​Can Connecticut GOP establish a multi-racial working-class model?

By Scott Benjamin

How has Donald Trump changed the political equation?

“Trump was a transformational candidate on so many levels. The kind of candidate that had not been seen before,” says Ben Proto, who chaired the Trump campaign in Connecticut in 2016.

He was able “to really move the message,” adds Proto, who has served as Connecticut state Republican Party chairman since 2021. “You saw a change in how the campaigns are run.”

The working-class voters “are moving to the Republican Party,” he commented in a phone interview with Patch.com

Republican pollster Patrick Ruffini, a Greenwich High School graduate, wrote in his 2023 book, “Party Of The People,” that the GOP is developing a working-class multi-racial coalition.

He recently told Ezra Klein of The New York Times that there has been “a sea change” in Dade County, Florida and the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, where Democrats had previously been dominant and there are large Hispanic populations.

Connecticut has all Democrats in its congressional delegation. The Democrats control all six state constitutional offices and have slightly better than two-thirds majorities in both bodies of the General Assembly.

Could there be a realignment in the Nutmeg State?

Proto said, “I think you’re starting to see a movement toward Republican candidates.” He noted that there was a smaller turnout for Democrat candidates in the major cities in 2024. He added that Democrats were “absolutely certain” that they were going to capture the seats in the 28th and the 36th state Senate districts and Republican incumbents Tony Hwang of Fairfield and Ryan Fazio of Greenwich were re-elected.

He said the Millennials are “becoming more conservative in their politics. What is important to them are the economic issues. The cost of living is beyond their wages” and the Republicans are offering solutions for affordability.

Longtime Republican State Central Committee member John Morris of Litchfield said in a phone interview with Patch.com that, “As a party we have to make a much bigger play in the cities, particularly with Hispanic voters. Hispanic voters are Republicans. They just don’t know it.”

Proto said that after the pandemic, “A lot of people were moving into Connecticut from New York, from New Jersey and northern Pennsylvania. They seemed to be more Democrat in their affiliation.”

He commented that the 2022 elections were “heavily driven” by the U.S. Supreme Court decision on Dobbs v. Jackson, which limited access to abortion. “I think that has begun to dissipate. The issue of abortion is not an issue in the state of Connecticut. It was codified in the 1990s. The Democrats have used fear tactics.”

Proto wrote the preface for “Connecticut Republicans,” Sacred Heart University Government professor Gary Rose’s 2023 book on the state GOP.

In a phone interview with Patch.com, Rose praised Proto’s leadership and his commitment to improving the state GOP’s digital media outreach.

However, he said he doubts that the revised national Republican Party platform will have much impact in Connecticut.

“That certainly is happening elsewhere,” Rose remarked. “Is it happening in Connecticut? I don’t see it. It still is a dominant Democratic state.”

“The public employee unions and trade unions are so deeply embedded in Connecticut’s Democratic Party,” he explained. “The Democrats have served the unions in a big way and the unions have served the Democrats. So hard to break that mutual association.”

“The Republican Party in Connecticut is not speaking the language of the working class,” Rose exclaimed. “The image of the GOP in Connecticut among many working-class voters is still that of a very white, wealthier and business-oriented type of party. Some important inroads have been made, such as in the Naugatuck Valley, but the messaging and outreach have not been enough on the part of the GOP in Connecticut to draw enough white working class and minority voters to the party necessary to win statewide and federal offices.”

“The Democrats also are doing better in the suburbs,” added Rose.

He pointed to Cheshire, his hometown, where the voter profile has gone from Republican to competitive to “more and more Democrat” over the years.

Rose noted that Trump did better than expected in Connecticut in 2024, but it still marked the ninth consecutive presidential election in which the Democrat candidate carried the state.

He added that the net result down ticket was that in the competitive race in the Fifth Congressional District, incumbent Jahana Hayes posted the 10th consecutive victory there for the Democrats. They also added a net of one seat in the state Senate and four seats in the state House.

Rose said Connecticut has too much debt in its state employee pension accounts that has accumulated over generations and for too long it has taxed its residents too much.

However, he said Gov. Ned Lamont of Greenwich has been committed to the fiscal guard rails established in 2017, which have helped lower the pension debt.

Rose commented that Lamont is “very popular,” has been more “bipartisan” than Dannel Malloy, his immediate predecessor, and “there are a lot of Republicans that like him very much.”

Proto said that Lamont has indicated “his desire to concentrate on the fiscal side of Connecticut’s health.”

However, he commented that the governor “paints a far more rosy picture than what we have in Connecticut.”

Proto said the Democrats in the General Assembly are primed to spend “more money on programs that don’t benefit a lot of people. I think it is going to be a problem for [Lamont]. That is going to be the governor’s biggest issue. The Democrats in the Legislature believe that if we had the money to spend, we can make it less expensive to live in Connecticut. I’m not sure how taking more taxpayer dollars is going to make a dozen eggs or a gallon of milk less expensive. That’s just a bad argument.”

