By SUE HAIGH
Associated Press

HARTFORD (AP) - Sen. Chris Murphy advanced to the November election without facing a primary election Tuesday in the Democratic party.

The first-term senator from Connecticut will take on small-business owner Matthew Corey, who defeated Apple computer executive Dominic Rapini in the Republican primary.

Murphy's campaign has raised about $13.5 million and still has about $8.5 million on hand, an amount that far exceeds the fundraising of his GOP rival.

Murphy was first elected in 2012 and became a prominent advocate for gun control following the shooting that year at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.

The 45-year-old Democrat also has gained a national reputation as an opposition voice to President Donald Trump and is frequently mentioned among possible Democratic challengers to the president in 2020.

Corey, a lifelong resident of Manchester, won the Republican endorsement in May with 53 percent of the vote.

The 54-year-old Navy veteran owns a window-washing business and McKinnon's Irish Pub in Hartford. He has run three unsuccessful campaigns for congress against Democratic U.S. Rep. John Larson.

Corey has said he wants this race to be a referendum pitting the policies of Trump, which he supports, against those supported by Murphy.

Rapini had never held public office.