthal’s special counsel and liaison at the State Capitol, will be following Blumenthal from the AG’s office to the U.S. Senate, serving as the new senator’s state director.

Kehoe, who also is a town council member in East Hartford, was one of several staffers named Friday.

Maura Downes, a former aide in the A.G.’s office and on his campaign, will be the director of constituent services, based in Connecticut.

His D.C. press staff will be Ty Matsdorf and Kate Hansen. Matsdorf will be communications director; Hansen will be press secretary. Matsdorf worked on Blumenthal’s campaign, as did Hansen, albeit indirectly. She was communications director for the Connecticut Democratic Party. Both have experience on the Hill.

The deputy chief of staff will be Elizabeth Kanick, a former staff in Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Senate office. More recently, she was executive director of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO.

Laurie Rubiner, an executive at Planned Parenthood, was previously announced as his chief of staff.

Blumenthal succeeds Christopher J. Dodd on Jan. 5, the same day that Dan Malloy becomes governor.

Mark is the Capitol Bureau Chief and a co-founder of CT Mirror. He is a frequent contributor to WNPR, a former state politics writer for The Hartford Courant and Journal Inquirer, and contributor for The New York Times.

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