He added, as has been the case for a number of years, Connecticut ranks near the bottom in the country in some economic categories.

Proto remarked, “I think, we were the number one state, per capita, in credit card debt, which tells me that people are not making enough money to pay their bills. “They are using debt to buy groceries, to pay for their insurance and their health care.”

“Our property taxes, per capita, are among the highest in the country,” he remarked. “It is a system that is not sustainable. There is not a single thing you can do to reduce your property taxes.”

Lamont, who was initially elected in 2018, is expected to announce later this year whether he will seek a third term in 2026.

Morris said the prospective Republican candidates most often mentioned are New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart, who announced last September that she would not seek a seventh term in that job in 2025, and state Sen. Heather Somers of Groton. Both have previously been candidates for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. Somers was on the ticket with gubernatorial nominee Tom Foley in 2014.

Proto, an attorney from Stratford whose practice includes election law cases, said he will seek a third term as chairman in June when the Republican State Central Committee elects its slate of officers.

Morris said that Proto has his support and he anticipates that he will be re-elected.

Rose commented, “I can’t think of anybody else that would be as good.”

Among other things, Morris said that Proto has updated the Republicans’ communications outreach, understanding that, “The younger voters don’t watch conventional television. They get their news online.”

Proto said some Republicans questioned why he did a video last year on early voting and posted it on TikTok.

He said in three days it generated 70,000 views, 30,000 engagements and more than 3,000 comments.

“We gained 800 followers and not a single person was over the age of 30,” remarked Proto. “That is how that demographic group communicates today.”

“There are candidates that have all this money budgeted for Channel 8 and Channel 3, and I say, ‘Why?’ Nobody watches it. You’re wasting your money. I’d rather see you take $50,000 that you want to put on broadcast shows and spend $25,000 and do OTG [On-The-Go] or do direct digital marketing or text messaging or e-mail marketing and direct messaging on someone’s streaming service,’ ” he commented.

“I often speak to a lot of high school, college and law students and always ask them the same questions: ‘How many of you watch Channel 8, Channel 3, Channel 30 or channel 61?’ Almost no one raises their hand,” remarked Proto.

“If I can send you a text message for three cents versus to putting an ad on Channel 3 for $20,000, what is the better way to do it?” he explained

Proto also hosts a podcast – The Right Direction – in which he interviews Republican candidates.

Morris said that Trump demonstrated that “you have to reach out on different mediums” – such as comedian Joe Rogan’s podcast.

Said Proto, “Joe Rogan is not a podcaster, he’s an influencer. Elon Musk is an influencer. The use of influencers is becoming more and more important.”

Keith Phaneuf of CT Mirror has reported that Connecticut “grabbed national headlines in 2005 and 2006 with a sweeping campaign finance reform package” that, among other things, established “public funding for state races.”

After raising the requite amount in small contributions, candidates for state constitutional and legislative offices receive additional public funding.

In the 2018 and 2022 gubernatorial campaigns both Lamont and Republican challenger Bob Stefanowski of Madison skipped the Citizens Election Program (CEP) funds and financed their own campaigns.

Proto said the CEP program “needs to be revamped. People don’t get their money until it is much too late. In some of the cases people weren’t getting their money until October. The candidates not using the program are sometimes advertising in December or January leading into the election year. It becomes difficult for candidates in the Citizens Election Program to realistically compete.”

Said Morris, “A candidate [using CEP] should get the money as soon as he qualifies.”

In his book, Rose encouraged Connecticut Republicans to adopt open primaries. He stated that they would produce candidates that would be more likely to prevail in the general election and the GOP would attract interest from a raft of unaffiliated voters who could participate.

However, Proto said that “would require a bylaw change from the Republicans as well as the Democrats. I don’t know that that is going to happen in either party.”

He said that he is an “advocate for direct primaries in June. Under the current system, there is a nominating convention in May and the primaries are held in August during the height of the summer vacation season.

“I think it would invite more opportunity for voters to become engaged,” said Proto.

“I am in favor of June primaries,” said Rose, noting that some of the statewide August primaries have only generated a 15 percent turnout.

Rose added that by eliminating the conventions, “Candidates would not just be appearing before town committees, but would be also going to other events.”

Proto said direct primaries also would save parties money, since, for example, the 2022 Republican state convention cost about $100,000.

However, Proto added that adopting direct primaries would “require a legislative change. I don’t see it happening.”

Resources:

Phone interview with Ben Proto, Patch.com on Sunday, January 5, 2025.

Phone interview with Gary Rose, Patch.com, on Tuesday, January 7, 2025.

Phone interview with John Morris, Patch.com, on Tuesday, January 7, 2025.

https://ctmirror.org/2020/09/1...

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/09/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-patrick-ruffini.html

Patrick Ruffini, Party Of The People, Simon & Schuster, 2023.

Gary Rose, Connecticut Republicans: Past, Present and Future,” Ten Mile Press, 2023.