Longtime anti-Trump Dem John Larson faced a serious test in the Connecticut primary as Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin turned a safe Democratic seat into a contest over generational change. The fourteen-term House member, who has represented Connecticut since the Clinton administration, was challenged Tuesday by Bronin, state Rep. Jillian Gilchrest, and Hartford Education Board member Ruth Fortune.
The race centered on whether voters wanted to keep Larson, a veteran lawmaker known for his sharp attacks on President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, or move toward a younger face in Congress. During a recent House markup on legislation that would give members of Congress DOGE access to Treasury payment information, Larson raised his voice at colleagues and accused them of taking orders from Musk and Trump. He questioned the independence of the committee and the legislature, pointing to empty seats in the room and asking where Musk was. Larson also filed more than a dozen articles of impeachment after the arrest and extraction of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, accusing Trump of piracy and other offenses.
Bronin, who also served in the Obama administration, spent the campaign presenting himself as the candidate of renewal. As the year went on, he appeared to be closing the gap on Larson in a district that has been firmly in Democratic hands for decades. The First District includes Hartford, Glastonbury, Bristol and Windsor Locks, and it has not elected a Republican lawmaker since Edwin May Jr., who served during the Eisenhower administration.
Gilchrest entered the contest as a progressive candidate who also supports abortion rights, while Fortune ran a campaign centered on education and had the least funding among the major candidates. The crowded primary reflected an intraparty split that has become familiar in Democratic politics: older incumbents with deep ties to Washington facing challengers arguing that the party needs new voices and a different style of leadership.
