Who Is Leora Levy: 5 Things To Know After Her Primary Win

CONNECTICUT — Republican fundraiser Leora Levy’s primary victory came as a surprise to many after she received nearly 10,000 more votes than moderate opponent Themis Klarides.

Levy was endorsed by Donald Trump last week, and the former president also helped her with a telephone fundraiser the day before the primary.

Levy won the race by a 10 percentage point margin, according to unofficial results from the Secretary of the State. Perennial candidate Peter Lumaj, who ran as the “only true conservative,” came in a distant third.

What is her background?

Levy is a Greenwich resident. Her family escaped communist Cuba in 1960 and came to the United States.

She was a financial trader at Phibro Salomon, according to her campaign biography.

She later became a philanthropist and political fundraiser for the GOP, according to the Connecticut Mirror. Levy was named to the Republican National Committee in 2017 and was nominated by Trump to be the ambassador to Chile, but the Senate never confirmed her.

What was the primary vote tally?

The unofficial tally from the Secretary of State’s office as of 4 p.m. Wednesday:

• Themis Klarides: 36,872 votes, 40.01%
• Leora R. Levy: 46,658 votes, 50.63%
• Peter Lumaj: 8,629 votes, 9.36%

Stance on abortion

Levy was previously pro-choice, but has changed her position in recent years.

She is now opposed to abortion unless the mother’s life is in jeopardy or the pregnancy is a product of rape or incest, she said during the debate.

“Everybody grows and learns in life, and my life experience changed my heart,” she said during a primary debate hosted by WTNH.

She did say she is in favor of allowing anybody to use birth control because it is a private decision.

Stance on school shootings

When asked whether she would arm teachers, Levy said, “I would train teachers if they chose to be trained. And I would have somebody in the school who is trained and able to carry, absolutely.”

She went on to say the answer to stopping school shootings is to secure schools, mental health funding and training local police.

Primary issues in the U.S.

“The issues that are driving this election are the economy, the invasion at the border, the rising crime, the indoctrination of our children with critical race theory and the division of our society between one race and the other,” she said during the debate.

She also said the U.S. is not systemically racist.