Connecticut voters oust 14-term Rep. John Larson
Across a series of closely watched primaries this month, Democratic voters sent a consistent message about the party’s path forward even as they remained divided over its ideological direction: they want change.
In marquee Senate primaries in Michigan and Minnesota, progressive candidates defeated two members of Congress who carried significant backing from party leaders.
In Wisconsin, voters narrowly rejected a democratic socialist but still chose 40-year-old county executive David Crowley, who is seeking to become the state’s first Black governor.
In Connecticut, voters ousted one of the longest-serving Democrats in Congress, 14-term Rep. John Larson, choosing Luke Bronin, a former mayor who campaigned on generational change.
“If leaders in our party don’t recognize that we need to make changes, then the changes are going to come from the ground up,” Bronin said in his victory speech. “That’s a message our party needs to hear.”
The results so far this month deliver no clear ideological mandate. Instead, they add to mounting evidence from this year’s primaries of a Democratic appetite for turnover that is cutting across the party’s traditional divisions.
The immediate challenge for Democrats is whether they can harness the frustration fueling revolts against their own party and turn it against Republicans in November.
Beyond that looms the 2028 presidential race, when a new generation of leaders will compete to shape a changing Democratic Party.