As we begin 2026, I want to take a moment to wish you and your families a happy, healthy, and successful New Year.

The year ahead presents both challenges and significant opportunities for Republicans here in Connecticut and across the country. Voters are demanding leadership that is serious, principled, and focused on results. They are tired of excuses, tired of ideological excess, and tired of governments that cost more while delivering less. That reality creates an opportunity for Republicans willing to lead with authenticity, clarity, discipline, and conviction.

In Connecticut, we face the consequences of decades of one-party Democratic control: an unaffordability crisis led by ever-rising utility bills, taxes, insurance, and healthcare costs, stagnant growth, outmigration, the creation of a sanctuary state, and a government that too often prioritizes politics over the real concerns of working families.

Nationally, Americans are grappling with the same issues: runaway spending, weakened institutions, and leaders who seem disconnected from everyday life. The answers, however, are the same everywhere; they are Republican answers: common sense and rational lawmaking, fiscal responsibility, public safety, educational excellence, economic opportunity, and respect for the rule of law.

This must be a year when Republicans are focused and united. We cannot win by turning inward, by fighting among ourselves, by seeking individual attention, or by elevating personalities and personal grudges over principles. We will win by building strong organizations, recruiting credible candidates, supporting one another, and relentlessly making the case for Republican leadership at every level of government.

2026 will be a defining year for Republicans, not only in Connecticut but across this great country. The media, the pundits, and the so-called experts have already written our obituary, but I believe our best is yet to come. Americans know that the best way forward is to follow the principles long held by Republicans: belief in the individual, economic opportunity and prosperity, limited government, free markets, and, most importantly, belief in our Constitution and our Constitutional Republic.

I look forward to working with each of you in the months ahead to strengthen our party, expand our coalition, and ensure that Republicans are positioned to win, not just elections, but the confidence of the voters we seek to serve.

Best wishes for a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year.

Ben Proto
Chairman
Connecticut Republican Party