U.S. Senate
In May 1952, Purtell won the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic incumbent William Benton for a seat in the United States Senate. However, when Connecticut's other Senator, Brien McMahon, died in July of that year, Governor Lodge appointed Purtell to the Senate to fill the remainder of McMahon's term. Thus, Purtell was in the unusual position of filling one Senate seat while running for another. Fellow Republican businessman Prescott Bush, the father of George H. W. Bush (41st President of the United States) and the grandfather of George W. Bush (43rd President of the United States), was later elected to McMahon's seat. During his campaign against Benton, Purtell supported General Eisenhower's campaign platform on "Communism, corruption, and Korea." Benton accused Purtell of being so conservative that he "makes Bob Taft look like a left-wing New Dealer." He eventually defeated Benton by a margin of 88,788 votes, receiving 52% of the vote.
During his tenure in the Senate, Purtell co-sponsored an amendment to federal labor laws making discrimination by employers or labor organizations an unfair labor practice. In 1954, he expressed his support for the Eisenhower administration's proposal for a government-conducted vote before a union could go on strike. In 1958, Purtell was defeated for re-election by his Democratic opponent Thomas J. Dodd, a former Congressman and father of future Senator Chris Dodd, by a margin of 57%-42%.
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