By CHRIS POWELL
How did former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin manage to deprive 14-term U.S. Rep. John B. Larson of the 1st Congressional District Democratic convention’s endorsement for re-election?
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Since the district is solidly Democratic, never politically competitive, Larson may have lost touch with some Democratic town committees, which choose the convention delegates. Bronin had a big advantage in being the candidate from Hartford, which has the biggest delegation to the convention.
Campaign money was likely a factor. While Larson has been criticized for accepting donations from special interests, Bronin is much more connected to the wealthy and elite — a graduate of an exclusive and expensive private high school, a graduate of Yale University and its law school, a Rhodes scholar, a former insurance industry executive, a former high official in the Obama Treasury Department, and former legal counsel to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. Raising more money than Larson, Bronin gained much credibility.
But the two candidates disagree on nothing of policy substance, only on Bronin’s ambition and Larson’s age.
Bronin, 46, says Larson, 77, is too old to stay in office, though, prodded by Bronin’s challenge, Larson lately has been more vigorous than ever. Indeed, while Bronin contends that Larson and the whole of the Democratic Party in Congress haven’t challenged the Trump administration enough, Bronin’s challenge has prompted Larson to go practically berserk pandering to the party’s far left, which may supply most voters in the primary election in August.
Larson isn’t the oldest member of Connecticut’s congressional delegation. U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, also seeking re-election this year, is 83, and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal is 80 with two years remaining on his term. Both are Democrats too and no one has asked Bronin if they should retire because of age as he says Larson should.
President Trump has brought out the worst in everyone — not just in toadying Republicans but in Democrats as well. Apoplectic over their loss of the federal patronage that had become their way of life and their inability to do much about it, many Democrats are turning against their own veteran members of Congress, as if even their youngest members have achieved anything against Trump.
This situation will change only if Democrats erase the small Republican majorities in Congress, and that won’t be helped by expending resources on mere personal ambition in districts that, like Connecticut’s 1st, will remain Democratic no matter whom the party nominates.
While chastened by his narrow loss at the convention, Larson is pressing on to the primary in the likelihood that he retains the support of ordinary Democrats in the district and that they may dismiss the convention as “inside baseball.” Bronin is not as well known and will have to spend much money on advertising and social media and probably will go strongly negative on Larson over his age. That may risk offending some Democrats who, while older than Bronin, are still dressing and feeding themselves and paying attention.
Meanwhile Larson seems to be preparing his own prejudicial attack on Bronin.
After losing narrowly at the convention, Larson said the primary would be “Mayberry vs. Greenwich” — “Mayberry” being the Mayberry Village public housing project in gritty East Hartford where he grew up, “Greenwich” being the super-wealthy town where Bronin grew up after being born in similarly prosperous Westchester County in New York.
Larson may not have seen it that way, but “Mayberry vs. Greenwich” is an attack not just on Bronin but on the Democratic Party itself, which has become much less working-class and much more ruling class — the party of the rich, academics, professionals, government employees, coddled minorities, and other recipients of patronage.
Trump has been little help to the working class but he was elected president a second time — with a clear plurality and near-majority of the popular vote — because many working-class voters defected from the Democrats over inflation, illegal immigration, transgenderism, and political correctness generally. From Larson’s and Bronin’s backgrounds it’s not hard to distinguish working class from ruling class.
Chris Powell has written about Connecticut government and politics for many years. (CPowell@cox.net)
Chris Powell column 