Congressman John B. Larson stood in the oppressive afternoon heat outside his district office across the street from Pratt & Whitney in East Hartford, taking questions from reporters drawn by the novelty of a Connecticut congressional incumbent facing a primary for the first time in two decades.

Suddenly facing multiple challengers for the Democratic nomination, Larson made clear Wednesday he intends to ride to reelection to a 15th term on the issue that has consumed and frustrated him for nearly half his 27 years in Congress: the salvation and expansion of Social Security.

Over a half hour, Larson would complain three times about the lack of press coverage about Social Security, the issue he says keeps him committed to seeking one more term, one more chance at passing reforms. He hinted at progress, that House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries soon would be on board.

“Most press don’t cover Social Security. Don’t find it interesting,” Larson said. “It’s not controversial, but it’s what matters to more than 70 million people.”

It is a not a happy time for Larson, generally a practitioner of the happy-warrior school of Democratic politics, of making sure the budget has enough money for the military to buy F-22 and F-35 planes with Pratt & Whitney engines, and for grants to groups like Mothers United Against Violence.

Larson awoke to the news that former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin had made his anticipated debut as a candidate for the 1st Congressional District seat Larson won in 1998. Bronin, the third Democratic challenger to declare in month of July, is running as a new voice, promising generational change as Democrats struggle for direction after the disaster of the 2024 election.

“We’ll be glad to remind even Mayor Bronin of what we’ve done for the city of Hartford, how much money that they have received, what we’ve committed to, the programs we’ve supported, like Mothers United Against Violence that are standing behind me,” Larson said. “We can go down the list.”

To talk to reporters, he interrupted a meeting with the anti-violence group, which received three federal grants totaling $1.3 million over the past three years. He stressed it was on his schedule before he knew there was a reasons he’d been meeting with the press.

Larson, 77, said he did not need the 46-year-old Bronin to explain that the Democratic message was weak in 2024.

“So how do you strengthen it? And what’s your plan to strengthen it? That you’re a soprano, as opposed to an alto?” Larson said.

It was a dig at Bronin offering a new voice.

“You know, it takes work. It takes effort. It takes a plan. We’ve got them, and we’re going to deliver on it,” Larson said. “When you run for public office, it’s about what you’ve been able to deliver, what you’re currently working on today, and what your vision is for the future. What was Mr. Bronin’s?”

School board member Ruth Fortune of Hartford and Councilman Jack Perry of Southington are the other Democrats to open campaigns for Larson’s seat this year.

On the ground floor of the building with his district office is Rebel Dog Coffee, the shop where Bronin met Larson on July 11 and asked him to consider calling it quits after the current term.

Bronin, who had his own meeting with reporters at noon at the Parkville Marketplace in Hartford, said he tried without success to engage Larson in a conversation about the Democratic Party’s urgent need for renewal and for members of Congress who can make the case for the party’s relevance. 

“I didn’t hear from John the sense of urgency that I would have liked to hear — or that the job has changed and that the challenges have changed,” Bronin said. “The job of being a member of Congress is not just inside committee rooms or subcommittee rooms any more. That’s part of it. But a part of it is also going out there and making the case to the American people about what we as a Democratic Party stand for, and what we’re gonna do to make life better.”

Larson said renewal is a constant in politics. Democrats always have focused on making life better, he said, and Social Security does that.

“The party, every party, the democracy, is always in need of renewal. That’s an important aspect. So who’s bringing the renewal? And what are you renewing? We’re leading the fight for renewal, starting with Social Security. Who’s leading that fight? Who’s leading that charge?” Larson said. “We are.”

Larson talks about regaining his post as chairman of a congressional subcommittee on Social Security if Democrats regain control of the closely divided House in 2026. The party that holds the White House tends to lose seats in midterm elections.

But Larson was unable to win passage of Social Security reforms in the two most recent times when Democrats controlled the White House, Senate and House: in the 2021-2023 term under President Joe Biden and in the 2009-2011 term under President Barack Obama.

Larson complained that Social Security took a back seat in 2009 to the passage of the Affordable Care Act, the priority of a newly elected Obama.

“There wasn’t the appetite to say that we could do both at the same time. I disagreed with that,” Larson said. “I disagreed with our leadership at the time, and I still continue to say we should have done it back then. It didn’t happen. But it didn’t happen because, not because of lack of effort on our part or a lack of need.”

He pointed at the reporters and said, “And I would also add, who was covering that in the press at that time?”

Larson has proposed the Social Security 2100 Act in successive terms of Congress. Among other things, it would increase benefits by 2% across the board for all Social Security beneficiaries for the first time in 54 years, restore student benefits up to age 26 and stabilize the Social Security trust fund by raising payroll taxes on higher earners.

In March, Larson was among the Democrats to propose separate bills directing the administration of President Donald Trump to keep Social Security field offices open and block Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency from accessing sensitive data on Social Security beneficiaries. 

Even with Trump in the White House and the likelihood of Republicans maintaining control of the Senate in the midterms, Larson insisted that Social Security reforms still were possible.

“There’s this disbelief that this can happen, but that’s not the case when you have Hakeem Jeffries, the leader of the House, coming out,” Larson said. “And next week, you’ll see a bill that’s dropped that’s going to address these concerns, and it’ll be the first time a leader in the House of Representatives in more than 50 years has been out in front.”

Larson hinted at Jeffries, the New York congressman who succeeded Nancy Pelosi as House Democratic leader, coming to Connecticut on his behalf.

“I think you’ll be hearing from Hakeem Jeffries about this challenge,” Larson said. “I think you’ll be hearing from him — and others.”

In Washington, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy offered praise of Larson and Bronin. Murphy called Bronin “a very good mayor” of Hartford. And he praised Larson as a mentor.

“I’m a better senator because of the help [Larson] has given me,” Murphy said. “I’ll have more to say about this as time goes on, but I think we need to have a real appreciation for the work John has done and continues to do to make our state a better and safer place.”

Murphy is an indirect beneficiary of the last primary challenge to a member of Congress from Connecticut. In 2006, Ned Lamont challenged Murphy’s predecessor, Joseph I. Lieberman, over his support for the war in Iraq.

Lieberman was reelected as an independent after losing the Democratic primary. But his lack of a major party base was factor in his not seeking reelection in 2012, giving Murphy the opportunity to win the open seat.

Lisa Hagen contributed to this story from Washington.