Connecticut Rep. John B. Larson became the seventh House Democrat to lose a primary this year when he was defeated on Tuesday by former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, whose campaign was built on a call for generational change.
With more than 95 percent of votes in, Bronin was leading the 14-term incumbent, 54 percent to 33 percent, in the Democratic primary for Connecticut’s 1st District, The Associated Press reported. Two other candidates, state Rep. Jillian Gilchrest and Hartford school board member Ruth Fortune, together took the remaining 13 percent of the vote.
While several of Larson’s House colleagues were defeated by more progressive challengers, the primary in the Hartford-anchored 1st District did not cleave along ideological lines. Instead, Bronin sought to make the case that Democrats need new energy to fight against President Donald Trump.
“This is a political earthquake in Connecticut,” Bronin, a 47-year-old Navy veteran who served in Afghanistan and held positions in the Obama administration, told supporters Tuesday night in Hartford. “But the goal is to shake things up in Washington, D.C., and we’re just getting started.”
Larson, 78, is an old-school liberal who highlighted his ties to labor, his working-class upbringing and his progressive credentials, including votes against the Iraq War and against the creation of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. He touted his experience and clout in Washington — he was first elected in 1998 and is the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security.
