Instead of being on the front lines, Gilchrest has advocated for the cause

By Scott Benjamin

WEST HARTFORD – Early on she found that counseling victims was “too painful.”

After getting her master’s degree in Macro Social Work from the University of Connecticut (UConn) at Storrs, Jillian Gilchrest worked as a child advocate at a sexual assault center in Willimantic.

“I was not designed to work one-on-one,” she explains in an interview with Patch.com.

She would be more comfortable being their government champion.

So, she became a lobbyist, representing non-profits in reproductive health, economic security and anti-social violence.

Over time, Gilchrest said she was “growing frustrated” with state legislators who said the problems had been solved, when she knew that wasn’t the case.

“I knew very early on that I wanted to be on the other side,” declared Gilchrest of her interest in being a state representative.

She did it the hard way – collecting petition signatures in 2018 and defeating 12-term incumbent Andrew Fleischmann in an August Democratic primary in the 18th state House District in West Hartford.

West Hartford constituent Andrew Selinger said he met Gilchrest when she canvassed his home.

“She has tremendous communication skills,” ‘he commented.

“She is very intelligent,” said Brookfield Democratic First Selectman Steve Dunn, who has a daughter who was Gilchrest’s college roommate as an undergraduate at UConn, where Gilchrest earned a bachelor’s degree in Women’s Studies.

State House Deputy Speaker Pro Tempore Bob Godfrey (D-110) of Danbury, who was initially elected in 1988, said, “I identified her early in her time here as someone who would become a leader. That has proven true. Through the years she has effectively handled complex issues as co-chairman of the Human Services Committee and the other activities, such as reproductive rights, that she has championed.”

In August, Gilchrest formally set her sights on Capitol Hill.

She is one of four challengers seeking to unseat U.S. Rep. John Larson of East Hartford for the Democratic nomination in Connecticut’s First District, which has only elected Democrats since the year the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles.

Larson, a senior member of the powerful House Ways & Means Committee and a leader in Connecticut’s efforts to expand fuel cell technology, was initially elected in 1998 - when the federal government had a budget surplus and Spain held more U.S. debt than China.

Multiple challengers running against a Democratic incumbent in a Connecticut congressional district? In a state with nominating conventions and a closed primary system?

It happens about as often as you see an 8-6-2 double play in Game Two of the NLCS.

The other challengers are Hartford Board of Education member Ruth Fortune, Southington Town Council member Jack Perry and former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin.

Among the challengers, attention has largely focused on Bronin, who has a five-star resume, including Yale, Yale Law, Oxford, work for Democratic former President Barack Obama, legal counsel for Democratic former Gov. Dannel Malloy and a bid for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2018.

Larry Lazor of West Hartford, who was the Republican nominee in the First Congressional District in 2022, said Gilchrest’s entry may have altered the race for the Democratic nomination, which likely will be determined in a primary next August.

“It does hurt Luke Bronin that there are so many challengers,” he said.

Godfrey commented, “For the challengers, the challenge is that not many people know them. Plus, incumbents are popular in Connecticut which is the Land Of Steady Habits. We like our incumbents.”

Godfrey added that he believes part of the reason there are multiple challengers is that Democrats have “impatience and visceral frustration with what Donald Trump is doing and they want the party to do more than just stand up and speak, but to take action against the chaos. That I think is a big impulse for Democratic challengers nationally.”

Gilchrest underscored that the district only has 27 municipalities – but it is diverse, with, for example, a large city – Hartford – a small city – West Hartford – a large suburb – Southington -and rural towns - such as Colebrook.

It is home to ESPN in Bristol and 18 insurance companies have a presence in the metro Hartford area.

State Rep. Amy Morrin Bello (D-28) of Wethersfield, a supporter, praised Gilchrest for “doing real, on-the-ground stuff” to meet voters. One popular venue has been playgrounds on Saturday mornings.

Gilchrest said that during one recent session she heard about issues that seldom air on cable news – such as getting assistance from the school system for a child with disabilities, the demonization of transgender people and the need for more clean energy.

Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz (D-Middletown) said earlier this year that although women make up more than half of the population, only 28 percent of the members of the U.S. House are female.

Gilchrest explained, “There are still so many barriers for women in politics. Also, in many fields women are expected to be the primary care-givers for children and for aging family members.”

UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriema has said that women are stronger than men.

Is that true?

Gilchrest agreed, saying, “Women take on a lot physical, mentally. They multi-task. We juggle a lot of things at the same time.”

In an apparent jab at Larson, who has regularly received large checks from big companies, Bronin has said that he will not accept campaign contributions from corporate interests.

Remarked Gilchrest, “I wouldn’t be taking corporate donations even if that had not been called for.”

However, let’s take it a step further. In December 1999 while vying for the Democratic presidential nomination, then-Vice President Al Gore asked former U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.) on NBC’s Meet The Press to agree to suspend their media advertising and debate once a week until the nomination was determined. Bradley did not accept that offer.

Why not get an agreement so that the Democratic candidates in the First Congressional District can spend on whatever they want between now and the nominating convention next May. But in the 11 weeks between the convention and the primary in August they suspend their media advertising and debate once a week in the interest of reducing the influence of special-interest money and better educating the public on the issues in ways that 30-second commercials seldom do.

Commented Gilchrest, “That would be fantastic. I would accept that.”

Gilchrest said she endorses the Stop Act, a subject of a 2016 CBS 60 Minutes segment.

In that telecast, former U.S. Rep. David Jolly (R-FL) said congressmen spend considerable hours during their weeks in Washington at the national party call centers phoning for contributions.

