Working Family Champion Rep. Larson Faces an Empty Suit Stuffed With Billionaire Cash

Democratic Connecticut Rep. John Larson has a long record of fighting for working families. He has a 98% voting record with AFL-CIO. He’s endorsed by over three dozen unions and the Working Families Party. And he is Social Security’s No. 1 champion in the US House.

Larson’s Social Security 2100 Act would protect and expand Social Security by making billionaires pay in on all of their income, just like the rest of us. That’s why billionaires are so desperate to defeat him—and they’ve found just the empty suit to do it.

Luke Bronin, the former mayor of Hartford, is challenging Larson in the August 11 Democratic primary. As mayor, Bronin laid off hundreds of workers, slashed worker benefits, and tried to undermine collective bargaining rights. Bronin’s frosty relationship with labor was a major reason that he abandoned a bid for governor. But now, billionaires are trying to use Luke Bronin to take out John Larson.

Bronin is backed by The Bench and Majority Democrats, two billionaire-funded PACs created to prop up corporate-friendly Democrats. Notably, Bronin is the only candidate challenging an incumbent Democrat that The Bench has endorsed. That’s how badly the billionaires want to take out John Larson.

“We're not gonna let the billionaires buy a seat in Congress to stop the progress that John Larson has led for his entire career.”

Labor leaders and Social Security experts have lauded Larson for his consistency and stalwart determination to protect, in his words, “the best economic development plan that this nation has ever had.”

Former Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley, who served under the Biden administration, attended a press conference Larson hosted at the Hartford, Connecticut Laborers’ Local 230 Union Hall in late July. O’Malley affirmed that “John Larson is truly the only reason why 70 million beneficiaries of Social Security did not see their benefits interrupted.”

Under the Trump administration, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has taken a sledgehammer to the Social Security Administration through mass layoffs of nearly 8,000 experienced employees. Additionally, congressional Republicans attempted to covertly shove half of the disability beneficiaries over the age of 55 off the program. “Rep. Larson, in 24 hours, mobilized 200 members of Congress to send a letter to the Trump administration to tell them, if you do this, you're going to have a knock-down, dragged-out fight. And they pulled back,” O’Malley triumphantly noted

Lori Pelletier, president emeritus of the Connecticut AFL-CIO, used the press conference to highlight Bronin’s attempts to take away collective bargaining, take away safety and health protections, and go after workers in the city of Hartford. Pelletier describes Larson as, “a bona fide ally, a bona fide friend, and a bona fide champion of workers.”

I was also in attendance at the press conference, representing Social Security Works. I told the crowd, “We're not gonna let the billionaires buy a seat in Congress to stop the progress that John Larson has led for his entire career.”

“[Rep. Larson] is a leading voice on Capitol Hill for strengthening Social Security,” added Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.

“Some politicians have got other ideas,” said Richtman. “We've heard them in Washington: Cut benefits, raise the retirement age, reduce the cost-of-living adjustment, privatize Social Security. John Larson looks at all these proposals, and he says, ‘No, that's not going to happen.’ John Larson will not let your earned benefits be cut.”

If Democrats gain the House majority, Larson plans to reintroduce his legislation. Social Security is often referred to as “the third rail of politics” given how important the issue is to voters. Larson has pushed for the bill to go to the floor for a vote so members are on record and constituents can know where they stand.

“I don't care who gets the credit,” said Larson. “What we want is to make sure that people are able to live out their lives in dignity. And that children aren't impoverished. And that the elderly aren't impoverished. And that the disabled are taken care of. That's the genius of Roosevelt and Perkins.”