Connecticut's 1st Congressional District election, 2026 (August 11 Democratic primary)

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Connecticut's 1st Congressional District
Democratic primary Republican primary General election
Election details
Filing deadline: June 9, 2026
Primary: August 11, 2026 General: November 3, 2026
How to vote
Poll times: 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voting in Connecticut
Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Solid Democratic DDHQ and The Hill: Pending Inside Elections: Solid Democratic Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Democratic
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds Federal and state primary competitiveness Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2026
See also
Connecticut's 1st Congressional District 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th Connecticut elections, 2026 U.S. Congress elections, 2026 U.S. Senate elections, 2026 U.S. House elections, 2026 Alabama U.S. House racesAlaska U.S. House raceArizona U.S. House racesArkansas U.S. House racesCalifornia U.S. House racesColorado U.S. House racesConnecticut U.S. House racesDelaware U.S. House raceFlorida U.S. House racesGeorgia U.S. House racesHawaii U.S. House racesIdaho U.S. House racesIllinois U.S. House racesIndiana U.S. House racesIowa U.S. House racesKansas U.S. House racesKentucky U.S. House racesLouisiana U.S. House racesMaine U.S. House racesMaryland U.S. House racesMassachusetts U.S. House racesMichigan U.S. House racesMinnesota U.S. House racesMississippi U.S. House racesMissouri U.S. House racesMontana U.S. House racesNebraska U.S. House racesNevada U.S. House racesNew Hampshire U.S. House racesNew Jersey U.S. House racesNew Mexico U.S. House racesNew York U.S. House racesNorth Carolina U.S. House racesNorth Dakota U.S. House raceOhio U.S. House racesOklahoma U.S. House racesOregon U.S. House racesPennsylvania U.S. House racesRhode Island U.S. House racesSouth Carolina U.S. House racesSouth Dakota U.S. House raceTennessee U.S. House racesTexas U.S. House racesUtah U.S. House racesVermont U.S. House raceVirginia U.S. House racesWashington U.S. House racesWest Virginia U.S. House racesWisconsin U.S. House racesWyoming U.S. House raceSubmit

A Democratic Party primary takes place on August 11, 2026, in Connecticut's 1st Congressional District to determine which Democratic candidate will run in the district's general election on November 3, 2026.

Candidate filing deadline	Primary election	General election
June 9, 2026	August 11, 2026	November 3, 2026

A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate whom they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. Connecticut law gives parties discretion to decide whether unaffiliated voters may vote in their primaries. As of October 2025, both parties operated closed primary where only a voter affiliated with the party may vote in a party's primary.

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

This page focuses on Connecticut's 1st Congressional District Democratic primary. For more in-depth information on the district's Republican primary and the general election, see the following pages:

• Connecticut's 1st Congressional District election, 2026 (August 11 Republican primary)
• Connecticut's 1st Congressional District election, 2026

Candidates and election results

Note: The following list includes official candidates only. Ballotpedia defines official candidates as people who:

• Register with a federal or state campaign finance agency before the candidate filing deadline
• Appear on candidate lists released by government election agencies
  

Democratic primary

Democratic primary for U.S. House Connecticut District 1

Incumbent John Larson (D), Luke Bronin (D), Ruth Fortune (D), Jillian Gilchrest (D), and Mark Stewart Greenstein (D) are running in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Connecticut District 1 on August 11, 2026.

		Candidate
		John Larson
		Luke Bronin
		Ruth Fortune
		Jillian Gilchrest
		Mark Stewart Greenstein

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Jack Perry (D)

Candidate profiles

This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.

Ruth Fortune

Party: Democratic Party

Incumbent: No

Submitted Biography:  "I am a mother, an attorney, a wife, and a member of the Hartford Board of Education. When I was twelve, my parents moved our family to the US from Haiti. When we first arrived, we shared a bedroom among eight relatives and were undocumented for a decade. I internalized the shame of being called “illegal” and carried it as a dark family secret. In January 2010 – just four months before I graduated college – a devastating earthquake struck Haiti and destroyed a large part of the country. The Obama Administration turned this tragedy into a lifeline for undocumented Haitians by granting us Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which offers protections from deportation and authorization to work legally in the US. Getting TPS transformed my life. Without it, I would have only hung my college diploma on the wall of my small bedroom instead of using it to build a better life for myself. Policy isn’t abstract when it’s your life on the line. Government has the power not just to regulate lives, but to liberate them. Leaders forged by the fight to survive are fundamentally different from leaders who pick their fights. We have enough career politicians who have never personally navigated systemic barriers. We need leaders like me who understand a single law can mean the difference between despair and dignity because they have lived it. They must know how it feels to navigate a world that tells you “wait your turn” while the doors of opportunity keep revolving for the same few people."

