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Beyond Democrats and Republicans, CT legislators split into special interests. See what they are.

Beyond Democrats and Republicans, CT legislators split into special interests. See what they are.

Yahoo08-07-2025
In the contentious political world of 2025, the lens both nationally and locally is often viewed as Republican or Democrat.
But at a time of fractured and splintered politics, the Connecticut General Assembly is splintered into even smaller groups representing priorities that cover a wide variety of topics of every political stripe. That includes more than 40 different caucuses, according to the legislative library.
Some cover broad topics, such as the Conservative Caucus among the House Republicans and the Progressive Caucus and Tax Equity Caucus among Democrats. Some are longstanding like the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus, which has been analyzing public policy for decades and pushing for equity and representation. Others are relatively recent like the Reproductive Rights Caucus that was formed in 2022 before the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in the Dobbs case that overturned the landmark Roe vs. Wade abortion decision.
Caucuses have been formed to combine members' influence to push the issues of animal rights, adoption, arts and tourism, bioscience, clean energy, crumbling foundations, early childhood education, Long Island Sound, manufacturing, transportation, veterans support, and intellectual and developmental disabilities. The LGBTQ caucus recently held a news conference to mark June as Pride Month.
At the same time, some cultural caucuses are tailored to non-controversial issues. The Italian American Caucus, for example, has been awarding scholarships for decades through an annual charity dinner at the Sons of Italy hall in Middletown as the state House of Representatives and Senate adjourn early so that lawmakers can head to the traditional fundraiser.
The Moderate caucus of House Democrats stepped forward recently when more liberal members of the legislature started speaking publicly against Gov. Ned Lamont, a fiscally conservative Democrat who angered liberals by vetoing bills on affordable housing and awarding unemployment compensation to striking workers. State Rep. Josh Elliott, a Hamden Democrat who is an outspoken leader in the progressive and tax equity caucuses, says that Lamont will be facing a primary in August 2026, but no final decisions have been announced on whether the challenger would be Elliott or another candidate.
The moderates weighed in recently after 18 House Democrats voted against the controversial housing bill that Lamont vetoed.
'With the recent vetoes, Governor Lamont demonstrated the thoughtful, steady leadership Connecticut needs,' the moderates wrote. 'As proud moderate Democrats, we believe we reflect the views of the majority of Connecticut residents — and we're proud to stand with a governor who does the same.'
While the caucuses allow each group to gain attention for their cause, House Republican leader Vincent Candelora of North Branford said the sheer number of caucuses has become too large.
'I think it's become absurd the amount of caucuses that we have in that building,' Candelora told The Courant in an interview. 'I also think it points to the problem of where we've gone as a legislature in that we should be focusing on the fact that we are policymakers and not activists. I get concerned that these caucuses take on the role of activism, which should be left up to the constituencies to be the activists. I personally don't think these caucuses serve us well. I think we should focus broadly on being policymakers.'
Legislators, he said, should largely think of themselves as Democrats and Republicans, rather than as members of a smaller, more narrow group.
'They should walk into the building and sort of be a neutral arbiter and take in both sides and make a determination on how they are going to vote,' Candelora said. 'There needs to be some level of objectivity and approachableness in our lawmaking. … It implies we're not being open-minded to both sides of the argument. Just like I represent pro-choice and pro-life people, I want to be there listening to both sides not just saying this is my position and one side need not apply. That's the danger of all these caucuses.'
Referring to the Democrats and Republicans in each of the two chambers, Candelora said, 'There's only four caucuses in the building when the day is done.'
Deputy House Speaker Pro Tempore Bob Godfrey of Danbury agreed there are essentially two sets of caucuses: the four actual caucuses in the two chambers and then the 40 smaller caucuses.
First elected in 1988, Godfrey remembers the days when former House Speaker Tom Ritter, the father of the current House Speaker, believed that the legislature had become far too splintered in 1991 during the epic battle over the creation of the state income tax. He took over as Speaker in 1993 and said the members should view themselves as Democrats.
'Tom Ritter did get rid of the moderate and I think they called themselves the liberal caucus,' Godfrey told The Courant in an interview. 'It was part of the extensive healing process after the painful loss of relationships among my colleagues after the income tax.'
As a current member of the progressive and reproductive rights caucuses, Godfrey said he is also involved in other groups. While he wasn't sure about the Waterbury Rail Line caucus, he said, 'I've been working with [Republican] Bill Buckbee, trying to get passenger rail service extended from Danbury to New Milford, but I wouldn't call us a caucus. There's a lot of that going on.'
On a new, emerging issue, Godfrey joined the artificial intelligence caucus in an effort to pass a bill that failed after never being debated in the House after the governor said he would veto it.
The sharply political caucuses, he said, have manifested on a national basis with the Tea Party and other groups on both sides of the aisle.
'The divisiveness nationally has contributed to those kind of partisan caucuses,' Godfrey said. 'It's just feeding the divisiveness. It's not trying to actually solve problems practically.'
Senate Republican leader Stephen Harding of Brookfield said he believes the most influential group at the Capitol is the long-running Black and Puerto Rican Caucus.
'It's a well-known caucus in the building. It's well-established,' Harding said. 'They are influential members. That support means something in the building. Outside of that, there's really no other caucus that I can think of that has any level of significant influence.'
The problem, he said, is the expansion of new groups on a huge number of topics.
'If you want to go out and create your own caucus, more power to you,' Harding said. 'But if you create too many caucuses, then you dilute the influence. That's the point I'm making.'
Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com
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