According to Connecticut Democratic Party Chair Roberto Alves, Democratic voters cast ballots in lockstep with Gov. Ned Lamont during Tuesday’s primary election.
“Governor Lamont and Democrats have worked together to put Connecticut on a stronger footing, lower taxes for working families, protect our rights, and move our state forward,” Alves said. “Voters know what results and responsible leadership looks like, and they chose it again tonight.”
But political analysts say the results from other Democratic primaries around the state could reflect ideological differences among voters, as well as a desire to replace older politicians with younger candidates.
They say former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin’s victory over longtime U.S. Rep. John Larson indicates that voters are interested in cultivating younger leadership within the Democratic Party.
C. Mara Suttmann-Lea, a government and international relations professor at Connecticut College, said it's still unclear if voters are trending left, or if they simply want younger politicians to take over.
“I think the big question that a lot of Democrats are asking right now [is]: Can progressive candidates win or is it really just that voters are looking for what we might call a generational change,” Suttmann-Lea said.
Gayle Alberda, a political science professor at Fairfield University, said baby boomers are no longer the largest voting bloc by age. They are being replaced by millennials and Generation Z voters, many who may not agree with moderate political stances.
“Everybody goes into politics for a specific reason, and being a leader is an amazing position when you are in Congress or in the state legislature,” Alberda said. “But it also can put you out of touch with voters because ... it's not that their ideas are necessarily bad. It's that they're of a different generation, and the largest voting bloc really is the millennial voters.”
The Connecticut congressional delegation includes members in their 80s, including U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, who ran unopposed in Tuesday's primary. and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, whose term expires in 2028.
Larson, who was first elected in 1998 to the 1st Congressional District, is 78.
Suttmann-Lea is interested in seeing how DeLauro and Blumenthal react to Bronin's victory over Larson, as the Democratic Party continues to grapple with nationwide calls to replace older politicians with younger ones.
"I think that this is one of those areas where you see that particular race between Bronin and Larson reflecting a broader conversation that's happening in the Democratic Party of: 'Do we need young voices, younger voices,'" Suttmann-Lea said. "Some say yes, some say no, and this is a conversation that is playing out across the country."
Yet Lamont, who is one of the oldest Democratic governors in the country, won handily.
Suttmann-Lea believes Lamont won due to an incumbency advantage. They also believe voters remember Lamont’s leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the state gaining a significant budget surplus.
“The question I often ask ... is: 'Was it the campaign or was it the context,'” Suttmann-Lea said. “And I think in the case of someone like Ned Lamont, it really is a lot about the context as well as the record that he has to run on.”
Lamont won nearly 70% of the vote, compared to his challenger Josh Elliott, who won a little over 32%, according to the Associated Press.
But in two high-profile primaries, voters ended up kicking out long-serving Democratic incumbents.
State Sen. Doug McCrory was defeated by State Rep. Maryam Khan, while Larson lost to Bronin.
Bronin said he won in part because voters were looking for change.
“People recognize that Congress shouldn't be a lifetime job, that we would be stronger as a Democratic Party and we'd be stronger as a country if you have more renewal, if you had new perspectives coming in,” Bronin said.
Khan was endorsed by the CT Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). But Suttmann-Lea cautioned against reading too much into Khan’s victory, noting that McCrory is currently facing federal investigation over his role in disbursing funds to several nonprofits, including one that abruptly shut its doors due to wire fraud.
“There were other things that were tainting his campaign, for lack of a better way of putting it. So I would be really circumspect about making that claim more forcefully,” Suttmann-Lea said.
