Good morning and welcome back to the Tip Sheet, a weekly newsletter from Tom Dudchik’s Capitol Report written by Mike Cerulli.

This week, we’re looking at the steps Congressman John Larson is taking in advance of what is shaping up to be a crowded effort to unseat him.

The prospect of a crowded Democratic race in the 1st Congressional District has already triggered a scramble to lock up support of party insiders. If the race becomes a referendum on the direction of the Democratic Party, the support of the party’s youth will be of particular focus to the contenders. Where might they look for the support of the party’s young supporters?

Plus, Governor Lamont has been tight-lipped about the efforts to keep the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun in the state. Who is the mystery bidder with the governor’s support?

Let’s dive in…

Larson readies his defense

The two men stood on the banks of the Connecticut River.

Governor Ned Lamont gazed out on the small crowd of environmentalists and local media from behind his pair of Wayfarer-style shades. Rolled sleeves and a can of diet ginger ale completed the governor’s standard look as a procession of speakers lauded the expansion of Hartford’s Joe Marfuggi Riverwalk two miles north into Windsor.

John Larson, the fourteen-term congressman, stood to Lamont’s right clad in his own signature fit: a jacket and tie, dress sneakers, glasses dangling from his neck, and his John F. Kennedy pin affixed to his lapel.

The pin evokes that masterful bit of writing by the late Michael Kelly, who described the two most well-known Kennedys, John and Robert, as, “The Dorian Grays of Hyannis Port” – frozen in time by assassins’ bullets, always reflecting back on us a youthful ideal of American politics that has never quite been recaptured since the days of Camelot.

Only Ted Kennedy, the youngest of the Camelot generation of Kennedys, would live to be the same age as John Larson is today.

In appearance and intonation, there are echoes of all three Kennedy brothers in the 77-year-old Larson.

“It’s a river that just doesn’t run through us, it unites us,” Larson said at last week’s press conference.

Larson’s appearance alongside Lamont last Monday came as both men are taking stock of challenges to their incumbency.

Lamont has yet to say whether he’ll enter a race for governor that now includes State Rep. Josh Elliott. Larson has been less ambiguous. He’s running. More than that, he says he’s ready to take on the two declared candidates, Hartford Board of Education member Ruth Fortune and Southington councilmember Jack Perry, and several potential challengers – namely former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin and State Rep. Jillian Gilchrest.

“We’re always prepared,” Larson said when asked about the growing field of challengers.

At this point, that preparation appears to include a bolstered schedule of public appearances and a reactivation of Larson’s campaign infrastructure.

He’s brought on at least one staffer to his campaign as he seeks to fill a hole left by Josh Barnes, his former campaign manager who joined State Comptroller Sean Scanlon’s office last year.

“We’re going to be going to an awful lot of press conferences talking about – in the City of Hartford alone – a billion dollars that have been brought in,” Larson said.

A staffer from Larson’s office was standing nearby, listening to the interview after last Monday’s press conference wrapped up. He whipped out a glossy card highlighting the federal funding the congressman has brought back to the district.

The sidebar interview at the riverfront was not the only time Larson made himself available to the press to discuss his bid for re-election. He arrived at the event with Mark Pazniokas, the narrative-shaping Connecticut Mirror reporter, riding along in his Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Speaking with Pazniokas, Larson relayed details of a conversation he had with Bronin in which the latter expressed his interest in running for Congress.

“I started to laugh, because I thought he was kidding,” Larson told Paz.

Luke Bronin is not, in fact, kidding. The former mayor with a resume that reads like a Tom Clancy character – Yale, Oxford, naval intelligence, and a stint hunting terrorist cash at the Treasury Department – has been working the phones with an intensity that reveals his seriousness about challenging Larson.

Gilchrest is also working the phones, testing the waters for her own potential campaign. As Kevin Rennie noted, Gilchrest hails from a town that will likely be crucial to winning the district. In last year’s presidential election, West Hartford produced more Democratic votes than Hartford.

Expect a busy August as the field continues to take shape.

The CT Young Democrats name their board…and it’s stacked with CT-01 talent

If you happen to be one of the people who’d like to represent the state’s 1st Congressional District, you might want to add the members of the new executive board of the Connecticut Young Democrats to your call sheet – if you haven’t already swiped up one of them for your campaign staff.

As we reported in the Tip Sheet a few weeks ago, the youth arm of the Connecticut’s Democratic Party is now led by Alan Cunningham, the governor’s constant shadow.

Cunningham, a Middletown native, leads a board that is heavily skewed toward 1st District towns.

Jessica Weaver, a member of Newington’s board of education who works in the state treasurer’s office, is Young Dems’ new executive vice president. Mario Volpe, the group’s vice president for operations and development and a State Senate staffer, calls West Hartford home.

A trio of South Windsor natives also sit on the new board. The town could become one of the suburban battlegrounds in a Democratic primary contest. Madi Gonzales is a staffer in the lieutenant governor’s office and a former member of South Windsor’s board of education. Mitchell Marks is a UConn student who currently sits on the town’s board of education. Alan Cavagnaro has made a name for himself as a housing advocate with DesegregateCT and as a member of his hometown’s planning and zoning board.

Gonzales, Cavagnaro, and Marks are all part of a cohort of South-Windsorites-turned-UConn-Huskies who’ve fanned out around the state’s Democratic ecosystem. It’s a group that also includes Noah Frank, a former Young Democrats national committeeman who has consulted for a number of Connecticut campaigns.

In a campaign that could very well be defined by a debate over the future of the Democratic Party, youth support will be essential – tactically and rhetorically.

Who is the mysterious bidder looking to keep the WNBA’s Sun in Connecticut?

Ever since it was reported that the Mohegan tribe is exploring a possible sale of the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun, much speculation has surrounded the behind-the-scenes efforts to buy the team.

The governors of Massachusetts and Rhode Island have both expressed interest in bringing a WNBA franchise to their states.

Governor Ned Lamont added fuel to the speculative fire two weeks ago when he threw his support behind an effort by an unnamed bidder to keep the team in Connecticut.

"We have a strong bidder, former owner of an NBA team, very credible proposal on the table to keep the Sun in Connecticut – a lot of it at the PeoplesBank Arena,” Lamont said two weeks ago, before the Sun played the Indiana Fever in Boston.

When he was asked last week if he was referring to Marc Lasry, the billionaire former co-owner of the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks who owns a home in Westport, Lamont declined to discuss specifics.

Lasry grew up in West Hartford and is a Democratic megadonor.

Though he declined to reveal the identity of the mystery bidder, Lamont has applauded the efforts of Hartford-area business leaders who’ve signaled strong support to help keep the Sun in the state and bring some of their games to the new-renamed arena in the capital city.

The Sun told season ticket holders last week that they would play their 2026 season at Mohegan Sun Arena, meaning the team is staying in Connecticut…for now.

We’ll be back next week with another edition of the Tip Sheet.