{"id":77288,"date":"2026-08-11T21:34:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T02:34:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/11\/longtime-anti-trump-dem-ousted-after-tough-primary-from-upstart-progressive-mayor\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T21:34:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T02:34:37","slug":"longtime-anti-trump-dem-ousted-after-tough-primary-from-upstart-progressive-mayor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/11\/longtime-anti-trump-dem-ousted-after-tough-primary-from-upstart-progressive-mayor\/","title":{"rendered":"Longtime anti-Trump Dem ousted after tough primary from upstart progressive mayor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Fourteen-term Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., met his match in Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin during Tuesday\u2019s hard-fought primary race.<\/p>\n<p>Larson, who has served in Congress since the Clinton administration, faced three challengers: Bronin, state Rep. Jillian Gilchrest and Hartford Education Board member Ruth Fortune. The sprawling district includes Hartford, Glastonbury, Bristol and Windsor Locks.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this term, during a markup of legislation providing House members with <a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/category\/politics\/doge\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">DOGE access<\/a> to Treasury payment information, Larson erupted at his colleagues and began yelling:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You will do whatever <a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/category\/person\/elon-musk\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">Elon Musk<\/a> and Donald Trump tell you to do. Where&#8217;s the independence of the committee? Where&#8217;s the legislature? We&#8217;re an equal branch of government,&#8221; Larson yelled. &#8220;Look at the empty seats here. Where&#8217;s Elon Musk?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/politics\/house-democrat-lashes-out-when-grilled-whether-socialist-victories-would-threaten-dem-unity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>HOUSE DEMOCRAT LASHES OUT WHEN GRILLED ON WHETHER SOCIALIST VICTORIES WOULD THREATEN DEM UNITY<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Larson has routinely criticized Musk and President Donald Trump during his tenure, notably filing more than a dozen <a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/category\/politics\/trump-impeachment-inquiry\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">articles of impeachment<\/a> following the arrest and extraction of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.<\/p>\n<p>In that case, Larson accused Trump of piracy and other offenses. The impeachment push came as Larson faced a primary challenge from the younger Bronin.<\/p>\n<p>Bronin, who also served in the <a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/media\/kamala-harris-leaves-biden-off-list-top-three-most-effective-presidents\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">Obama administration<\/a>, appeared to be gaining on incumbent Larson as the year went on. He ran as a candidate seeking generational change in a longtime Democratic seat.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/politics\/state-play-democrats-battle-shot-crucial-arizona-house-seat-gops-razor-thin-majority\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>STATE OF PLAY: DEMS BATTLE FOR SHOT AT CRUCIAL ARIZONA HOUSE SEAT AMID GOP&#8217;S RAZOR-THIN MAJORITY<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The First District has not seen a <a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/category\/politics\/senate\/republicans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Republican<\/a> lawmaker since Rep. Edwin May Jr., R-Conn., who served during the Eisenhower administration.<\/p>\n<p>Gilchrest is considered a progressive who also is also pro-choice <a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/politics\/late-term-abortion-takes-front-seat-blue-state-rushes-expand-access-before-session-ends\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">abortion rights<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Fortune, considered the lowest-funded major candidate, ran an education-focused campaign.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/newsletters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Republican challenger Amy Chai, a medical doctor focused on addiction treatment, said on her campaign site that Americans are too stressed and depressed because of national divisions and need a change.<\/p>\n<p>Democrats, however, are again favored over <a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/politics\/dems-circle-wagons-blaming-gop-for-their-redistricting-response-midterms\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">Chai and the GOP<\/a> this fall in the district.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fourteen-term Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., met his match in Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin during Tuesday\u2019s hard-fought primary race. Larson, who has served in Congress since the Clinton administration, faced three challengers: Bronin, state Rep. Jillian Gilchrest and Hartford Education Board member Ruth Fortune. The sprawling district includes Hartford, Glastonbury, Bristol and Windsor Locks. Earlier this &#8230; <a title=\"Longtime anti-Trump Dem ousted after tough primary from upstart progressive mayor\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/11\/longtime-anti-trump-dem-ousted-after-tough-primary-from-upstart-progressive-mayor\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Longtime anti-Trump Dem ousted after tough primary from upstart progressive mayor\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77288\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}