In Connecticut’s deepest blue district, the four Democratic candidates running to represent part of the state in Congress are all in alignment about the direction of the country under President Donald Trump.
But as U.S. Rep. John Larson touted and defended his decades-long tenure during an hourlong forum hosted by NBC Connecticut Monday, his three challengers also took aim at the Democratic Party itself.
The candidates fielded questions on a range of pressing policy issues facing voters in Connecticut and the country ahead of the fall midterms. But the gathering quickly became a way for the candidates to channel their frustration at the current federal system — and at their own political party.
It was the first televised appearance featuring all four of the Democratic candidates running in the Aug. 11 primary. The event was intended as a “forum discussion rather than a traditional debate,” according to the moderators, in order to cover as many issues as possible.
But most of the candidates treated it like a debate, drawing both direct and indirect contrasts without the opportunity for follow-ups or responses as in a formal debate.
Larson hasn’t faced a contested primary since he was first elected to the heavily Democratic seat based in Hartford in 1998. Now, the 77-year-old congressman is competing in a primary against former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, state Rep. Jillian Gilchrest of West Hartford, and Hartford Board of Education member Ruth Fortune.
They found subtle ways to take on their opponents, and in some cases were more explicit in their critiques. That sometimes came at the expense of the policy-focused questions.
Larson, as the incumbent and a member of the Democratic Party that currently occupies Congress, took the brunt of it.
“I want to see a Democratic Party that is bringing just a whole different kind of energy to this fight,” Bronin, the state party-endorsed candidate, said when asked about addressing cost-of-living issues. “I want to see a Democratic Party that is strong enough to actually get those things done.”
Gilchrest, a social worker who has served in the state legislature since 2018, was much more direct. She took aim at both Larson and Bronin, the most well-funded candidates, whose fundraising has become a flashpoint in the race.
“[Trump] is blatantly stealing from the American people, but I’m also frustrated with the Democrats and that’s why I’m in this race. I’m challenging a Democrat because I think right now in this country, billionaires and corporations are running things and it’s because of that that your costs are up,” Gilchrest said. “Unfortunately, two of the men in this race do take funding from billionaires and corporations.”
Larson continued to lean on his experience — both in the votes he’s taken and the legislation he’s signed onto — as a reason voters should send him back to Congress for a 15th term.
If Democrats take back the House majority in November, he said he would ascend to become the chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security, an issue that’s been a priority focus of his for years but has stalled in Congress.
On the campaign trail, Larson has stepped up his attacks on Bronin, the party-endorsed candidate who is also his most well-funded challenger. But at Monday’s forum, the congressman largely stuck to his own legislative record and his opposition to Trump.
“I’m the only one up here who has taken on Donald Trump, who’s taken on Elon Musk, who’s taken on DOGE, who’s taken on ICE,” Larson said.
“The issue here in my fight is not with these candidates. It’s with Donald Trump, and I’ve demonstrated time and again to take it to him,” Larson said later, making repeated references to being added to a U.S. Department of Homeland Security “watchlist.”
While they seek to highlight their differences throughout the campaign, the candidates have little daylight between them on many of the major issues.
At Monday’s forum, there was clear consensus on certain topics like health care and immigration.
They all agreed Congress should pursue universal health care, and the four candidates have said they want to abolish or replace U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. There was also general agreement in supporting and exploring all kinds of renewable and other energy sources in an effort to lower electricity bills.
They tried to illustrate small distinctions on these issues, whether on the nuts and bolts of the policy or from a more personal standpoint.
For Fortune, the issue of immigration enforcement is “deeply personal.” Fortune, who is also an attorney, came to the U.S. from Haiti as a young immigrant who was undocumented for a decade.
“It’s one issue that the solution is within reach. If we choose to give people who’ve come here in search of a better life, like my family did 26 years ago, if we choose to give them a path to citizenship, we can achieve that without increasing any costs,” Fortune said. “It does not cost anything. It actually allows these people to work and participate more fully and become taxpayers who can contribute even more to our economy.”
Bronin, who noted his swift calls for abolishing ICE in the campaign, said he dealt with the issue during his time as mayor during the first Trump administration.
And as part of her work at the state legislature this past session, Gilchrest said she was “proud” of legislation passed to restrict ICE operations at sensitive locations like schools, places of worship and hospitals.
Other questions centered on affordability — and other issues that play into it — and where Americans have seen some of the steepest increases in prices: housing and utilities.
Congress recently passed a comprehensive bipartisan bill to boost the supply of housing and create more affordable options. But it got caught in the political crosshairs, with Trump refusing to sign it until Congress takes up the SAVE America Act, a bill that requires voter ID and places new restrictions on voter registration.
That’s where the Democratic candidates said they believe the federal government can play an even more active role, even as many of the barriers to creating more housing revolve around land use and zoning regulations at the state and local levels.
“I want to see a federal government that is getting back in the game in a much bigger way,” Bronin said regarding housing policy.
The others largely agreed. For Gilchrest, that means addressing private equity acquiring homes. Fortune said she wants to see more single-family and multifamily homes as well as better access to housing for first-time homebuyers to “create generational wealth.”
Larson voted for the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which places a ban on large institutional investors with 350 units or more from purchasing more single-family homes, with some exceptions. He said efforts to create more housing need to go even further.
“The bill is already across the finish line. The question is whether or not Donald Trump goes through another one of his tantrums,” Larson said.
On Social Security and its impending insolvency in the coming years, the candidates also sought to draw some distinctions even as they all agree the social safety net program should be preserved and strengthened.
Larson has made this his top issue and he said he’ll keep pushing the legislation he introduces each session to increase Social Security benefits for the first time in decades and bolster the program by raising payroll taxes on higher earners.
But his opponents pointed out that those efforts haven’t come to fruition.
“I think it’s important to recognize that time in office does not always equal effectiveness or influence,” Bronin said.
Fortune said the program was designed in a way that hurts women more because they tend to be out of the workforce longer than men. She wants the cap on Social Security taxes removed, not just lifted, so more high earners pay into it.
“I think this is where we Democrats sell ourselves short,” Fortune said. “There’s a lot that we’re facing, including an attack on our rights and on our democracy. We have to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time.”
It’s unclear if the four candidates will participate in a formal debate before the Aug. 11 primary, or before the start of early voting on Aug. 3.
A recording of Monday’s forum, which was streamed live, airs Monday night at 7 on NBC Connecticut.
This story was originally published by the Connecticut Mirror.
The Connecticut Mirror/Connecticut Public Radio federal policy reporter position is made possible, in part, by funding from the Robert and Margaret Patricelli Family Foundation.
