Republican McMahon Lost Conn. Senate Race, but Independents Won

Republican Linda McMahon failed in her bid for Senate, but her run ensured independents will have a candidate on the Connecticut ballot in 2016.

 

As part of her campaign, McMahon pursued an independent cross-endorsement, reports the Connecticut Post, so her name would be on the ballot twice on Election Day and she could appeal to unaffiliated voters.

 

Last summer, McMahon’s GOP campaign gathered the 7,500 signatures needed to qualify as a third-party candidate. And while she lost to Democrat Chris Murphy by 12 percentage points, she got 45,209 independent votes, three times more than the one percent needed to put independents on the ballot as essentially a third party.

 

However, McMahon lost a lot of support from fellow Republicans, who believe she weakened party efforts in the election by seeking the cross-endorsement. They were also angry late in the campaign when she asked Democrats in an ad to split their votes by supporting her and President Barack Obama.