Johnathon Henninger/Friends Center for Children photo
Blumenthal at Monday's presser.
U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal declined to speculate how the attempted assassination of former President Trump might affect the ongoing campaigns or the roiling issue of whether President Joe Biden should remain the Democratic Party’s flag-bearer.
He did say, “We need to come together to condemn all political violence and to stop it.”
He made those brief remarks Monday morning during a stop at a happy occasion — the celebration of the building of a new house at the pioneering “teachers’ village” of the Friends Center for Children in Fair Haven Heights.
That’s a verdant compound of houses on Howard Street, nearby the East Grand headquarters of the center where free housing as a salaried benefit for its teachers is making them more secure financially. It is also a financial creative template, a model, the senator added, for the state and nation to make the crucial early child care industry able to pay its teachers more equitably, and make the industry more sustainable.
Blumenthal said way too many incidents of violence, such as what unfolded over the weekend in Butler, Penn., are committed by lone gunmen, particularly by young, disenchanted males.
“We need to be more united against gun violence and violence in general,” he said.
Although a number of the state’s leading Democrats, including Jim Himes of Connecticut’s 4th Congressional District and Governor Lamont, have come out in favor of urging President Biden to step aside, that’s not where Blumenthal lands.
“Right now Joe Biden is the Democratic nominee, and he is very determined and committed and he’s got my support,” Blumenthal said.
Blumenthal also said he hoped the president would continue to be effective to dispel concerns.
“The other point is we need to determine the reasons for the security failure and how this shooter was able to climb up to that roof.”
In a larger sense the entire assassination attempt should be investigated, he added.
During a separate press conference at Nica’s on Monday morning, U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro provided a similar answer to a question about whether or not Biden should remain the Democratic nominee for president.
“I support President Biden,” DeLauro said. “He can take some time if he wants to reconsider what he wants to do, but I support the president.”