While Democrats celebrated a night of victories throughout Connecticut, the national landscape looks vastly different after Donald J. Trump and Republicans stormed back into power after a tumultuous election season.
That has left the state’s all-Democratic federal delegation to figure out its place in governing with the GOP taking back the White House and U.S. Senate, while the battle for the U.S. House remains in limbo Wednesday.
Democrats across the state who won reelection called it “bittersweet” as they secured another term in Congress but saw Vice President Kamala Harris lose to Trump and their Senate majority evaporate. And they spent Wednesday seeking a path forward during an uncertain time for their party.
While they said they were surprised by the size of Trump’s win, they said they will work with his incoming administration wherever they see areas of common ground —noting that there may be limited opportunities — but the federal lawmakers also argued that they view their role as a backstop against policies they oppose, such as national efforts to hinder abortion protections.
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy secured an immediate victory for a third term right after polls closed, and Connecticut’s congressional delegation swept all five House races. That included U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, who more comfortably won the 5th District race in a high-stakes rematch.
But those federal lawmakers will return to Congress next year with Republicans largely in charge and the possibility of uniform government if the GOP holds the House.
Murphy held a post-election press conference at Capitol Lunch, a popular hot dog joint in New Britain. He said it is has been part of his election rituals since 2006, and he always makes a stop the day after the election whenever he is on the ballot.
The Connecticut senator and his Democratic colleagues will be back in the minority after Republicans flipped at least three seats and took back control of the Senate. As of Wednesday afternoon, Republicans have a 52-seat majority with the likelihood of growing that majority when the rest of the battleground races are called.
“Obviously, I will work with President Trump wherever we have overlap that helps Connecticut, but I think those will be pretty small areas of overlap,” Murphy said.
“Just as I did in his first term, it’s likely that I’ll end up helping to lead the fight against the policies that he supports that will hurt Connecticut. That’s the mandate I will have,” he added. “As always, if there’s opportunities to reach across the aisle, I’ll do it.”
Over the past few years, Murphy has led negotiations for the Democratic Party on a few key issues. He secured the first major gun safety measures in Congress in nearly three decades in 2022. But after negotiating a bipartisan border bill with Republicans earlier this year, the legislation ultimately got blocked. Trump had opposed the bill, and Democrats argued that the GOP wanted to run on the issue in this year’s election.
The senator said he would be open to reengaging in those talks but expressed skepticism about Trump’s willingness to do so and “only if they’re serious in solving the problem.”
“I’m always willing to sit down and talk with Republicans, and I suspect if there’s any bipartisanship to be had on immigration that I’ll be at the table,” Murphy said. “But I want to fix the problem, and what I’ve heard from Donald Trump is a set of proposals that does nothing to fix the problem.”
In the coming weeks and months, Murphy said Democrats will need “to have some hard conversations” and reckon with their losses at the top of the ticket and in a number of other states across the U.S. He noted that voters in deep-red states approved policies like minimum wage hikes that he said are supported by Democrats and “yet our candidates in many states don’t even get a second look.”
Meanwhile, in the House, the GOP has so far won 200 seats, while Democrats currently hold 183 seats. Either party needs at least 218 seats to secure the House majority.
Speaking from her campaign headquarters in Waterbury, Hayes similarly celebrated her victory in a closely watched rematch against Republican challenger George Logan in a competitive district that covers much of the northwest part of the state.
The campaign once again garnered national attention, but she won by a much more comfortable margin than in her 2022 race. She pointed out that she is the first member in either party to win a fourth term to Connecticut’s 5th district in the past five decades.
“I accept the outcome of the [presidential] election, so this is the presidency that I have to work with, and I’m going to continue to fight for reproductive rights for women, for girls, for men, for families. It’s turning the clock backwards,” Hayes said.
“The people voted, and they decided that Trump will be the president,” she continued. “So the strategy may change, but the goal is exactly the same.”
Hayes, who has been in Congress since 2018, noted that she has served under both a Trump and Biden administration and, like Murphy, said she will work with Republicans when their priorities intersect.
When asked about what role the congresswoman and the rest of Connecticut’s delegation will play in the next Congress, Hayes argued it is dependent on which party has the majority, but that she will “have to play the hand I was dealt.”
“You figure out where you can make inroads,” she said. “I’ve had legislation signed into law under President Trump and President Biden. I have worked with a majority in the House, a minority in the House and been able to get things done. So you pick and choose your battles.”
But Connecticut’s delegation will inevitably face challenges in passing Democratic legislation and their priorities in the next session of Congress. And their leadership roles on congressional committees remain in flux until the House majority is decided.
One of those committees is the influential House Appropriations Committee, which crafts government spending bills, and whether U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, will regain the gavel or remain as the ranking member.
“I will use my position as Chair or Ranking Member of Appropriations – depending on which party controls the House – to pass bipartisan funding of the government,” DeLauro said in a statement, noting her working relationship with the top Republican on the committee and vowing to prevent potential cuts or limits to Social Security, Medicare, public education reproductive health care.
Lawmakers return to Washington, D.C., next week for the lame-duck session before members are sworn in early next year. That gives them a small window to button up last-minute business such as government funding bills and the expired five-year Farm Bill on top of a litany of other bills and judicial confirmations that will lapse by the end of the year without action.
House Republicans projected confidence on Wednesday morning about holding their majority in the lower chamber as results continued to roll in and a number of races remained too close to call.
“As more results come in it is clear that, as we have predicted all along, Republicans are poised to have unified government in the White House, Senate, and House,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in a statement on Wednesday morning. “The latest data and trends indicate that when all the votes are tabulated, Republicans will have held our majority, even though we faced a map with 18 Biden-won seats.”
The House Democratic caucus will have a call on Thursday with all of its members to discuss the future as they wait to see the outcome in the lower chamber.
The Connecticut Mirror/Connecticut Public Radio federal policy reporter position is made possible, in part, by funding from the Robert and Margaret Patricelli Family Foundation.
This story was originally published by the Connecticut Mirror.