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Key Messages

To read this candidate's full survey responses, click here.

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The chaos and cruelty coming out of Washington DC affect marginalized and vulnerable communities first and often the hardest. We need leadership grounded in lived experience, integrity and competence at a time when too many families can’t afford basic necessities like housing and healthcare. The wealth gap is wider than ever and our civil liberties are under attack by our own federal government. I’ve navigated and overcome systemic barriers firsthand, and as an attorney focused on how people build, protect, transfer or lose wealth, I understand both the obstacles and the solutions. That perspective uniquely equips me to fight for economic fairness, opportunity, and a stronger democracy in Congress right now.

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So many of our challenges, like unaffordable housing or food insecurity, are all actually one problem. Wages have not kept up with rising costs. The federal minimum wage must be a living wage that covers the minimum cost of living. I will fight to increase the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $25 an hour and tie wages to inflation, meaning when prices go up, people’s paychecks will go up. Every person who works full time will earn at least $50,000 annually and their pay will go up annually to keep up with inflation. It’s time to restore balance and fairness to our economy. Small businesses are the backbone of our local economies and must be supported through this adjustment through tax credits, federal grants and zero-interest loans.

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The US is the wealthiest country in the history of the world. We can afford to invest in our own wellbeing and education by providing universal healthcare, covering long-term care under Medicare for our seniors, funding K-12 public schools fully and offering early childhood learning and childcare to all families. It’s time we stop being a country where medical debt destroys lives, where seniors are forced into poverty just to receive the long-term care they need, and where children with the same God-given potential face vastly different futures simply because of the zip code they grow up in.

Voting information

See also: Voting in Connecticut

Election information in Connecticut: Aug. 11, 2026, election.

What is the voter registration deadline?

• In-person: Aug. 10, 2026
• By mail: Postmarked by July 24, 2026
• Online: July 24, 2026

Is absentee/mail-in voting available to all voters?

No

What is the absentee/mail-in ballot request deadline?

• In-person: Aug. 10, 2026
• By mail: Received by Aug. 10, 2026
• Online: Aug. 10, 2026

What is the absentee/mail-in ballot return deadline?

• In-person: Aug. 11, 2026
• By mail: Received by Aug. 11, 2026

Is early voting available to all voters?

Yes

What are the early voting start and end dates?

Aug. 3, 2026 to Aug. 9, 2026

Are all voters required to present ID at the polls? If so, is a photo or non-photo ID required?

N/A

When are polls open on Election Day?

6:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. (ET)

Campaign finance

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
John Larson	Democratic Party	$1,496,255	$788,315	$956,670	As of December 31, 2025
Luke Bronin	Democratic Party	$1,737,707	$257,122	$1,480,585	As of December 31, 2025
Ruth Fortune	Democratic Party	$53,054	$20,131	$32,923	As of December 31, 2025
Jillian Gilchrest	Democratic Party	$103,351	$80,228	$23,123	As of December 31, 2025
Mark Stewart Greenstein	Democratic Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2026. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). * According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." ** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election. *** Candidate either did not report any receipts or disbursements to the FEC, or Ballotpedia did not find an FEC candidate ID.

District analysis

Click the tabs below to view information about voter composition, past elections, and demographics in both the district and the state.

• District map - A map of the district in place for the election.
• Competitiveness - Information about the competitiveness of 2026 U.S. House elections in the state.
• Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the district and the state.
• State party control - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.

• District map
• Competitiveness
• Presidential elections
• State party control

Below is the district map in place for this election. Click the map below to enlarge it.

See also: Primary election competitiveness in state and federal government, 2026

Information about competitiveness will be added here as it becomes available.

Partisan Voter Index

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

Heading into the 2026 elections, based on results from the 2024 and 2020 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district is D+12. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 12 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made Connecticut's 1st the 109th most Democratic district nationally.

