Representative John Larson, Democrat of Connecticut, saddled up to the silver counter at Augie & Rays in East Hartford on a recent Monday morning, ordering a coffee at this drive-in diner that he has frequented for so long that it serves an egg sandwich named for him.
It was far from the first time that Mr. Larson, 77, had chosen this working-class gathering spot as a backdrop for an interview. After more than 25 years in Congress, Mr. Larson has his way of doing things that has worked for him.
But this year is different. For the first time since 1999, Mr. Larson has serious challengers in his own party arguing that he has stayed on in Congress for too long. One of them is already out-raising him.
And by choosing to run again anyway at a time when many of his contemporaries are retiring, Mr. Larson, who suffered a complex partial seizure on the House floor last year, has thrust his primary smack into the middle of the Democratic Party’s raging debate about the need for generational change in its ranks at a crossroads moment for the country.
Mr. Larson’s race will offer a test case for whether Democrats prefer a new generation to help them start fresh, or if they still see value in veteran lawmakers who can offer their constituents institutional experience and seniority.
His primary opponents in this heavily blue district, which is all but certain to remain Democratic no matter the outcome, are betting on a desire to turn the page.
“I’m angry about the fact that we are where we are in part because President Biden didn’t pass the torch,” said Luke Bronin, 46, the former mayor of Hartford and a former Rhodes Scholar and veteran running for the seat, who had raised $143,660 more than Mr. Larson as of October 1. “As a party, we would be stronger if we were better at lifting up the next generation and recognizing that a fundamental part of leadership is doing your service and knowing when it’s time.”
He added: “I feel very strongly that after 27 years of being in Congress, John Larson has begun to do the same thing the same way. This is not a moment when that’s what we need as a party or as a country.”
Jillian Gilchrest, 43, who served four terms in the state legislature, is the other serious contender in the race. She has criticized Mr. Larson for relying on the same playbook for too long and for focusing only on the issue of Social Security.
The age issue in this race, however, lands in a gray area. Despite his very visible incident on the House floor — Mr. Larson said that the seizure he suffered had no lasting effect and that it was easily treated with medication he was taking — the veteran congressman is still energetic, even if he shows signs of being culturally out of touch.
As he toured an indoor food market in East Hartford recently with a reporter in tow, Mr. Larson asked a woman working in one stand, “What are bubble teas?” And as he spoke with the manager of a recording studio that was seeking a federal earmark, Mr. Larson asked him, earnestly, “What’s content creation?” (He was told, politely, that it was “what you see on social media.”)
But as he sat in the window at Augie & Rays, as he had so many times before, Mr. Larson made the case for why his age and experience were actually major assets as he sought a 15th term in office. His reason for hanging on when many of his peers in the House have announced their retirements, he said, is that he wants to see a Social Security bill he has long championed, which would expand benefits to all seniors, come to the floor for a vote.
“When you’re the leader of the band, how does it make sense to say: ‘Hey, you know what? I know we’ve worked hard for this, but I’m thinking maybe I shouldn’t see this through,’” he said. “I’m not going to back away from the thing I worked on for a decade when we’re four seats away from taking back the House.”
Mr. Larson, who grew up in public housing and taught history before becoming a politician, had hinted to people that his seat could be opening at some point and encouraged people to run.
After a long period of stagnation within the Democratic ranks of Congress, many colleagues of his generation have chosen to head for the exits. Representatives Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey, 80, and Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, 81, recently said they would not seek re-election. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 85, said the same. All eyes in the House are on Representative Steny Hoyer of Maryland, 86, whom some expect to follow suit.
But by last summer, Mr. Larson had become convinced that it made sense to run again, telling himself and others that he wanted another term in order to see his life’s work to completion and have his Social Security legislation signed into law by President Trump.
That may be very wishful thinking. Even when Democrats controlled the White House and both chambers of Congress, his legislation did not get out of committee. And he has spent the year warning that what the Trump administration really wants to do is gut and privatize Social Security.
Still, this is the tape that Mr. Larson says he wants to run through.
Would he commit, then, to this being his final term in office?
“No one ever says that this is your last term, or you’re not going to run again,” he said. “You become a lame duck.”
