Matt Bevin, the businessman running as a more conservative alternative to Republican leader Mitch McConnell in the Kentucky Senate race, once praised a liberal member of the U.S. Senate for being an “advocate” for small businesses.
Bevin made the comments during a July 14, 2012 news conference alongside Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal. The two appeared together as Blumenthal pledged assistance to Bevin after a devastating fire burned down the Connecticut factory of his company, Bevin Bell, in 2012.
“I so appreciate Senator Blumenthal’s interest,” Bevin said then. “Because he’s been an advocate of the little business guy for years.”
Earlier this year, National Journal ranked Blumenthal as tied for first place in their rankings of the Senate’s most liberal members.
Bevin formally entered the Republican primary to take on McConnell, the Senate minority leader, last week.
Since then, Bevin Bell has become the first major issue of the race.
While Bevin holds it up as positive story about his private sector background, McConnell’s campaign has sought to use the company against him.
They have tried tying Bevin to the company’s past tax delinquency. McConnell’s team has also hit Bevin for taking a state government grant to help rebuild his factory after the fire.
In its first ad targeting Bevin, McConnell’s campaign referred to him as “Bailout Bevin” and showed a photo of the businessman standing next to Blumenthal.
Bevin has dismissed McConnell’s criticism as a political ploy to distract from the issues.
“The reality is McConnell is bringing this issue up as a distraction,” he told The Daily Caller in an interview last week. “It’s a smoke screen for the fact that he is a liberal, big-government bailout guy. He’s the king of the bailouts. And it’s ironic that the master of the bailouts would try to distract people with this nonsense.”