Lumaj exits Senate race stage right, will endorse Linda

Peter Lumaj, center, gestures while flanked by 2010 U.S. Senate nominee Linda McMahon, right, and Brian K. Hill, left, during a debate for the seat being vacated by U.S Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., in Norwich, Conn., Thursday, April 19, 2012.

The Albanian-American community will have to wait for one of its own to get elected to the U.S. Senate.

Peter Lumaj won’t be on the Republican primary ballot Aug. 14.

In an interview with Hearst Connecticut Newspapers Thursday, Lumaj said it is time for him to step aside and that he will formally endorse GOP convention winner Linda McMahon over former Congressman Christopher Shays in the next day or two.

An immigration and criminal lawyer from Fairfield who branded himself as unapologetically conservative and often invoked the words and image Ronald Reagan, Lumaj was the first ever Albanian-born candidate for Senate.

“I think, at this point, it’s time for the party to unite,” Lumaj said.

Lumaj received just 22 of 1,208 delegates at the state GOP convention May 18, well below the 15 percent threshold required to automatically qualify for the primary.

He could have petitioned his way onto the ballot by collecting signatures from 8,319 of the 415,917 registered Republicans statewide.

The deadline was June 12, however.

“I don’t see that as a good thing to do at this point,” Lumaj said of primarying.

Before the state party convention, Lumaj questioned how much McMahon had to do with the boom of her family’s professional wrestling empire, WWE.

He even prepared to launch a television ad attacking the GOP frontrunner and two-time Senate contender.

“A campaign is a campaign,” Lumaj said. “For the sake of the party and for the sake of unity, I think we have to stop the attacks.”

Lumaj made it clear that he will not go gentle into that good night, saying that he hopes to run again for federal office in the future.

“I think that my campaign did capture the attention of the conservative base,” Lumaj said.

Neil Vigdor