Linda McMahon was sitting alone, going over her acceptance speech, when she learned she'd lost, for the second time in as many years, her expensive and hard-fought battle to join the U.S. Senate.
In an interview with Bloomberg News a few days ago, McMahon said she was sitting in an upstairs room of her backcountry Greenwich home, fine-tuning her acceptance speech about 40 minutes after the polls had closed, when she caught sight of a TV graphic showing that Democrat Chris Murphy had won.
"I was stunned for a moment," McMahon told Bloomberg News. "I sat there for a few minutes on my own, reflecting on what the race had been. I thought about the thousands of people who not only had touched me but whom I had touched as well. All the notes, 'Thank you for running. Thank you for showing me that it’s worth putting everything on the line,' and things like that."
She said that while some have criticized her for spending so much of her personal fortune on her Senate aspirations, $97 million as of the latest accounting, comments that she was trying to buy a U.S. Senate seat were off the mark, McMahon told the news service.
"The way it’s framed is that I’m trying to buy the election for my own personal gain. What would be my personal gain? I’m not looking for a new career. I’ve had a wonderful career. I was hoping to bring a different voice and perspective and use my skills that have been honed as a CEO in bringing people together," Bloomberg quotes her.
