Sen. Rob Sampson was selected this week as the next Republican minority leader in the Connecticut Senate, setting him up to lead the smallest caucus in the chamber’s history with just three members.

Sampson, a Wolcott resident who has served in the legislature since 2011, was already one of the most recognizable Republicans in the General Assembly because of his frequent appearances on the Senate floor, where he has filibustered many of the Democratic leaders’ bills in recent years.

In his newly elected leadership position, Sampson will become one of the most prominent figures in the Connecticut Republican Party, which is seeking to rebuild after devastating electoral losses across the state during this year’s midterm elections.

Sampson, by default, will become the highest-ranking Republican office holder in the state, given the party doesn’t hold any statewide constitutional offices and hasn’t held a seat in the state’s congressional delegation since 2008.

This week, Sampson and Sen. Eric Berthel, who was chosen as the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, issued a statement about their ascendence to the leadership posts, which were left empty after eight Republican-held seats were lost Nov. 3.

In the press release this week, the two Republican lawmakers vowed to rebuild their party’s numbers in the General Assembly, which have steadily declined since President Donald Trump’s first term, and they took a passing shot at some of the outgoing members of their own party.

The statement referred to “Republicans in positions of authority who were satisfied simply to remain in the minority.” And it accused those unnamed individuals of setting aside Republican principles when it was convenient.

That stands in contrast to what Sampson is known for in the upper chamber: regularly speaking for hours on legislation he opposes.

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In an interview on Tuesday, Sampson said he did not want to frame the incoming Senate Republican caucus as the opposition party, and he suggested he was willing to work with his Democratic colleagues on bills he agrees with.

But he said he intended to use what little power the caucus maintains to highlight what makes Republicans different from the Democratic supermajority.

“If there is a failure among the Connecticut Republican Party as far as the legislature goes, it’s our inability to give a clear contrast and choice to voters,” Sampson said.

Sen. Bob Duff, who was just elected as the Senate’s new president, said the three Republicans who remain in the Senate were duly elected by their constituents, and he respects the authority that those voters entrusted to those senators.

But Duff, who represents Norwalk and part of Darien, also emphasized that Democrats now hold a 30-seat advantage in the Senate, and he said he and his Democratic colleagues intend to use those numbers to advance their agenda, which includes addressing the high cost of living in Connecticut and challenging the policies of President Donald Trump.

He said it is up to the Republicans to decide how much of that agenda they want to support.

The trio of Republicans who remain in the Senate — Sampson, Berthel and Sen. Henri Martin — received votes from roughly 65,000 people across their three districts, which cover parts of Southington, Bristol, Watertown and 19 other municipalities in the Naugatuck Valley region.

Sampson said he believes it is their job to represent every voter in the state who cast a ballot for a Republican this year. “We still represent 40% of the people across Connecticut who voted for Republicans,” he said.

Still, the senator recognized the physical and mathematical limitations to what Republicans can hope to accomplish over the next two years, considering they face a 33-3 disadvantage in the Senate.

Engaging in extended debate, Sampson said, will be more difficult in 2027 with only three Republicans available to hold the floor.

“That’s diminished to the point where I don’t know it will be effective at all,” he said. “Even if we are putting in every last bit of effort, it will be so grueling and demanding that I don’t know how long we could keep it up for.”

The lopsided makeup of the Senate, Sampson said, will also make it next to impossible for the three Republican senators to participate in all of the legislative committees.

Sampson said his small caucus is going to have to rely on their Republican colleagues in the House, who also suffered losses this year, to keep them informed about what bills are working their way through those committees.

Given all of those constraints, Sampson said, the most effective tool that he and his Republican colleagues may have are Connecticut residents. And he said Republicans need to harness that power by organizing protests at the State Capitol.

During Gov. Ned Lamont’s first term, Republicans helped to organize protests, which contributed to lawmakers dropping a proposal to implement tolls on Connecticut highways. And in recent sessions, Republicans helped to rally large groups of parents who were opposed to Democratic proposals to increase regulations over homeschooling in the state.

“I think the No. 1 thing that we will utilize as a small three-person Senate Republican caucus is the public,” Sampson said. “We’re going to work very hard to make sure that when there are bills that are onerous to the benefit of Connecticut, we are going to invest our time and energy to make sure the public is engaged.”

Sampson is also banking on the Democrats encountering divisions within their own caucus over what policies to prioritize and which direction to take the party.

“I think trying to wrangle a very large caucus of members in both chambers is just as difficult as trying to figure out what to do when you have very few,” Sampson said. “Because they’re going to run the gamut. There is going to be a wide spectrum of Democrats, from people who are pretty darn moderate to people that I would consider extreme.”