Nearly 15 unions and their leaders have swung their support this week to U.S. Rep. John B. Larson in the most competitive primary for Congress in Connecticut in the 2026 cycle.
Larson is locked in a tight race with former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin and two other candidates as they head toward a party convention in May and an expected primary in August as the young candidates try to push the 77-year-old Larson out of office.
The biggest endorsement came from Joseph P. Toner, executive director of the Connecticut State Building Trades Council since 2021. With 30,000 members, the building trades are known for supplying volunteers to go door-knocking in multiple neighborhoods on behalf of political candidates whom they support. Toner is a strong Larson supporter who previously served as president of the Greater Hartford Building Trades Council when Bronin was serving as mayor.
The building trades, he said, received little work when Bronin was mayor as many of the projects were completed by non-union labor.
Bronin “was more interested in making the deal with the developers, which didn’t include the workers on the projects in Hartford,” Toner told The Courant in an interview. “We didn’t do any project labor agreements with Luke in Hartford. In 2002, we had a project labor agreement signed for all the schools in Hartford — a blanket agreement for the whole construction program. That was done under the leadership of Mayor Eddie Perez. When Eddie tried to run again for Hartford a few years back, the Hartford Building Trades obviously supported Eddie against Luke.”
Now, both the Hartford chapter and the statewide building trades council are supporting Larson, along with other unions.
“The contrast with Congressman Larson is incredible,” Toner said. “Seven years ago, they announced that the federal courthouse was being planned in Hartford. It’s a big job. It’s over $350 million, around there. Within a month, we had a letter that went down to D.C. supporting the project labor agreement on that project by all of the delegation from Connecticut, but it was spearheaded from John Larson’s office. That relationship with us goes back to when he was in the [state] legislature in Connecticut.”
Toner added, “He’s never been a bad vote for the district. He’s certainly never been a bad vote for labor. John’s done a great job, not only for the building trades, but for the district and anyone who has a union card, quite frankly.”
Amanda Sands, a senior adviser for Bronin, noted that photos had been posted on the campaign website in mid-August.
“Congressman Larson announced the building trades endorsement four months ago, so recycling it now isn’t really news, and it’s certainly not a sign of growing support for John Larson,” Sands said. “What is surprising is that a 27-year incumbent can’t claim many, many more endorsements at this stage of the game, and that’s an indication that a lot of people — and a lot of groups — know that it’s time for new energy and new representation in Congress.”
The building trades union was concerned that there were no labor agreements for privately financed construction for housing around the Yard Goats stadium in Hartford, for example. Developers, however, argue that some market-rate projects would not have moved forward financially if labor and benefit costs had been suddenly higher.
Under the umbrella agreement that stretched across administrations, hundreds of millions of dollars were spent on the Hartford Public Schools during the Bronin years with union labor.
“We never sat down with Luke,” Toner said. “He was more interested in making sure he sealed the deal with the developer.”
Besides the building trades, the endorsements of Larson include several locals of the American Federation of Government Employees, along with the operating engineers, the Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association, LIUNA, National Association of Government Employees/International Brotherhood of Police Officers, and others.
Besides Toner, some of the top union leaders include Keith R. Brothers, president of the state building trades council and business manager of the Laborers’ International Union of North America; Richard Bonzani, organizing field director for the operating engineers, Steve Dodd of the sheet metal workers international union; Mike Grabowski, the current president of the Greater Hartford Building Trades Council, and John Harrity, former president Connecticut Council of Machinists.
On a personal level, Toner said he gets along with Bronin.
“Luke’s a good guy,” Toner said. “He was ringing the building trades like crazy at the beginning of the year, asking for our support for governor. He reached out to all the building trades leaders in the first quarter of this year, which he didn’t do too well with us running for governor. The Hartford Building Trades, where Luke was the mayor, had no confidence in Luke as the Congressperson representing the First District.”
Toner added, “He’s not a bad guy. It’s just not a good fit with Luke. Toward his last term in office, there was just no relationship.”
The building trades include a wide variety of workers, including plumbers, pipefitters, electricians, masons, roofers, painters, laborers, sheet metal workers, and boilermakers, among others.
Larson’s campaign described the endorsements as “the first major wave” that will be followed by other endorsements from unions as the campaign unfolds.
Larson sought the union support as part of a life-long effort where both of his parents worked at one time at Pratt & Whitney – the backbone of jobs in East Hartford.
“I grew up in a working-class household — and I’ve spent my life fighting to protect the dignity of work and standing with our workers,” Larson said. “From defending collective bargaining rights to creating good-paying union jobs, I have always been in labor’s corner. Now, as Trump and his allies intensify their attacks on unions and working families, we need leaders who fight for workers every single day — not just when it’s convenient.”
Larson and Bronin are battling in a four-way primary against State Rep. Jillian Gilchrest, a West Hartford Democrat, and Hartford attorney Ruth Fortune.
Gilchrest says she will collect her share of endorsements as the campaign moves forward. She has already been endorsed by the West Hartford chapter of Indivisible, a statewide group with multiple chapters as far away as Greenwich.
“From my first primary campaign, I learned the loyalty that often accompanies unions and incumbents,” Gilchrest said. “It’s early in the competitive endorsement process, but I’m confident my record — passing paid family and medical leave and protecting collective bargaining — will stand on its own. My entire campaign is built on giving working people a bigger role in politics and a real voice in how their government works, and who it works for.”
Christopher Keating can be reached at [email protected]