WATERBURY, Conn. — As he walks his state end to end this week for the 10th year in a row, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) offered a warning for his fellow Democrats: They need to be louder about fighting corporate power.
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Logging 20 miles a day on foot for his annual “Walk Across Connecticut,” the potential 2028 presidential candidate has been speaking with anyone he might encounter on his path, sometimes on a sidewalk, other times the side of a highway.
His first few days featured conversations with conservative-leaning voters in fading manufacturing towns like Waterbury, he said.
A liberal who has sought to push the idea of “economic nationalism,” Murphy said the chats made it clear they view immigrants and billionaires as twin forces destroying the economic system.
“But they’re only hearing one message that speaks to them, which is Trump talking about immigrants,” Murphy said. “They don’t hear Democrats telling the true story about the way that the economy is losing to benefit the very, very rich and the corporations.”
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Some Democratic Senate candidates this year — including James Talarico in Texas, Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota and Sen. Jon Ossoff in Georgia — were the exception to the rule, bringing up a minimum-wage increase or a congressional stock-trading ban.
But the whole party should adopt “a more pugilistic message about corporate power” to win back control of Congress — and more importantly, win back voters’ trust, he said.
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