NEW HAVEN, CT — U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro won a 19th two-year term in Connecticut's 3rd Congressional District on Tuesday, Nov. 3, and with Democrats taking control of the U.S. House, she is in line to lead the House Appropriations Committee again.
The Associated Press projected DeLauro's win on election night. With about 94% of the expected vote counted, she had 60.4% to 36.4% for Republican Chris Lancia, a Coast Guard veteran in his first run for office, NBC News reported Wednesday afternoon. Independent Party nominee Thomas Egan had 3.2%, and Andrew Rice ran as a write-in. In New Haven alone, DeLauro drew 15,906 votes to Lancia's 2,213, according to the city's unofficial totals posted by Patch.
DeLauro marked the win with 75 to 80 supporters in the upstairs lounge of the Shubert Theatre, the New Haven Independent reported. "We don't have the final numbers, but they're all winners," she said of the state's Democratic House candidates, according to CT Mirror.
Back in Line for the Appropriations Gavel
The Associated Press reported early Wednesday that Democrats had won the House majority as well as the Senate. DeLauro has been the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, which writes the bills that fund the federal government, since 2023, and she chaired it for two years starting in 2021. A Democratic House puts her in line to chair it again, the New Haven Independent reported. She told CT Mirror she wants the gavel and would use it to "restore the power of the purse to the Congress."
Her Priorities for the New Term
In her victory speech, DeLauro said she would work to reverse cuts to Medicaid and to the subsidies that help people buy Obamacare coverage, push for an end to the war with Iran, lift the minimum wage, and bring down what people pay for health care and prescription drugs, according to the Independent. She also promised oversight of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and of what she called corruption in the Trump administration. "Yes, we're going to go after Hegseth," she said.
The Independent also reported that DeLauro said Friday she will bring back a Medicare for All proposal, one that widens public coverage while keeping private insurance.