DeLauro Sees 18th Term Window Of Opportunity

Inflation keeps dropping. Unemployment is near historic lows. Jobs keep growing.

Rosa DeLauro didn’t talk about any of that. Even though she and her party could crow about those trends in a typical election year.

But this isn’t a typical election year.

So when the Democrat spoke in an interview Tuesday about her current campaign to win an 18th two-year term representing New Haven’s U.S. Third Congressional District, she focused instead on the pain working families feel in the face of high food prices and rents. And how she plans to address those economic concerns if elected. Just as the Democratic presidential ticket — headed by someone who has served in the White House the past four years — is doing. (Click here for a story about a national Democratic conclave, which featured DeLauro, at the August convention about the need to focus on working families’ kitchen-table concerns rather than lecturing them on successes of the Biden administration’s economic policies.)

“Families today live paycheck to paycheck. They are struggling. They are trying to put food on the table. They are trying to pay healthcare bills. They are trying to get their kids to school,” DeLauro said in the interview, on WNHH FM’s ​“Dateline New Haven.”

She made the remark in response to a question about why she’d like to serve in Congress for another term.

She said that she feels her experience shepherding legislation through Congress on related issues puts her in a position to advance new measures to alleviate families’ financial pressure.

She specifically mentioned her Paycheck Fairness Act to seek equal pay for women for work equal to that done by men, a bill that has passed the House of Representatives but not yet the Senate; increased support for child care; paid family and medical leave; and a child tax credit. Passing laws often takes years of introducing legislation, making the case, building support. DeLauro argued that serving more years in Congress helped her do that as she gained seniority and developed relationships.

DeLauro succeeded in a decades-long quest to pass the latter measure for one year during the pandemic. She’s now seeking to resurrect it as a permanent measure. Some conservative Republicans looking to recast their party as pro-worker — such as Sens. J.D. Vance and Josh Hawley — have come out in support of the general concept. The tax credit ​“lifted almost half our kids out of poverty and lowered the hunger rate in the United States by 25 percent,” DeLauro said; those rates have re-risen since the credit expired.

DeLauro said she’s eager to return to the powerful post of Appropriations Committee chair if the Democrats regain the House majority. Click here and here for stories about some of the federal money New Haven received when she served as committee chair.

Ixnay On Ebateday

In the interview, DeLauro discussed how campaigning has evolved over her 34 years in office, including increased use of social media to reach voters. Her Gen Z staffers convinced her this campaign to film a video in Congress with a script composed of youth lingo, including dubbing her the ​“Ranking Rizzler” on House Appropriations. (Click here for a story translating that and other terms.) Meanwhile, national Democratic heavy hitters have passed through town to support DeLauro’s campaign, from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to current House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and trustbusting Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Lina Khan.

Another change: Past campaigns generally included at least one candidate debate, even against long-shot challengers. DeLauro faces a challenge this year from Republican Michael Massey, who argues that Democratic policies have failed cities like New Haven. (Click here and here for previous articles and interviews about his campaign.) Massey has sought to debate DeLauro before Nov. 5. DeLauro has not agreed to debate, reflecting a national trend in which candidates feel less pressure to participate in face-offs with opponents.

DeLauro was asked on ​“Dateline” about why she made that decision this time around.

She said ​“people don’t see [debates] as as relevant as they have been in the past.

“Look, I’m running my campaign. I’m going to meetings and talking to people, and I’m out with the public every single day. I think I’m on enough interviews, people know where I stand on the issues. I think both my colleague and I were interviewed just a few days ago. …

“I think it’s not so much the debate, but what you have done, how people view you, what you have done for the people who put their trust in you. What are the kinds of issues that you take on on behalf of your constituents and the families in your district? What is it that motivates what you are doing? Both in terms of your votes and the issues that you take up and who you stand with — and there are many, many other ways in which that gets demonstrated, rather than a program structured, 45 minutes, or whatever it is with a debate. For me, I spend most of my time gathered with people in this community. I’m always willing to listen to take on the issues that come up. And I think I’ve been pretty straightforward about where I stand on the issues. …

“The hallmark of what I do [is] trying to make government work for people. That is what a child tax credit is about. That is what paid family and medical leave is about. That is what constituent services are about. And I would challenge anyone to say that any office does a better job at constituent services than our office.”

Click on the video below to watch the full discussion with U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro on WNHH FM’s ​“Dateline New Haven,” as well as a previous interview with Republican challenger Michael Massey. (Click here to subscribe or here to listen to other episodes of ​“Dateline New Haven.”)