McKinney Endorses Chris Shays

State Senate Minority Leader John McKinney (R-28th) endorsed former for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate last week. 

Shays, who represented Connecticut's 4th Congressional District for 21 years before losing to U.S. Rep. Jim Himes (D-4th) in 2008, is the only Republican who can win November's race, McKinney said.

Shays, McKinney said, is in a statistical dead heat with U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy (D-5th), the presumptive Democratic nominee for the Senate race. All other candidates lose to Murphy in a poll recently released by Quinnipiac, he said.

, who represents Fairfield, Newtown, and part of Weston, said Connecticut needs to send a Republican down to Washington who will control spending, balance the budget and get the economy moving again.

"Chris Shays is the only candidate in the race who has a proven track record of doing just that," McKinney said in a video posted on Shays' campaign website. "Working with the Republican majority in congress in the '90s, Chris balanced our federal budget deficit. He’s done it before and he’ll do it again."

McKinney said he's known Shays for over 25 years and that the former Congressman is a "man of honesty and integrity." Shays at the top of the Republican ticket would also help other members of the GOP across the state, he said.

"He will help all other Republicans down the line running for state Senate and state legislature," McKinney said. "We must unite as a party."

McKinney joins and in endorsing Shays.