Donald Trump is the topic George Logan has long tried to avoid mentioning as he makes his case to voters in Connecticut‘s most closely watched congressional race.
Now the Republican, who is running to unseat U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes in the state’s 5th Congressional District, is facing criticism for candid comments he made about the former president while speaking to a group of fellow Republicans, and at least a journalist, during a campaign event last week.
According to a story published on friday In an article published in the Waterbury Republican-American, Logan asked his supporters at a rally in Kent to turn off their cell phones and cameras before announcing “loudly” to the audience that he had voted for Trump twice and planned to do so. again in November.
Neither the candidate nor his campaign responded to messages seeking comment on the article. Other people present, however, confirmed the newspaper’s account of Logan’s comments to CT Insider.
Since he stepped onto the national political stage three years agoLogan, a former state senator, has presented himself as a more moderate voice in the Republican Party, while dodging questions about whether or not he supports the former president.
After being questioned repeatedly on the subject during a radio interview Last month, Logan said that “no one on the campaign trail has asked me that question.”
“I’m not going to Congress to be a seal of approval for whoever is elected president,” he told host, WTIC’s Brian Shactman.
“He’s trying to mislead voters, and that’s just wrong. “I have always been clear and consistent about my stance on issues that matter to people, and my message does not change depending on the audience,” Hayes said in a statement released by her campaign on Monday. “Voters in the Fifth District deserve to know where candidates stand on every issue, but instead, we continue to find that the George you get depends on where you are.”
Logan’s elusiveness toward his party’s standard-bearer has also been criticized among some conservative figures in Connecticut.
“Why are you afraid to say you support the Republican candidate?” said conservative blogger and journalist George Colli in a post on X. “Does he ask his supporters to put their phones away before he says it? That’s not leadership and it doesn’t say much about his character if he wins.”
Meanwhile, in the U.S. Senate race in Connecticut, the two Republicans running in the primary (Beacon Falls First Selectman Gerry Smith and Manchester businessman Matthew Corey) have they publicly said they support Trump and would be willing to campaign alongside the former president.
Logan has not shied away from supporting other national figures within his party.
Separately, on Monday, Connecticut Democrats announced that their congressional leader, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., would deliver the keynote address at a fundraising event this weekend in Hartford.
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