Walker won't challenge Blumenthal for Senate

Republicans can cross the name of David Walker, the former U.S. comptroller general, off their already thin list of potential 2016 challengers of U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.

Walker, a Bridgeport resident who ran unsuccessfully last year for lieutenant governor, had been entertaining a run against the highly visible first-term incumbent and former longtime state attorney general.

But just last week, the 63-year-old took a position in McLean, Va., as a senior strategic adviser in the public-sector practice of accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Walker has also put his home in the Black Rock section of Bridgeport, which was previously owned by former U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., up for sale.

"At the present point in time, I do not plan to run for the U.S. Senate," Walker, who led the U.S. Government Accountability Office under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, told Hearst Connecticut Media.

Walker's decision leaves Connecticut Republicans, who haven't won a statewide election since 2006 and make up the state's smallest voter bloc, scouring their ranks for someone to challenge Blumenthal.

It also comes on the heels of a March 12 Quinnipiac University poll tallying Blumenthal's public approval rating at 64 percent, the highest measured among statewide officer-holders and up 3 points from March 2014.

"There's virtually no chance of Blumenthal losing," said Jerold Duquette, an associate professor of political science at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain. "Obviously, it's a Herculean challenge to get a respectable Republican to fall on their sword."

State GOP officials say they have had preliminary conversations with a few prospective candidates, but would not identify them.

In 2014, Walker finished third in the GOP primary for lieutenant behind former Groton Mayor Heather Somers and then-state Rep. Penny Bacchiochi, a race in which fewer than 2,000 votes separated first from last.

Walker is currently a member of a state Republican Party task force that is exploring a number of electoral reforms, including opening up the GOP primary to unaffiliated voters, the largest bloc of the electorate in Connecticut.

"David Walker is a leader in the Connecticut Republican Party and I wish him the best in any future endeavor," Jerry Labriola Jr., the state GOP chairman, said in a statement to Hearst.

An opposition researcher for Ronald Reagan during the 1980 presidential campaign and then for George H.W. Bush in 1988, Walker is a longtime acquaintance of 2016 presidential contender Jeb Bush and attended a January fundraiser for the former Florida governor in Greenwich.

Walker said he and his wife, who are empty nesters and have a second home in Alexandria, Va., haven't decided whether they will look for a smaller place in Connecticut or pack up completely. In his new job, he said he has committed to work for PricewaterhouseCoopers for 100 days a year.

"This position will allow me to work with governors, mayors and other top executives who want to put their finances in order and know that they need help in order to do so," Walker said.

neil.vigdor@scni.com; 203-625-4436; http://twitter.com/gettinviggy