2020 presidential election results

The table below shows what the vote in the 2024 presidential election was in this district. The presidential election data was compiled by The Downballot.

2024 presidential results in Connecticut's 1st Congressional District

Kamala Harris	Donald Trump
61.0%	38.0%

Presidential voting history

See also: Presidential election in Connecticut, 2024

Connecticut presidential election results (1900-2024)

• 16 Democratic wins
• 16 Republican wins

Year	1900	1904	1908	1912	1916	1920	1924	1928	1932	1936	1940	1944	1948	1952	1956	1960	1964	1968	1972	1976	1980	1984	1988	1992	1996	2000	2004	2008	2012	2016	2020	2024
Winning Party	R	R	R	D	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	R	R	R	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D

See also: Party control of Connecticut state government

Congressional delegation

The table below displays the partisan composition of Connecticut's congressional delegation as of October 2025.

Congressional Partisan Breakdown from Connecticut
Party	U.S. Senate	U.S. House	Total
Democratic	2	5	7
Republican	0	0	0
Independent	0	0	0
Vacancies	0	0	0
Total	2	5	7

State executive

The table below displays the officeholders in Connecticut's top four state executive offices as of October 2025.

State executive officials in Connecticut, October 2025

Office	Officeholder
Governor	Ned Lamont
Lieutenant Governor	Susan Bysiewicz
Secretary of State	Stephanie Thomas
Attorney General	William Tong

State legislature

Connecticut State Senate

Party		As of February 2026
	Democratic Party	25
	Republican Party	11
	Other	0
	Vacancies	0
Total		36

Connecticut House of Representatives

Party		As of February 2026
	Democratic Party	102
	Republican Party	49
	Other	0
	Vacancies	0
Total		151

Trifecta control

Connecticut Party Control: 1992-2025
Fifteen years of Democratic trifectas  •  No Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25
Governor	I	I	I	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D
Senate	D	D	D	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D
House	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D

Ballot access

The table below details filing requirements for U.S. House candidates in Connecticut in the 2026 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Connecticut, click here.

Filing requirements for U.S. House candidates, 2026
State	Office	Party	Signatures required	Filing fee	Filing deadline	Source
Connecticut	U.S. House	Ballot-qualified party	2% of enrolled party members	N/A	6/9/2026	Source
Connecticut	U.S. House	Unaffiliated	1% of votes cast for the office in the last election, or 7,500, whichever is less	N/A	6/9/2026	Source

See also

• Connecticut's 1st Congressional District election, 2026 (August 11 Republican primary)
• Connecticut's 1st Congressional District election, 2026
• United States House elections in Connecticut, 2026 (August 11 Democratic primaries)
• United States House elections in Connecticut, 2026 (August 11 Republican primaries)
• United States House Democratic Party primaries, 2026
• United States House Republican Party primaries, 2026
• United States House of Representatives elections, 2026
• U.S. House battlegrounds, 2026

External links

Suggest a link

• Search Google News for this topic

Footnotes

[show]

Connecticut's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Richard Blumenthal (D)

Christopher Murphy (D)

Representatives

District 1

John Larson (D)

District 2

Joe Courtney (D)

District 3

Rosa DeLauro (D)

District 4

Jim Himes (D)

District 5

Jahana Hayes (D)

Democratic Party (7)

2025-2026 Elections to the United States Congress

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Election information

Ballot access for major and minor party candidates • List of candidates running for election • List of congressional challengers • Retiring senators • Retiring representatives

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Super PACs/Organizations

American Bridge 21st Century • American Crossroads • American Unity PAC • Campaign for Primary Accountability • Club for Growth Action • Congressional Leadership Fund • Cooperative of American Physicians IE Committee• Crossroads Generation • Ending Spending Action Fund • Endorse Liberty • Fair Share Action • FreedomWorks for America • Government Integrity Fund • House Majority PAC • Independence USA Fund • League of Conservation Voters • Liberty for All PAC • Majority PAC • National Association of Realtors • NEA Advocacy Fund • Now or Never PAC • Planned Parenthood Votes • Ready for Hillary • Republicans for a Prosperous America • Restore America's Voice PAC • SEIU Pea-Federal • Women Vote!

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