“I can’t conceal the fact,” Joe Lieberman said, “that I have this affection and respect” for Chris Shays.
Lieberman said that Friday during a stop in New Haven. He was asked if he supports Republican Shays’ bid to become Connecticut’s next U.S. senator — to hold the seat Lieberman vacates at the end of this year.
Shays faces Linda McMahon in a Republican primary for the nomination for the seat.
Lieberman has worked closely with Shays for decades in Washington. They cast themselves as fellow bipartisan-oriented moderates.
But at least “at this point,” Lieberman said, he isn’t making any endorsements in the race to succeed him. Even for a “genuine independent” like his pal Shays. Click on the play arrow to the video to watch his full answer to the question.
Shays endorsed Lieberman in the 2006 U.S. Senate race — even though Shays at the time was a Republican Congressman running for reelection himself, and Lieberman was an independent running against a Republican. Shays called Lieberman a “national treasure.” “Joe Lieberman’s election is more important than my election,” he said at the time. Read about that here; click on the play arrow to watch his remarks at the time, outside an event at New Haven’s Lawn Club.