Former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., right, with 4th District congressional hopeful Dan Debicella during a May 28, 2014, fundraiser for the GOP challenger in Riverside, Conn. Contributed photo.
If only Dan Debicella could get the keys to Scott Brown’s ubiquitous pickup truck.
The GOP’s presumptive nominee for Congress in Connecticut’s 4th District will have to settle for a truck-load of campaign cash instead, raised courtesy of Brown.
Brown took time out from his U.S. Senate comeback campaign to stump for Debicella Wednesday night during a $500-per-person fundraiser at the coastal compound of state Sen. L. Scott Frantz, R-36th District, in Riverside.
About 100 people attended, according to the campaign of Debicella, who is challenging Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., for a second time since Debicella lost to the incumbent in 2010.
At the end of March, Himes had a commanding fundraising lead, helped by his post as national finance chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
In 2010, Brown won a special election to fill the seat of the late “Lion of the Senate,” Ted Kennedy, in Massachusetts, becoming the first Republican in nearly 40 years to represent the deep blue state in the upper chamber.
Brown’s political success ultimately proved meteoric, with the Republican incumbent losing to Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren in 2012.
Branded by the political left as a carpet bagger, Brown is running for the Senate in New Hampshire, where his parents met and where his first home was. He is facing Democratic incumbent Jeanne Shaheen.