William Tong
Susan Bysiewicz
Chris Murphy
As Liz Kim writes in today’s Advocate, state Rep. William Tong has officially joined the list of Democrats looking to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman in the 2012 election.
Tong, seeking to become Connecticut’s first non-white U.S. Senator, is the third Democrat to join the race, and, as Sacred Heart University political scientist Gary Rose notes in Liz’s story, he probably has the longest odds to win the seat.
“I can’t tell you anything about him and I’m sure that’s true for most people. Normally state representatives do not fare well” in U.S. Senate elections.”
Two other Dems have formally declared their intentions: Former Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz and U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy (D-5).
No Republicans have formally declared their candidacies, but potential candidates include 2010 Senate nominee Linda McMahon, former Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele, former U.S. Reps. Rob Simmons (R-2) and Chris Shays (R-4) and state Sen. L. Scott Frantz of Greenwich.
Even actor (and Bridgeport native) John Ratzenberger — aka Cliff Clavin — has expressed interest in running for the seat.
We’ll get to hypothetical Republican and general election matchups down the road, but with the Democratic field becoming more clear, we want to hear from you today on this question:
If you’re a probable Democratic primary voter, who among Murphy, Bysiewicz and Tong do you prefer?
Vote in the poll and leave a comment to tell us why you’re leaning a specific way. You can also reach out to us on Twitter or Facebook.