Friend,

 

I got back to Washington on Monday after an invigorating ten days in Connecticut. Traditionally, Congressional recesses are a time for elected officials to hold Town Hall meetings and hear from voters face-to-face. Of course, many of my Republican colleagues were too cowardly to hold public meetings, and those who did faced pushback of epic proportions.

 

I love hosting Town Halls, and I was grateful to the hundreds of people who came to mine over the weekend. I see these meetings not just as an opportunity to answer every last question, but also a chance to learn from those who I represent. 

Here are four key takeaways from this weekend:

- People are pissed. This is not a time of typical partisan disagreement -- we're in a moment of crisis. Voters want Democrats in Congress to reflect their palpable anger and demonstrate real leadership by standing up to the White House.

Even if our party is in the minority in Congress, they expect elected Democrats to make noise, organize, and ceaselessly remind voters that there is a better alternative to Trump's chaos and cruelty. I'm all in for that work, and you can expect to hear Democrats like myself loudly reflecting the outrage of our constituents in the upcoming fights with Trump.

- Democrats might not always agree with each other. Democrats are a big tent party, and maintaining that broad coalition will be key to finding our way out of the wilderness and back into the majority. A necessary consequence of that big tent is that we might not always see eye to eye on the path forward. That's ok. In fact, it's healthy.

In contrast to the Republican Party's lockstep fealty to Trump, we are a party that knows how to disagree with each other respectfully. To that point, I'm especially grateful to those who came to my Town Hall meetings to express their disagreements with me. As always, I learned from you and appreciated the opportunity to answer your questions head on.

- The loss of federal funding is keeping folks up at night. Again and again, I heard from constituents who are concerned that Elon Musk's draconian cuts would impact their social security payments or their access to Medicaid. Local LGBTQ+ organizations, reproductive healthcare providers, and veterans health offices are unsure whether they will be able to continue providing necessary services without crucial federal support. Protecting federal funding for our communities must be top of the agenda for Democrats.

- There is no shortage of ways to get involved. Democrats don't just want to talk -- they want to take action. Thankfully, there are plenty of opportunities to push back against Trump's agenda and build momentum ahead of the next election.

Organizations like Run for Something, Emerge CT, Emily's List, The Collective, and Latino Victory can help get you on the ballot in the next local election. Democratic Town Committees in every community are organizing demonstrations and corralling volunteers.

Activist organizations like Indivisible Stamford, Indivisible Greenwich, Bridgeport Generation Now, 203 Action, and the ReSisters are already supporting Democrats in special elections and preparing to flip the House in 2026. Groups like CT Against Gun Violence, the Triangle Community Center, the Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants, and Planned Parenthood of Southern New England are not explicitly political but nevertheless play a key role in shielding our state from the worst of Trump's policies.

There's lots of work that lies ahead. Expect more soon.

— Jim

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