Richard Blumenthal
Richard Blumenthal[a] (/ˈbluːmənθɑːl/ BLOO-mən-thahl; born February 13, 1946) is an American lawyer and politician who is the senior United States senator from Connecticut, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he is one of the wealthiest members of the Senate,[4] with a net worth over $100 million.[5] He was Attorney General of Connecticut from 1991 to 2011.
Richard Blumenthal
Anthony Truglia
Anthony Truglia
February 13, 1946
New York City, New York, U.S.
4, including Matt
1970–1976
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Born in Brooklyn, New York, Blumenthal attended Riverdale Country School, a private school in the Bronx. He graduated from Harvard College, where he was chair of the editorial board of The Harvard Crimson. He studied for a year at Trinity College, Cambridge, in England before attending Yale Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal. From 1970 to 1976, Blumenthal served in the United States Marine Corps Reserve, attaining the rank of sergeant. After law school, Blumenthal passed the bar and served as administrative assistant and law clerk for several Washington, D.C. figures. From 1977 to 1981, he was United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut. In the early 1980s he worked in private law practice, including as volunteer counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
Blumenthal served one term in the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1985 to 1987; in 1986 he was elected to the Connecticut Senate and began service in 1987. He was elected Attorney General of Connecticut in 1990 and served for 20 years. During this period political observers speculated about him as a contender for governor of Connecticut, but he never pursued the office. Blumenthal announced his 2010 run for the U.S. Senate after incumbent Senator Chris Dodd announced his retirement. He faced Linda McMahon, a professional wrestling magnate, in the 2010 election, winning with 55% of the vote. He was sworn in on January 5, 2011. After Joe Lieberman retired in 2013, Blumenthal became Connecticut's senior senator. He was reelected in 2016 with 63.2% of the vote, becoming the first person to receive more than a million votes in a statewide election in Connecticut, and reelected again in 2022.
Early life and education[edit]
Blumenthal was born into a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Jane (née Rosenstock) and Martin Blumenthal. At age 17, Martin Blumenthal immigrated to the United States from Frankfurt, Germany; Jane was raised in Omaha, Nebraska, graduated from Radcliffe College, and became a social worker.[6][7] Martin Blumenthal had a career in financial services and became president of a commodities trading firm.[8][9][10] Jane's father, Fred "Fritz" Rosenstock, raised cattle, and as youths Blumenthal and his brother often visited their grandfather's farm. Blumenthal's brother David Blumenthal is a doctor and health care policy expert who became president of the Commonwealth Fund.[11]
Blumenthal attended Riverdale Country School in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. He then attended Harvard College, from which he graduated in 1967 with an A.B. degree magna cum laude and membership in Phi Beta Kappa. As an undergraduate, he was editorial chairman of The Harvard Crimson.[12] Blumenthal was a summer intern reporter for The Washington Post in the London Bureau.[13] He was selected for a Fiske Fellowship, which allowed him to study at Trinity College of the University of Cambridge in England for one year after graduation from Harvard.
In 1973, Blumenthal received his J.D. degree from Yale Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal.[14] At Yale, he was classmates with future President Bill Clinton and future Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.[15] One of his co-editors of the Yale Law Journal was future United States Secretary of Labor Robert Reich. He was also a classmate of future Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and radio host Michael Medved.[16]
Military service and controversy[edit]
Blumenthal received five draft deferments during the Vietnam War,[17] first educational deferments, then deferments based on his occupation.[18] In April 1970, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserve, which, as The New York Times noted, "virtually guaranteed that he would not be sent to Vietnam".[19][18] He served in units stationed in Washington, D.C., and Connecticut from 1970 to 1976,[20][21] attaining the rank of sergeant.[22] During his 2010 Senate campaign, news report videos that showed Blumenthal claiming he had served in Vietnam created a controversy.[23] He denied having intentionally misled voters, but acknowledged having occasionally "misspoken" about his service record.[24] He later apologized to voters for remarks about his military service that he said had not been "clear or precise".[25]
Early political career[edit]
Blumenthal served as administrative assistant to Senator Abraham A. Ribicoff, as aide to Daniel P. Moynihan when Moynihan was Assistant to President Richard Nixon, and as a law clerk to Judge Jon O. Newman, U.S. District Court of the District of Connecticut, and to Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun.
Before becoming attorney general, Blumenthal was a partner in the law firm of Cummings & Lockwood, and subsequently in the law firm of Silver, Golub & Sandak.[26] In December 1982, while still at Cummings & Lockwood, he created and chaired the Citizens Crime Commission of Connecticut, a private, nonprofit organization.[27] From 1981 to 1986, he was a volunteer counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.[13]
At age 31, Blumenthal was appointed United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, serving from 1977 to 1981.[28][29] As the chief federal prosecutor of that state, he successfully prosecuted many major cases involving drug traffickers, organized crime, white collar criminals, civil rights violators, consumer fraud, and environmental pollution.[13]
In 1982, he married Cynthia Allison Malkin.[30] She is the daughter of real estate investor Peter L. Malkin. Her maternal grandfather was lawyer and philanthropist Lawrence Wien.[31]
In 1984, when he was 38, Blumenthal was elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives, representing the 145th district. In 1987, he won a special election to fill a vacancy in the 27th district of the Connecticut Senate, at age 41.[32][33][27] Blumenthal resided in Stamford, Connecticut.
In the 1980s, Blumenthal testified in the state legislature in favor of abolishing Connecticut's death penalty statute. He did so after representing Joseph Green Brown, a Florida death row inmate who was found to have been wrongly convicted. Blumenthal succeeded in staving off Brown's execution just 15 hours before it was scheduled to take place, and gained a new trial for Brown.[34]
Prospect of gubernatorial candidacy[edit]
Blumenthal was often considered a top prospect for the Democratic nominee for governor of Connecticut, but never ran for the office.
On March 18, 2007, Hartford Courant columnist Kevin Rennie reported that Blumenthal had become seriously interested in running for governor in 2010.[107] On February 2, 2009, Blumenthal announced he would forgo a gubernatorial run and seek reelection that year as attorney general.[108]
Personal life[edit]
On June 27, 1982, Blumenthal married Cynthia Malkin.[213][6] They were engaged during her senior year at Harvard and married the following year.[214] She is the daughter of Peter L. Malkin and maternal granddaughter of Lawrence Wien.[214] They have four children. Their son Matt Blumenthal was elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives from the 147th district in 2018.[215]
Blumenthal's wealth exceeds $100 million, making him one of the Senate's richest members. His family's net worth derives largely from his wife; the Malkins are influential real estate developers and property managers with holdings including an ownership stake in the Empire State Building.[5]
On April 8, 2023, while at a parade celebrating the UConn Huskies men's basketball team winning the 2023 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament championship, another attendee inadvertently fell on Blumenthal, causing a minor fracture of his femur. He underwent surgery, which he said was successful, and left the hospital on April 10.[216]