(Counterpoint: Janet Mills, the former governor who is running for Senate in Maine at the age of 77, said on the day she announced her campaign that she would serve for only one term if elected. Mr. Larson called that decision “strange.”)
Mr. Larson conceded that there had been problematic instances of elected Democrats who had stayed in office past the point where they were no longer serving their party or their voters, Mr. Biden being one of them. But he said he did not think he was among them.
“The concept of winds of change, that’s always out there, yeah, I’m clearly aware of it,” he said. “I think it’s district by district. But it’s not as though I have people coming up to me and saying, ‘I think now is the time for you to step aside.’”
They may not be saying it to his face, but some Democrats are indeed saying it.
“What I hear a lot from constituents is, ‘We don’t want another Feinstein moment,’” said Tejal Vallam, the chair of the Democratic committee in the Connecticut suburb of Rocky Hill, referring to former Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who clung to her seat even after her memory and cognitive issues made it difficult to perform the job. Ms. Feinstein died in office.
Ms. Vallam added: “What I’m hearing is that if there is someone who is equally capable, or more, perhaps a new voice or perspective would be welcome. The Democratic Party has had so many missed opportunities for picking candidates at the right time. We don’t want to lose any more ground.”
Not every Democrat calling for the party to make changes thinks age, alone, should be the new litmus test.
Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, was one of the first people to endorse Mr. Larson for a 15th term. In the Senate, he noted that Democratic Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont, 84, and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, 76, were some of the loudest voices urging their colleagues to hold the line on demanding health care subsidies in order to reopen the government.
“There are instances where some of our older generation members end up being some of our most serious fighters against totalitarianism,” said Mr. Murphy, who considers Mr. Larson a longtime mentor. “I look at Larson — he seems to be one of the people most willing to pick fights with Trump.”
Mr. Larson has had some breakout moments this year. He was placed on a list of Democratic lawmakers, compiled by the Department of Homeland Security, who have spoken out about abusive tactics used by ICE.
And after Mr. Larson delivered an angry, red-faced tirade during a House committee hearing in which he accused Republicans of helping Elon Musk destroy Social Security, MS NOW host Rachel Maddow played his speech almost in full on air and lauded him for “ripping the bark off today about Social Security and what Republicans are really doing here.”
Representative Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland, who prodded 78-year-old Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York to give up the top Democratic slot on the Judiciary Committee last year after a challenge based largely on Mr. Nadler’s advanced age, said that the question of who could no longer be effective in Congress was a case-by-case call.
“I have a pretty high threshold of expectations for people doing the job,” he said. “The benefit of incumbency is people know your talents and your skills. Larson is a very effective actor.”
(Mr. Nadler announced his retirement in September.)
Mr. Larson said the serious challengers he was facing meant that he was going to more campaign events and working harder to keep his seat than he had done in decades. On a recent Monday, he toured a local food bank to highlight how Mr. Trump had delayed aid to people on food stamps.
“This is not sustainable, even though we’ve seen the good will of so many people during this time,” he said. “The only entity that can do the right thing in this instance is the federal government.”
Some of Mr. Larson’s allies have noted that while Mr. Bronin, the former Hartford mayor, may be younger, he also has a strained relationship with labor groups in the state and is not necessarily the more progressive choice.
Still, there are signs that he is making headway.
A recent fund-raiser for Mr. Bronin in Washington drew a who’s who of longtime Democratic power players, including Alejandro Mayorkas, the former Homeland Security secretary; Jamie Gorelick, a veteran of President Bill Clinton’s Justice Department; Jon Finer, a former top State Department official; Jeremy Bash, the former chief of staff to Leon Panetta at the C.I.A.; and Gene Sperling, a former director of the National Economic Council.
Mr. Larson said he was focused on showing voters that he had been an effective fighter against Mr. Trump.
“That’s the immediate change that’s on people’s minds,” he said. “Standing up to the bully.”
Kenneth P. Vogel contributed reporting.
Annie Karni is a congressional correspondent for The Times.
The post As Democrats Look to a New Generation, John Larson Hangs On appeared first on New York Times.
