JOHN B. LARSON
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE, FIRST DISTRICT, CONNECTICUT
John is the eldest son of Ray and Pauline Larson. He grew up with his seven brothers and sisters in public housing in Mayberry Village. A graduate of East Hartford High School and Central Connecticut State University, Larson was also selected as a Senior Fellow at the Yale Bush Center for Child Development. He taught history at East Hartford High and would later own and operate a small, local insurance agency.
His public service includes the East Hartford Board of Education, the East Hartford Town Council, and the Connecticut State Senate where he served for twelve years. He was elected by his peers as Senate President Pro Tempore four times and authored the nation's first family medical leave act that still serves as a model today.
Throughout his career, John's focus has been on jobs, constituent service, and protecting and expanding our economy. John remains committed to working across the aisle to get the job done for Connecticut.
A staunch supporter of Connecticut manufacturing, John was the lead advocate to secure Pratt & Whitney as the sole source producer of engines for the F35 Joint Strike Fighter as well as the Aerial Tanker, Presidential Helicopter, and second submarine in Groton. John has worked to bring academia, labor, private industry, and government together to develop a next generation manufacturing education program with Goodwin University, Central Connecticut State University, and our Community College system. His legislation also created the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology.
John is also fighting to protect and strengthen Social Security. He is currently serving as the Ranking Member of the Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee.
He is a lifelong resident of East Hartford, where he lives with his wife Leslie. They have three children, Carolyn, Laura, and Raymond.
JOSEPH COURTNEY
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE, SECOND DISTRICT, CONNECTICUT
Congressman Courtney is the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces. In addition, he co-chairs the bipartisan Congressional Shipbuilding Caucus. As a member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, he serves on the Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions subcommittee, as well as the Higher Education and Workforce Development subcommittee.
As a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, Courtney has worked to strengthen our nation's Navy by leading the call for increased submarine production. When Courtney arrived in Congress, the Electric Boat shipyard in Groton, Connecticut, was facing significant workforce reductions and for the first time in fifty years was not actively designing the next generation of submarines. Because of funding Courtney secured through his work on the House Armed Services Committee, the men and women of Electric Boat have once again been building two submarines per year since 2011. In addition, Courtney has secured critical resources for new design and engineering work on the Columbia-class submarines that will replace the aging fleet of Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines. The increase in submarine construction has allowed Electric Boat to significantly expand both its workforce and its footprint in southeastern Connecticut.
In recognition of his work, Courtney was awarded "The Distinguished Public Service Award" from Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, the highest civilian honor the Navy can confer.
Courtney has established himself as a tireless advocate for both our nation's veterans and our men and women in uniform. He successfully fought to expand the Montgomery GI Bill for post-9/11 veterans and their families and led the fight to extend TRICARE benefits to dependents under age 26. Congressman Courtney also fought and won support for an 18-unit supportive housing facility for homeless and at-risk veterans in Jewett City.
In his role on the Committee on Education and the Workforce, Courtney has been a staunch supporter of high-quality public education and a champion of higher education affordability for middle-class families. In both 2012 and 2013, Courtney led the congressional effort to prevent Stafford Student Loan rates from doubling on new loans, ultimately resulting in the passage of the Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act that was signed by President Barack Obama.
Having served as a member of the House Agriculture Committee, Congressman Courtney is a vocal proponent for nearly 2,500 farmers across eastern Connecticut. Courtney is the founding co-chairman of the Congressional Dairy Farmers Caucus, and has worked tirelessly to protect family farms from foreclosure and fix the flawed milk pricing system.
Before serving in the House of Representatives, Courtney represented the citizens of Vernon in the Connecticut General Assembly from 1987 to 1994. During his tenure, then state-Rep. Courtney served as Chair for both the Public Health and Human Services Committees.
Courtney is a 1975 graduate of Tufts University in Boston. He earned a law degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1978. He lives in Vernon with his wife, Audrey Courtney, and has two adult children, Robert and Elizabeth.
ROSA DeLAURO
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE, THIRD DISTRICT, CONNECTICUT
Rosa DeLauro is the Congresswoman from Connecticut’s Third Congressional District, which stretches from the Long Island Sound and New Haven, to the Naugatuck Valley and Waterbury. Rosa serves as Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee and sits on the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, and she is the Ranking Member of the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee, where she oversees our nation’s investments in education, health, and employment.
At the core of Rosa’s work is her fight for America’s working families. Rosa believes that we must raise the nation’s minimum wage, give all employees access to paid sick days, allow employees to take paid family and medical leave, and ensure equal pay for equal work. Every day, Rosa fights for legislation that would give all working families an opportunity to succeed.
Rosa believes that our first priority must be to strengthen the economy and create good middle class jobs. She supports tax cuts for working and middle class families, fought to expand the Child Tax Credit to provide tax relief to millions of families, and introduced the Young Child Tax Credit to give families with young children an economic lift.
Rosa has also fought to stop trade agreements that lower wages and ships jobs overseas, while also protecting the rights of employees and unions. She believes that we need to grow our economy by making smart innovative investments in our infrastructure, which is why she introduced legislation to create a National Infrastructure bank.
Rosa is a leader in fighting to improve and expand federal support for child nutrition and for modernizing our food safety system. She believes that the U.S. should have one agency assigned the responsibility for food safety, rather than the 15 different agencies that lay claim to different parts of our food system. Rosa fights against special interests, like tobacco and e-cigarettes, which seek to skirt our public health and safety rules.
