Source: GOP trying to draft ex-Fox host Gretchen Carlson for Senate

Gretchen Carlson attends Women at the Top: Female Empowerment in Media Panel at the 2016 Greenwich International Film Festival on June 12, 2016 in Greenwich, Connecticut. Gretchen Carlson attends Women at the Top: Female Empowerment in Media Panel at the 2016 Greenwich International Film Festival on June 12, 2016 in Greenwich, Connecticut. Photo: Noam Galai / Getty Images For GIFF Photo: Noam Galai / Getty Images For GIFF Image 1 of / 6 Caption Close Source: GOP trying to draft ex-Fox host Gretchen Carlson for Senate 1 / 6 Back to Gallery

She’s a household name who challenged the good old boy network and won — $20 million.

And now this former Miss America with the Stanford diploma is plotting her next move.

Forget MSNBC. If Connecticut’s Republican Party boss had his druthers, former “Fox & Friends” co-host Gretchen Carlson would run for the U.S. Senate in 2018.

Carlson has been the focus of an under-the-radar recruiting effort by state GOP Chairman J.R. Romano, a party source familiar with the discussions told Hearst Connecticut Media. Last year, the Greenwich resident received an eight-figure settlement and apology in her sexual harassment lawsuit against ousted Fox chief Roger Ailes.

Republicans are grappling to find a viable challenger to heavily favored incumbent Democrat Chris Murphy.

“That’s news to me,” Romano said Wednesday. “She’d be a great candidate. I think she’d be a tremendous asset to the ticket.”

Carlson spokeswoman Jodie Magid distanced her client from the report, but would not outright dispute it.

“We haven’t heard it to be true,” Magid said.

So far, no Republicans have stepped forward to challenge Murphy, whose national profile and campaign coffers have experienced a growth spurt with his opposition to Donald Trump and last year’s filibuster on gun control. Murphy’s name has even been bandied for president in 2020.

It’s been a generation since a Republican last won a U.S. Senate race in Connecticut and that candidate was an incumbent — Lowell Weicker Jr. in 1982. In two of the last three Senate races, the GOP nominated wrestling mogul Linda McMahon against Richard Blumenthal and Murphy. Now the head of the Small Business Administration, McMahon spent a combined $100 million on her two campaigns. Last year, Republicans unsuccessfully courted another flashy name.

“You remember they tried to recruit Larry Kudlow,” said Ronald Schurin, an associate professor of political science at the University of Connecticut. “This is reminiscent of that.”

Kudlow, a former Reagan budget adviser and Wall Street maven, opted to keep his CNBC television gig. Republicans eventually coalesced around Dan Carter, who gave up a safe seat as a state representative for an unsuccessful Blumenthal challenge.

“The Republicans have tried different things,” Schurin said. “They tried the Fairfield County multimillionaire or billionaire route or they tried the celebrity route. It seems to me that the Republicans should really focus on their bench, which has been growing stronger as they have increased their numbers in the General Assembly. There are still a number of mayors and first selectmen.”

Carlson, 50, has kept up her profile since her Fox News exit last year. She recently established a philanthropy called the Gift of Courage Fund to empower girls and young women, and to help them “realize a safe and nurturing place in the workforce.”

She has a pair of charity appearances scheduled for this month, starting with an April 20 dinner in Danbury benefiting the Women’s Business Council (an arm of the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce). The theme of the event is, “The Boys Network, does it still exist?”

Carlson will then headline the Sole Sisters Luncheon April 25 to support the Greenwich United Way.

Schurin said that it’s not outlandish that Republicans would try to draft Carlson for Senate, but that it remains a tough sell.

“I would assume she wouldn’t want to give up her promising media career for a longshot Senate race,” Schurin said.

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