Military veteran Matthew Corey has won the Republican primary to face Democratic Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy in the fall.

Corey, who owns a bar in Hartford, Connecticut, was runner-up in the state GOP’s nominating convention in May. He previously lost to Murphy in 2018.

He defeated insurance agent and small-town official Gerry Smith, who was favored by the Connecticut Republican Party. 

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Smith managed to outraise Corey during the primary cycle, with the latter bringing in just over $30,000 in individual contributions compared to Smith’s roughly $62,000 haul, according to campaign finance data.

But Smith ended the primary cycle with less cash on hand than Corey did – roughly $4,200 compared to $32,000.

The primary winner now faces an uphill climb to the U.S. Senate, however – Connecticut has not elected a Republican to the Senate since 1982, according to the CT Mirror. 

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President Biden won the state by roughly 20 points in 2020 over former President Trump, and there’s not a single Republican in its seven-member congressional delegation.

Murphy’s war chest is also significantly larger than his opponent’s, having brought in nearly $13 million in individual contributions in this election cycle. 

He is also heading into the general election with $9.7 million in cash on hand.

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The Democratic senator came to national attention as the congressman representing Newtown in 2012 when the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting took place.

Murphy is seeking a third term in the Senate, having been first elected in 2012.

While he’s the runaway favorite to win his seat again, the victory is nevertheless welcome padding for Democrats as they face the prospect of losing their razor-thin Senate majority.

Valerie Bertinelli is more than ready to say goodbye to summer. 

On Sunday, the actress and former Food Network star took to social media to express her excitement for summer's end while sharing a poolside selfie. 

"August 11. The last dog day of summer. I have spent 64 years not knowing what that actually meant, so I looked it up," Bertinelli wrote in the caption. "It has nothing to do with dogs and everything [to] do with Sirius, the dog star. The dog days of summer are the 20 days before and the 20 days after Sirius has become visible in the east when the sky is still dark right before sunrise.

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"And it’s hot as f---," she continued. "Anyway, this is me waiting patiently for the fall equinox."

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Last month, Bertinelli celebrated a major milestone in her alcohol-free journey, becoming six months sober. 

"I don't need anything to amplify my happiness right now," Bertinelli told People magazine in April of her decision to stop drinking. "I feel high just on life. I recently went out to dinner with a friend, and I had ginger ale in a wine glass. And it felt like I was celebrating." 

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While Bertinelli told the outlet she hasn't fully committed to giving up alcohol for the rest of her life, it's working for her right now. 

"I was still going through a lot of crap, and I knew that I wanted to be on the road of intentionally finding my core happiness," Bertinelli, who finalized her divorce from second husband Tom Vitale in November 2022, said of her initial decision to give up alcohol. Food and alcohol were in her "toolkit for soothing and ignoring s--- that I shouldn't be soothing and ignoring.

"I would go out and have a fun time, drink, and the next day, I'd be so sad," she added. "Because there was so much sadness in my life, and alcohol amplified it. I think it's important to really not numb emotional pain.

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"Emotions are information," she continued. "When I decided to really question why I was having a certain emotion, I was able to — most of the time — walk through it and get to the other side. I'm actually shocked at how hard it's not [hard to give up]. Because, for a long time, I leaned on it. Right now, I love how I feel more than how the alcohol makes me feel."

One month after no alcohol, Bertinelli revealed a positive outcome. She lost weight. 

"So, here's a nice little side effect of Dry January," she said. "These jeans that I'm wearing were so tight a few months ago that I couldn't comfortably button them. Now, they're so loose it's time for me to go down a size."