Now Is the Time for Luke Bronin

Luke Bronin is seeking the nomination of the Democratic Party as its candidate for election to Congress from the first district of Connecticut. He is challenging the incumbent, John Larson, who has served in Congress for 26 years.

I believe the voters of Connecticut should elect Bronin next year. Larson should withdraw from the race and endorse Bronin. By doing so, Larson would retire with dignity and well-deserved praise.

First, a few assumptions. The first district has been a “safe” Congressional seat for decades, and I assume it will be a safe seat in the 2026 election. Larson, as the incumbent, almost certainly would win the election. It’s possible, I suppose, that the Republicans could mount a credible challenge to Bronin, but that seems unlikely. Therefore, I assume that if Bronin were to win the nomination, either from the party or in a primary against Larson, he would win the election in November and would represent the first district in the House of Representatives beginning in 2027.

I also assume that Bronin would be a good congressman. He’s smart, direct, honest. He did a good job as mayor of Hartford. Larson has been a good congressman, too.

So, why Bronin? Because these are not ordinary times. In less than a year since his inauguration, Donald Trump has substantially disrupted the government and governance of the United States. He has demonstrated that he has substantial control over a large portion of Republican Party and as a result, it’s fair to assume that he will continue to be a disruptive force for the next three years. I’m not saying the disruption is all bad—many Republicans and some Democrats have welcomed the down-sizing of the government, the end of undocumented immigrants crossing our southern border, and other changes. But even some Republicans now readily acknowledge that the changes have been disruptive and in some cases damaging, and they have begun to express concerns about some of the President’s policies.

The point is that Donald Trump is the equivalent of a four-year earthquake: Buildings are falling, metaphorically and in some cases literally (consider the East Wing of the White House). Portions of the political and governmental infrastructure of the United States are being reduced to rubble. Again, some people think that creating the mess was necessary, but regardless of what people may think of what’s been happening, pretty much everyone agrees that some cleanup and some new construction will be necessary when Donald Trump leaves office in 2029.

After the Trump presidency, the country will assess the post-earthquake landscape and begin making decisions about what to do about it. Of course, if the newly elected president is a Trump protégé who has been able to maintain or regain control of Congress and the Republican Party, it won’t matter much which Democrat is representing the first district of Connecticut. However, I don’t expect that will happen. It’s much more likely that the next president, Republican or Democrat, will have as little control over Congress as Trump’s predecessors, and Congress will have more input into how the country is being run than the current Congress has.

The reshaping of America that begins in 2029 will not rebuild things as they were; it will create a new United States. The reshaping will not be accomplished overnight; it will proceed for a decade or more, as presidents and Congress, Republicans and Democrats, work together to construct post-Trump immigration policies, post-Trump control of the military, post-Trump relations with Europe; post-Trump relations with China, post-Trump policies on healthcare, post-Trump policies on regulation of the internet and artificial intelligence. Nearly every major aspect of American life will be re-examined, reconsidered, and reformed, and it will be done more or less cooperatively, in fits and starts, as politicians from the two parties come to some consensus in at least some of these areas.

Thus, what’s important for voters in the first district is who will represent the district beginning in 2029 and how well prepared that person will be. Who represents the first district for the next two-year term is relatively unimportant. John Larson may be better qualified than Bronin over the short-term, but we need a representative in Congress who will be an active, quality participant in the governance of the country through the 2030s. That representative almost certainly will not be, and should not be, John Larson. Larson is 77 and has recently had health issues. In fact, in commenting on the upcoming contest, Larson has said that Bronin’s challenge has “reenergized” him. Serving in Congress is difficult, serious work, and we don’t need a representative who, by his own implicit admission, was not energetically engaged until a challenger emerged.

The timing is right for a new representative. As noted above, whatever Democrat runs in 2026 is likely to win. That can’t be said for 2028, when a Republican presidential candidate might have coattails that could improve the chances of a Republican candidate in the first district. However, a Democratic incumbent would have a strong advantage. Bronin running as an incumbent would be much more likely to withstand a Republican challenge than Bronin or any other Democrat running as a first-time candidate for the office.

More importantly, sending Bronin to Congress now means that he would have a full term to learn the ropes before the real work of rebuilding begins after Donald Trump leaves office. When Congress opens for business in 2029, the first district and the country will be better served with a representative who has grown into the job through their “rookie” term. If Bronin is elected in 2026, by 2029 he will have formed important relationships with Democrats and Republicans who will begin doing the serious work of getting the country onto a sustainable course for the future. He will be ready to be a player in one of the most important Congresses in the history of the country.

John Larson should recognize now that stepping aside is the right thing to do for the district and the country. He has served a long time, and he should be proud of all that he has accomplished. Now is the time for him join the long line of statesmen and women who understood when the country needed change, a line that began when George Washington declined to pursue a third term as president. Now is the time for John Larson to put the country first and endorse Luke Bronin to be our representative for 2027 and the future.