William Tong may have to keep up-or even speed up-his fundraising pace, given the campaign staff he’s assembled for his U.S. Senate bid.
In a release Wednesday, Tong, a state representative from Stamford, touted the political talent he’s hired for his campaign to replace retiring Sen. Joseph Lieberman. Among the recruits are Jim Jordan, a well-known Washington operative and one-time manager for John Kerry’s presidential bid, and Fred Yang, a D.C.-based pollster who has worked on other Connecticut contests.
“This is a tier-one team of political professionals who know how to win. There is no doubt my campaign team is the strongest in the race,” said Tong in a press release today.
Yesterday, Tong announced that he’d raised $550,000 since he first jumped into the contest about 50 days ago. Marc Bradley, his campaign manager, said Tong has kept a low “burn rate” so far, allowing him to end the 2nd fundraising quarter with more than $500,000 in the bank. But that burn rate might get hotter if he’s got the likes of Yang and Jordan billing his campaign now.
Tong faces a three-way Democratic primary against Rep. Chris Murphy, of Connecticut’s 5th District, and Susan Bysiewicz, the former secretary of the state. Neither of them has released their 2nd quarter fundraising numbers yet.
But Murphy was touting a different kind of political news on Wednesday. He secured his 4th major union endorsement, winning the backing of the Uniformed Professional Fire Fighters Association of Connecticut. His campaign staff said the firefighters would likely play a big role in the campaign-and particularly in the primary.