Linda McMahon kicks off her second try for the U.S. Senate at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at Coil Pro Machinery, a company in Southington that designs and builds coil processing machines. Despite her second try in two cycles for statewide office, McMahon will say she is not a politician.
McMahon intends to immediately conduct a series of individual press interviews, but her campaign says the candidate might not hold a general press conference as part of her announcement.
The setting for her announcement was chosen to frame the campaign’s focus around job creation, the overarching issue in 2012 for candidates at every level, including president. Her host is Jeff Gagnon, who founded the company in 1997.
“I am running for Senate to help give entrepreneurs like Jeff the legislative support they need to succeed,” McMahon said in an emailed statement. “If we are going to get our economy growing again, government needs to be a partner, not an adversary to job creators.”
As the Republican nominee in 2010, McMahon lost by 12-percentage points to Democrat Richard Blumenthal, the long-time attorney general who entered the race as one of Connecticut’s best-known and most popular politicians.
McMahon, a former top executive in her family’s successful business, World Wrestling Entertainment, will face no one with Blumenthal’s name recognition, should she win the GOP primary.
According to a Quinnipiac University poll released last week, she enters the race with high name recognition and strong support among Republicans for the nomination, but she was the only candidate in the poll with a significant unfavorable rating.
Her email today separated herself from other major contenders for the seat, all of whom have extensive experience in electoral office, including her main rival for the GOP nomination, former U.S. Rep. Chris Shays.
“We need to send to Washington people who know how the economy works, who know how job creators think, who have created jobs and who have had to deal with the real-world consequences of the taxes and regulations Congress passes,” McMahon said. “You don’t fix the problems in Washington by sending back the same people who created them. I’m a job creator, I’m not a politician.”