As the Ranking Member dealing with appropriations for Labor, Health, Human Services, and Education, Rosa is determined to increase support for education and make college more affordable for more American students and their families. She is also fighting to protect the Affordable Care Act so that all Americans have access to affordable care. Rosa strongly believes in the power of biomedical research and she is working to increase funding so that we can make lifesaving breakthroughs in science and medicine.
Rosa believes that we have a moral obligation to our nation’s veterans and their families, and her concern for these heroes extends to both their physical and mental well-being. Rosa supports a transformation in how the Department of Veterans Affairs is funded, including advanced appropriations for health services, to ensure its fiscal soundness; and she successfully championed legislation to guarantee that troops deploying to combat theaters get the mental health screening they need both before and after deployment, as well as championed legislation that now provides assistance to today’s Post-9/11 veterans choosing to pursue on-the-job training and apprenticeship programs.
Rosa belongs to 62 House caucus groups and is the co-chair of the Baby Caucus, the Long Island Sound Caucus, and the Food Safety Caucus.
Soon after earning degrees from Marymount College and Columbia University, Rosa followed her parents’ footsteps into public service, serving as the first Executive Director of EMILY's List, a national organization dedicated to increasing the number of women in elected office; Executive Director of Countdown '87, the national campaign that successfully stopped U.S. military aid to the Nicaraguan Contras; and as Chief of Staff to U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd. In 1990, Rosa was elected to the House of Representatives, and she has served as the Congresswoman from Connecticut’s Third Congressional District ever since.
Rosa is married to Stanley Greenberg. Their children--Anna, Kathryn, and Jonathan Greenberg--all are grown and pursuing careers. Rosa and Stan have six grandchildren, Rigby, Teo, Sadie, Jasper, Paola and Gus.
JIM HIMES
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE, FOURTH DISTRICT, CONNECTICUT
U.S. Representative Jim Himes represents Connecticut’s Fourth District and is currently serving his eighth term in Congress. He serves as the Ranking Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and on the House Committee on Financial Services
Representative Himes grew up as the child of a single working mother in a small town. As a member of Congress, he works hard to provide all American children the same opportunities he had to succeed: access to a first-rate public education, affordable and effective health care, a decent and safe home, and a supportive community.
Born in Lima, Peru, in 1966 to American parents, Representative Himes spent the early years of his childhood in Peru and Colombia while his father worked for the Ford Foundation and UNICEF. As an American abroad, he grew up fluent in both Spanish and English and was raised with an awareness of the unique position of the United States in the world. After his parents divorced, he moved with his mother and sisters to the United States.
Representative Himes graduated from Hopewell Valley Central High School and then attended Harvard University. After completing his undergraduate work, he earned a Rhodes Scholarship, which enabled him to attend Oxford University in England. There he continued his studies of Latin America, which included research in El Salvador.
Prior to his service in Congress, Representative Himes operated the New York City branch of the Enterprise Community Partners, a nonprofit dedicated to addressing the unique challenges of urban poverty. His team led the way in financing the construction of thousands of affordable housing units in the greater New York metropolitan region, often using new green technologies to achieve energy efficiency and reduce utility costs.
Representative Himes' experience at Enterprise spurred his involvement in politics. Putting his expertise in affordable housing to work, he served as a commissioner of the Greenwich Housing Authority, ultimately chairing the board and leading it through a much-needed program of reforms. He went on to become an elected member of his town's finance board, setting tax and budget policy for Greenwich. He has also served as Chair of his local Democratic Town Committee, organizing others in the community to become more active in the political process.
Representative Himes began his professional career at Goldman Sachs & Co., where he worked his way up to vice president over the course of a 12-year career. There he worked extensively in Latin America and headed the bank’s telecommunications technology group.
Representative Himes lives in Greenwich with his wife, Mary, and has two daughters, Emma and Linley.
JAHANA HAYES
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE, FIFTH DISTRICT, CONNECTICUT
Jahana Hayes represents Connecticut's 5th District in the United States House of Representatives. The district spans northwest and central Connecticut and includes Danbury, Litchfield County, the Farmington Valley, the Naugatuck Valley, Meriden, and her hometown of Waterbury. She serves on the Committee on Education and the Workforce where she is Vice Ranking Member, and the Committee on Agriculture where she is the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Nutrition, Foreign Agriculture, and Horticulture.
Areas of legislative focus for Congresswoman Hayes are equitable access to quality education, affordable health care, labor, agriculture, and veterans issues. Additional priority areas include: environment, immigration reform, gun violence prevention, social justice, and working in a bipartisan way to bring positive change to the lives of every person in our community.
During her Congressional tenure, Congresswoman Hayes has had 10 bills signed into law. To date she has introduced 62 and cosponsored over 1,754 pieces of legislation across a broad range of topics. Congresswoman Hayes has worked with both the Trump and Biden Administrations and in a bipartisan, bicameral way to bring millions of dollars in assistance back to Connecticut.
Congresswoman Hayes was elected in November 2018, making her the first African-American woman to ever represent the state of Connecticut in Congress. Before running for office, Hayes was a history teacher at John F. Kennedy High School in Waterbury, where she was named Waterbury Teacher of the Year and Connecticut Teacher of the Year, before going on to earn the distinction of 2016 National Teacher of the Year (NTOY).
Hayes is a graduate of Naugatuck Valley Community College, Southern Connecticut State University, the University of Saint Joseph and the University of Bridgeport, having earned a Bachelor's of Arts in history and secondary education, a Master's of Arts in curriculum and instruction, and a 6th year degree in administrative leadership.