Wolf airs first ad in campaign to unseat Blumenthal

August Wolf

August Wolf, a former Olympic shot putter seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in 2016, is airing his first commercial: a cable television ad urging U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., to oppose the proposed U.S-Iran nuclear deal.

Rather than introduce himself, Wolf opted in the first ad of the 2016 season to focus attention on whether Blumenthal will support a deal that would lift sanctions on Iran in return for controls on its ability to develop nuclear weapons.

“We can’t trust the Iranian terrorist regime with nuclear weapons,” Wolf says in the ad.

His spokesman, Thomas Daly, said the campaign has purchased between $15,000 and $20,000 in ads on cable television in the New Haven and Hartford markets in an effort to start a public conversation.

“We’ll see how it delivers,” Daly said.

Blumenthal recently quizzed Pentagon officials about the proposed deal, but he is undecided, unlike his Democratic ally from New York, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, who has announced his opposition.

Blumenthal was elected in 2010 to an open seat after the retirement of Chris Dodd, defeating Republican Linda McMahon, who spent a record $50 million on that race and a similar amount in a second effort in 2012.

Wolf, who placed fourth in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, is a Greenwich businessman.