United States congressional delegations from Connecticut
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Since Connecticut became a U.S. state in 1788,<ref name="census-statehood">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> it has sent congressional delegations to the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives, beginning with the 1st United States Congress in 1789.<ref name="congress-delegations">Template:Cite book</ref> Each state elects two senators to serve for six years in general elections, with their re-election staggered. Prior to the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, senators were elected by the Connecticut General Assembly.<ref name="nara-17th-amendment">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Each state elects varying numbers of members of the House, depending on population, to two-year terms.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Connecticut has sent five members to the House in each congressional delegation since the 2000 United States census.<ref name="mirror-ct-districts">Template:Cite news</ref>
A total of 292 unique individuals have represented Connecticut in Congress; Connecticut has had 57 senators and 259 representatives, and 24 have served in both the House and the Senate. Nine women from Connecticut have served in the House, the first being Clare Booth Luce,<ref name="ctpost-women-house" /> while none have served in the Senate.<ref name="ct-women">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Two African-Americans from Connecticut, Gary Franks and Jahana Hayes, have served in the House.<ref name="franks&hayes">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The current dean, or longest serving member, of the Connecticut delegation is Representative Rosa DeLauro of the Template:Ushr, who has served in the House since 1991. She is the longest-serving House member in Connecticut history, and the second longest-serving member of Congress from Connecticut, behind Chris Dodd, who served 36 years combined in the House and Senate.<ref name="ctinsider-bio">Template:Cite news</ref> Dodd is also Connecticut's longest-serving senator.<ref name="cnn-dodd">Template:Cite news</ref>
Current delegation
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Class I senator | Class III senator | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) Chris Murphy Template:Small Template:Small |
.jpg) Richard Blumenthal Template:Small Template:Small | ||||
| Party | Template:Party shading/Text/Democratic | Template:Party shading/Text/Democratic | |||
| Incumbent since | January 3, 2013 | January 3, 2011 |
Connecticut's current congressional delegation in the Template:USCongressOrdinalCongress consists of its two senators and its five representatives, all of whom are Democrats.<ref name="cga-delegation">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Connecticut has not had a Republican member of Congress for more than a decade,<ref name="ap-democrat-dominance">Template:Cite news</ref> since Republican representative Chris Shays lost his race against Democrat Jim Himes in the state's 4th congressional district in 2008.<ref name="shays-out">Template:Cite news</ref>
The current dean, or longest serving member, of the Connecticut delegation is Representative Rosa DeLauro of the Template:Ushr, who has served in the House since 1991. She is the longest-serving House member in Connecticut history, and the second longest-serving member of Congress from Connecticut, behind Chris Dodd, who served 36 years in total.<ref name="ctinsider-bio"/>
As of March 2025, the Cook Partisan Voting Index, a measure of how strongly partisan congressional districts and states are,<ref name="cpvi">Template:Cite journal</ref> rated all districts in Connecticut as leaning Democratic. {{#section:Connecticut's congressional districts|Current representatives}}
United States Senate
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Senators Oliver Ellsworth, William S. Johnson, and Roger Sherman were Founding Fathers.<ref name="nara-founding-fathers">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Ellsworth helped write the Judiciary Act of 1789, and later served as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.<ref name="oyez-ellsworth">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Uriah Tracy served as president pro tempore of the Senate from May 1800 to November 1800, James Hillhouse served as president pro tempore from February 1801 to December 1801, Lafayette Sabine Foster served as president pro tempore from March 1865 to March 1867, and Frank Brandegee served as president pro tempore from May 1912 to March 1913.<ref name="protempore">Template:Cite report</ref> Senator Orville Platt, along with Nelson Aldrich, William Allison, and John Coit Spooner, formed "The Senate Four", a group of powerful legislators who controlled much of the Senate's operations.<ref name="senate-four">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Platt also helped draft the Platt Amendment.<ref name="Platt Amendment">Template:Cite journal</ref> Senator Joseph Lieberman was the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2000.<ref name="lieberman-vp-nom">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="ct-notable-senators">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Senators are elected every six years depending on their class, with each senator serving a six-year term, and elections for senators occurring every two years, rotating through each class such that each election, around one-third of the seats in the Senate are up for election.<ref name="senate-about">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Connecticut's senators are elected in classes I and III.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Currently, Connecticut is represented in the Senate by Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy.<ref name="current-senators">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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United States House of Representatives
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John Q. Tilson served as the House Majority Leader for the Republican party from 1925 to 1931.<ref name="tilson-death">Template:Cite news</ref> Barbara Kennelly was the first woman to become the Democratic chief deputy whip. Ella T. Grasso later became the first female governor elected in the United States.<ref name="ctpost-women-house">Template:Cite news</ref>
From 1789 to 1837, representatives from Connecticut were elected from Connecticut's at-large congressional district, which was subsequently replaced with Connecticut's congressional districts.<ref name="districts-established">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Connecticut has sent five members to the House in each congressional delegation since the 2000 United States census.<ref name="mirror-ct-districts"/> One member of the House of Representatives is sent from each district via a popular vote.<ref>Template:Cite constitution</ref> Districts are redrawn every ten years, after data from the US Census is collected.<ref name="nyt-districts">Template:Cite news</ref>
1789–1793: 5 seats
Connecticut was granted five seats in the House until the first US census in 1790.
| Congress | Elected statewide on a general ticket from Template:Ushr | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st seat | 2nd seat | 3rd seat | 4th seat | 5th seat | |
| Template:USCongressOrdinal Template:Nowrap | Template:Party cell | Benjamin Huntington (PA) | Template:Party cell | Roger Sherman (PA) | rowspan=2 Template:Party cell | Jonathan Sturges (PA) |
rowspan=2 Template:Party cell | Jonathan Trumbull Jr. (PA) |
rowspan=2 Template:Party cell | Jeremiah Wadsworth (PA) |
| Template:USCongressOrdinal (1791–1793) | Template:Party cell | James Hillhouse (PA) | Template:Party cell | Amasa Learned (PA) | |||
1793–1823: 7 seats
Following the 1790 census, Connecticut was apportioned seven seats.
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1823–1843: 6 seats
Following the 1820 census, Connecticut was apportioned six seats.
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1843–1903: 4 seats
Following the 1840 census, Connecticut was apportioned four seats.
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1903–1933: 5 seats
Following the 1900 census, Connecticut was apportioned five seats. The fifth seat was established at-large from 1901<ref name="hc-1901-5">Template:Cite news</ref> to 1911, when it was converted into a fifth district via a redistricting plan.<ref name="hc-1911-5">Template:Cite news</ref>
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1933–2003: 6 seats
Following the 1930 census, Connecticut was apportioned six seats. The sixth seat was established at-large from 1931<ref name="mdj-1931-atlarge">Template:Cite news</ref> to 1964, when it was converted into a sixth district via a reapportioning plan.<ref name="bt-1964-redistricting">Template:Cite news</ref>
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2003–present: 5 seats
Following the 2000 census, Connecticut was apportioned five seats.
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See also
- List of United States congressional districts
- Connecticut's congressional districts
- Political party strength in Connecticut
Notes
References
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