His Stop Act proposal would prohibit t hem from making any phone calls for donations. That would be done by campaign staff, volunteers and consultants. Congressmen could still attend campaign fund-raising events.

Declared Gilchrest, “No one should be elected to go down there to keep raising funds.”

Former U.S. Rep. John Delaney (D-MD), who ran for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, has stated that congressmen have sold a “myth” to their constituents that hey should be like the mayors and attend every ribbon-cutting. Delaney has stated that too often congressmen are jumping from one meeting to the next and seldom acquire the expertise to make the best-informed decisions.

He wrote if being in Washington more weeks from Monday at 9 a.m. to Friday at 5 p.m. would result in more money for infrastructure and community colleges, our constituents would sign off on that.

Gilchrest said she would have a better idea of whether he is right after she had served in Congress for two years, but added, “I can relate to that. We are part-time legislators in the General Assembly trying to solve full-time problems.”

On another subject, Gilchrest said health care costs are too expensive.

However, Republican President George W. Bush signed a Medicare reform package in 2003 that provided prescription drug benefits to non-hospitalized senior citizens. In 2010 Obama approved the national health insurance plan.

Aren’t we better off than where we were a generation ago?

“Both of those policies did transformative things,” Gilchrest exclaimed. “But since then they have been chipped away at. We need to keep building on those policies. We are at a point where people cannot access affordable health care.”

She said that Obama is the elected official that she most admires.

“He was firm and kind,” said Gilchrest.” I admired his work to make healthcare more affordable, ensure women had access to reproductive healthcare and equal pay, and his willingness to address climate change.”

The Center On Budget and Policy Priorities reports that the trustees for Social Security “estimate that if policymakers take no further action, Social Security’s combined Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) and Disability Insurance (DI) trust fund reserves will be depleted in 2034.”

During his 2008 campaign, Obama recommended that people earning $250,000 pay an additional Social Security tax to help keep the system solvent.

Commented Gilchrest, “I would be supportive of that. I think that is a low-hanging fruit. We need to protect” Social Security.

U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), who has labeled himself as a Charlie Baker-Barack Obama Democrats, has called for safety warnings for children on social media apps.

“I don’t oppose them,” said Gilchrest. “However, I think safety warnings for children absent education for parents and community members isn’t really effective.”

On another topic, Gilchrest commented, “I think the military funding is out of control at this point in time.”

Might that hurt contracts for Raytheon, the defense contractor which operates Francis Pratt and Amos Whitney in East Hartford, one of the largest employers in the First District?

Gilchrest said, “It could," but added that Pratt & Whitney “is very skilled.”

Lazor said since the 2019 merger between United Technologies and Raytheon, the company has expanded outside of the state.

“Sadly, Connecticut has lost a lot of jobs at Pratt & Whitney,” he remarked. Raytheon “opened up a site in Alabama, a site in Florida and a site in North Carolina. So if you look at the number of people Pratt & Whitney employs in Connecticut, it is in steady decline. Connecticut is a high-tax state. So they’re making decisions that they can do better in other states.”

Wall Street Journal columnist Alyssa Finley recently wrote that Americans are practicing “buy now, pay later” behavior. Credit card and mortgage debt is similar to the levels during the 2008 Great Recession.

Said Gilchrest, “I don’t think that people can afford their everyday lives .A lot of people are having to put things on credit.”

New York University Finance Professor Thomas Philippon wrote in his 2019 book, “The Great Reversal,” that over the last generation that business consolidation has resulted in less competition. He stated that the country only has four domestic airlines.

Said Gilchrest, “I think that there is so much consolidation now among many different industries.

She complained that there are cable television providers that recruit customers and “then jack up the pries six months later.”

Gilchrest said she supports increasing the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent as Democratic former President Joe Biden proposed.

“When the rate was higher years ago we saw that the economic inequality was a lot less,” she declared.

What are the prime features on Gov. Ned Lamont’s (D-Greenwich) Strat-O-Matic political card? He is in his second term, will probably run for a third term and has among the highest approval ratings of any governor in the country.

Gilchrest said he rated an “eight or a nine” out of top score of 10 during his first term in office as he signed an increase to the minimum wage and established paid family medical leave.

She also praised his response to the 2020 Pandemic, noting that he made “good decisions and put the right people around him.”

Gilchrest lamented that in Lamont’s second term she awards him “a four or five.”:

She commented, “He’s gotten way too conservative and doesn’t realize how dire people’s needs are in the state.”

Resources:

Interview with Jillian Gilchrest on Sunday, Patch.com September 21, 2026.

Phone interview with Jillian Gilchrest, Patch.com, on Friday, September 26, 2025.

E-mail interview with Jillian Gilchrest, Patch.com, on Friday, October 3, 2025.

Phone interview with Andrew Selinger, Patch.com, on Friday, October 3, 2025.

Phone interview with Amy Morrin-Belllo, Patch.com, on Saturday, October 4, 2025.

Phone interview with Larry Lazor, Patch.com, on Sunday, October 5, 2025.

Phone interview with Bob Godfrey, Patch.com, on Monday, October 20, 2025.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/am...

“The Great Reversal,” Thomas Philippon, First Edition, 2019.

“The Right Answer,” John Delaney, Henry Hold and Co., 2018.

https://www.cbpp.org/research/topics/social-security

https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/dec/20/uselections2000.usa

https://patch.com/connecticut/brookfield/bronin-s-platform-fix-tax-code-reduce-deficit-abundance

https://floridapolitics.com/ar...