McMahon takes first at Conn. GOP convention

(CNN) - Former wrestling executive Linda McMahon won the Connecticut Republican convention by a wide margin Friday night, crossing one hurdle in her second bid for a U.S. Senate seat from the state in two years.

"My family and I are humbled by the overwhelming support we received tonight at the Connecticut Republican Convention," she wrote on her Facebook page.

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While the win gives McMahon a big boost in her campaign, she will still face former U.S. Rep. Chris Shays in an August Republican primary. Shays crossed the 15% convention threshold needed to push the race into another contest.

McMahon, who ran unsuccessfully as the Republican nominee in a 2010 bid against now-Sen. Richard Blumenthal, won Friday's convention with 60.4% of the vote, while Shays came in second at 32.2%, according to the Hartford Courant.

The two candidates are vying for the seat soon to be vacated by retiring Sen. Joe Lieberman, an Independent who caucuses with Democrats.

A former president and CEO of the wrestling organization WWE, McMahon made headlines for spending tens of millions in her last Senate bid and faced criticism over her company's reputation in the entertainment industry.

In 2010, Blumenthal easily beat McMahon, 55%-43%, despite McMahon spending nearly $50 million of her own money on the campaign.

This time around, McMahon has loaned her campaign $2.1 million as of the end of April, according to Federal Election Commission reports.

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again," McMahon said Friday at the convention, according to the Hartford Courant. "That's my motto. We're definitely going to bring this home."

Should she win the Republican primary in August, McMahon would run against Democratic freshman Rep. Chris Murphy for the general election in Connecticut, a heavily Democratic state.

A Quinnipiac University survey released in March, however, showed Murphy would topple McMahon in a potential November match-up, garnering 52% of support in the poll against 37% for McMahon.

- CNN's Gabriella Schwarz and Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.