Latest Column | ‘Connecticut Deserves Focus, Not Distraction’ (February 2026)

By State Sen. Rob Sampson

As we head into a new legislative session, Connecticut residents deserve an honest assessment of where we are—and where we are headed.

Last year, Senate Republicans did more than challenge bad ideas and slow the legislative process. We successfully stopped several damaging policies advanced by the Democratic majority that would have made life even more expensive for Connecticut families.

We blocked proposals that threatened property owners, undermined local control, expanded government dependency, and worsened affordability at a time when residents are being squeezed from every direction.

Those victories protected taxpayers and exposed a hard truth about one-party rule: when legislative Democrats are forced to defend these ideas on the merits, many simply do not hold up.

This year, the Democratic majority is determined to revive many of the policies we stopped. They have the votes, and they intend to use them. The real question is whether they are willing to confront the consequences of their own governance or whether they will continue to avoid accountability by shifting the conversation elsewhere.

Instead of focusing on affordability, electric rates, housing costs, crime, fraud, and waste, too many legislative Democrats would rather litigate national headlines. They spend far more time reacting to Washington politics and international flashpoints than explaining why Connecticut remains one of the most expensive, overregulated, and out-migrated states in the nation.

We hear commentary about events far removed from Connecticut from Venezuela to Minnesota, offered not to solve problems here, but to score ideological points. In Venezuela, some on the American left reflexively defend or minimize the actions of an authoritarian, narco-terrorist regime that has crushed dissent, destroyed a once-prosperous nation, and driven millions to flee. That moral inversion should trouble anyone who values freedom.

Closer to home, we’ve heard endless discussion about a tragic, still-unresolved incident involving a federal ICE agent in Minnesota. The case remains under investigation; everyone should want the facts and justice wherever they lead. But legislative Democrats have used it to inflame hostility toward law enforcement, smear Republicans broadly, and distract from Connecticut’s very real failures.

I had nothing to do with that incident. Neither did the Connecticut families struggling to pay their electric bills or afford groceries. Relitigating national political fights will not fix what has been broken here.

To be clear, I draw a sharp distinction between elected Democrats and the many Connecticut residents who identify as Democrats. My constituents of all political stripes are trying to raise families, build careers, and stay afloat in an increasingly unaffordable state. They deserve solutions, not slogans.
Connecticut’s problems are not abstract. They show up when residents open their utility bills, when young families realize they cannot afford to stay, and when fraud and abuse drain taxpayer dollars while state government expands programs without adequate oversight.

We do not lack examples. Large-scale fraud schemes have siphoned millions of public dollars nationwide and here in Connecticut. Yet instead of tightening controls and demanding accountability, the legislative majority often responds by growing government and lowering standards.
That is not compassion. It is negligence.

The policies Senate Republicans advance are rooted in everyday reality. We believe individuals and families are more capable than bureaucracies. We believe prosperity grows from freedom, not control. We believe decisions are best made locally, not dictated from Hartford. And we believe government power must be restrained precisely because history shows how often it is abused.

That stands in stark contrast to the agenda openly promoted by figures like Zohran Mamdani in New York City and publicly praised and defended by several prominent Connecticut legislative Democrats. They romanticize the so-called “warmth of collectivism” while ignoring its real-world consequences: concentrated power, less individual choice, and higher costs for everything. Unfortunately, the policy goals being advanced here in Connecticut increasingly resemble that same failed model.

This session, the Democratic majority will attempt to further override local zoning, impose costly mandates, grow state government, and regulate Connecticut deeper into economic stagnation, all while families struggle with affordability. They will rely on their numbers rather than persuasion and treat dissent as an inconvenience instead of a vital part of representative government.

I reject that approach.

Good ideas should stand on their merits. They should withstand scrutiny. They should make life better for the people who live and work here not simply satisfy ideological ambitions or generate headlines.
The majority may have the numbers, but it does not own the truth. History has never been kind to movements that confuse control with compassion or power with wisdom.

Connecticut still has a choice. I will continue fighting to make sure that choice includes affordability, accountability, freedom, and opportunity for the people who pay the bills not the politicians who spend the money.