Democrats Serve endorses Hayes in competitive Fifth District race

By Scott Benjamin

In Connecticut’s high-profile U.S. House race, the incumbent has an ally that has again pledged its support.

Democrats Serve has endorsed Jahana Hayes (D-5) of Wolcott in her rematch with Republican former state Sen. George Logan of Meriden in the sprawling Fifth Congressional District. The organization also had backed Hayes in 2022 when she defeated Logan by a scant 2,000 votes.

The Sabato Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia rates the 2024 race as “Leans Democrat.”

Democrats Serve – which was founded by former Milford Board of Alderman member Brett Broesder - has a hybrid structure in which it is both a traditional Political Action Committee (PAC) and a Super PAC.

In a phone interview with Patch.com, Broesder said since being established in May 2021 Democrats Serve has raised and spent more than $1 million to assist Democratic candidates. The roster is comprised of civil/public service professionals - firefighters, teachers, police officers, judges, prosecutors, public defenders and health care workers.

It has a list of congressional incumbents and challengers that it is endorsing across the country in 2024. Last year Democrats Serve backed Gabe Amo, a former staff member to President Joe Biden and former Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, in Rhode Island’s First Congressional District. He won against a large field in the primary and then easily prevailed in the November special election.

Broesder said in a 2021 interview with Patch.com that he had been concerned that there were promising candidates for elected office who wouldn’t take the step because of the challenges related to fund-raising and balancing the demands of being an elected official and still maintaining a vibrant personal life.

“Public service people connect with independent voters,” commented Broesder in 2021. “Many of these jobs have strong community ties. These people interact with people on the ground day to day.

Broesder, who has been an online campaign advisor to Gov. Ned Lamont (D-Greenwich), said in the recent phone interview that about 70 percent of Democrats Serve’s endorsed candidates have won over the last three years. In 2021 it had a 28-0 record on a roster that included Caroline Simmons, who was elected as mayor Stamford.

Hayes taught Social Studies at Kennedy High School in Waterbury, her hometown, and was the national teacher of the year in 2016.

In April 2018 Hayes was about to depart on a Spring Vacation field trip with students when U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Hartford) initially tried to discuss the possibility of her running for the Democratic nomination after incumbent Democrat Elizabeth Esty of Cheshire had announced that she would not seek a fourth term.

About five weeks later, Hayes came within a small handful of delegates of winning the nominating convention and then annexed 62 percent of the vote to win the primary. She prevailed with more than 55 percent of the ballots in November.

Brookfield Democratic First Selectman Steve Dunn has said that he endorsed Hayes in the primary in 2018 partly because “she is very intelligent.” Dunn predicted that she would quickly absorb the duties associated with Congress. He has said since then that has proven to be true.

Hayes has raised more money than any of the Connecticut U.S. House incumbents, and according to a report by CT Mirror’s Lisa Hagen had more than $1 million cash on hand at the end of 2023.

However, Logan raised more money than her in the fourth quarter of 2023. On March 16 the National Republican Congressional Committee established a Battle Station in Farmington in the race in Connecticut’s Swing District. More than 300 Republican faithful turned out as U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson was the featured guest at the ribbon-cutting.

Longtime Republican State Central Committee member John Morris of Litchfield said the NRCC Battle Station opening was event was the biggest such gathering for the GOP in the Fifth District since 1984 when then-President Ronald Reagan spoke at a rally in downtown Waterbury for then-congressional candidate John Rowland.

Southern Connecticut State University Political Science and Urban Affairs Professor Jonathan Wharton, a former chairman of the New Haven Republican Town Committee, has told Patch.com, “[Logan] has a very charming way about him. Some of the Democrats are on edge about that. He is able to connect with so many different personalities.”

If Hayes prevails this November, she would be the first person to capture a fourth term in the district, which stretches from Newtown to North Canaan, since 1972 when John Monagan of Waterbury was defeated after serving for seven terms. Former U.S. Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-New Britain) served for 12 terms in the U.S. House, but 10 of them were in the now-defunct Sixth District, and only two of those terms were in the Fifth District.

If Logan wins, he would be the first Republican to prevail in a U.S. House race in Connecticut since Chris Shay of Bridgeport was re-elected in the Fourth District in 2006.

Democrats Serve also has endorsed the other members of the Connecticut congressional delegation that will be on the ballot in November – U.S. Reps. John Larson of (D-1) of East Hartford, Joe Courtney (D-2) of Vernon, Rose DeLauro (D-3) of New Haven, Jim Himes (D-4) of Greenwich, and Murphy.

Himes, who was an affordable housing executive before being elected to Congress, also has been endorsed by Tomorrow’s Jobs, a sister organization of Democrats Serve. Tomorrow’s Jobs backs candidates with small business and enterprise backgrounds.