Bronin, racking up campaign money, challenges Larson to refuse corporate PAC contributions

Yahoo

3 days ago

After raising more than $800,000 in two weeks, former Hartford mayor Luke Bronin called Wednesday for U.S. Rep. John B. Larson to refuse corporate campaign money as political contributions during the current race.
Larson, who has served in Congress since winning a multi-candidate battle in 1998, has relied on money from corporate political action committees for more than half of his campaign funds in the last five elections over the past 10 years, according to public records. That money includes contributions from committees operated by insurance, finance, real estate, health care, and defense interests, among others.
As an incumbent with a safe seat in a Democratic-dominated district, Larson's campaign has raised about the same amount of money in each of the past five elections – between $1.37 million to $1.7 million during that time. Of the PAC money, about 85% is from business interests and about 12% from labor groups, according to Open Secrets, which tracks political money for Congressional candidates in all 50 states.
'Today, I'm pledging not to accept a dollar of corporate PAC money, and I'm calling on Congressman Larson to do the same,' Bronin said in a statement. 'The deck is already stacked against working families and the middle class in so many ways, and the scale of corporate PAC money in our national politics makes things worse. Voters deserve leaders who are putting the interests of working families and the middle class first, and I'm calling on John Larson to reject and return corporate PAC contributions for the 2026 cycle.'
Bronin says he is accepting money only from individuals and has surprised some insiders with the speed of his fundraising since announcing his campaign in late July.
As a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, Yale Law School, a Rhodes Scholar and a former U.S. Navy Reserve intelligence officer in Afghanistan, Bronin has a wide range of contacts and showed his fundraising prowess when he won the Democratic primary for mayor in Hartford by unseating incumbent Pedro Segarra. After growing up in the affluent communities of Rye, N.Y. and Greenwich, Bronin has a web of successful and affluent friends and classmates who have contributed to his campaign.
Bronin's campaign so far has declined to release the names of any of his recent contributors, saying those will be revealed in October in the public filings that are required by the Federal Election Commission. The campaign says it has more than 600 individual contributors so far.
'We've already seen a tremendous amount of support, and I'm proud that we're raising that support from individual donors, not corporate PACs,' Bronin said. 'Democrats here in the first district and all over the country want to see our party make some big changes, and we're feeling that hunger for change translate into strong momentum and support.'
The maximum contribution is $3,500 for the primary and another $3,500 for the general election. A supporter can contribute $7,000 now, but the remaining $3,500 could not be spent if the candidate does not reach the general election in November 2026, officials said.
Larson's campaign could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday morning.
Bronin is the highest profile challenger in years for Larson, who was vaulted into Congress by winning a four-way Democratic primary in 1998 over his main opponent, Miles S. Rapoport of West Hartford, and two other candidates. A Republican last won the seat in 1956, swept into office by Dwight D. Eisenhower's presidential landslide. The sprawling, 27-town district covers municipalities in parts of Hartford, Litchfield and Middlesex counties that run as far north as the Massachusetts border. The district includes Hartford and nearby suburbs such as East Hartford, Windsor, South Windsor, and West Hartford.
Bronin's supporters believe that he can defeat Larson in a tough race and pass the torch to a new generation of leadership; Bronin is more than 30 years younger than Larson.
At the same time, Larson, his family, and his supporters are gearing up for a highly competitive campaign. Larson has made constant appearances recently, including showing up at events where he had not been among the listed speakers.
After growing up about 90 miles from the capital city, Bronin eventually moved to Hartford and built a multi-faceted political coalition with supporters from around the city to defeat incumbent mayor Pedro Segarra in a Democratic primary in 2015.
Larson's health became an issue in February when he suddenly froze during a televised speech on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives as he suffered a 'complex partial seizure' that raised concerns. Larson underwent tests and said later that the event was related to a heart valve replacement he had years earlier.
He suffered a second incident in April during a press conference at the Connecticut Children's Medical Center in Hartford, where he paused again during an answer before recovering and soon after having his picture taken with other attendees.
The primary campaign could be historic in Greater Hartford's storied congressional district, which launched Thomas Dodd and Abraham Ribicoff to the national political stage in the late 1940s and 1950s and had been held by nine-term Democrat Barbara Kennelly of Hartford from 1982 to 1999. The 1998 primary turned ugly in its closing days as Larson and Rapoport attacked each other via television ads, and Larson eventually won the contest on primary night.
One of eight children, Larson grew up in a federal housing project in a political family. His younger brother, Timothy, later became the mayor of East Hartford. His campaign staff was peppered with large numbers of relatives and old friends back in 1998, and his family has pledged to be behind him in 2026 for potentially his biggest challenge yet.
Christopher Keating can be reached at [e-mail]