Introduction
Elections in the United States of America are a way of exercising the right to vote, one of the citizens’ most fundamental rights. There are two main political alignments: the Democratic and Republican parties. Voters must be enlightened about their representatives and senators’ impact on their congressional districts and states, respectively.
This research paper aims to determine the effect of electing both the senator and representative to inform voters and help them in their decision-making process. This will be done by investigating recent political trends in a voter’s state and District. It will also show how these leaders rose to power and if they keep their promises once they go to Washington. Being from Connecticut state, the senator is Chris Murphy, and the representative is Jim Himes, representing the 4th District.
The Political History of Connecticut
Connecticut is located in the northeastern region of the United States of America. It is known for being home to renowned authors Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher (Terbeek, n.d.). The state of Connecticut has been dominated by the rule of the Democratic party for a long time. Political alignments were formed during conflicts that arose in the middle of the 18th century (Terbeek, n.d.). These conflicts arose due to religious, economic, and political misunderstandings. No Senate seat has been won by a Republican since 1982, with their counterparts, the Democrats, winning against them. They formed an establishment that was used as the decisive body to bring sanity to the state.
In the House of Representatives, the last Republican to hold a seat was lost in 2008. Currently, every seat in that house is held by a Democrat. There has been a mixed trend in the history of the presidential election in Connecticut. In 2008, Connecticut became one of the first states to do same-sex marriage among couples. Congressman Jim Himes heads the 4th District, which comprises New Haven County and Fairfield County. It hosts around 707,000 people aligned primarily with the Republican Party, according to researchers. This is mainly because the political party is perceived to bring the church and the state close.
How District and State Have Voted in the Past 25 Years
In the past 25 years, the state of Connecticut has voted in favor of the Democratic party in the presidential election and Senate. There has been competition between the two parties, with the Republicans also taking a few seats in Congress. Since 2000, Connecticut has voted in favor of the Democrat party in the presidential election (Simmons, 2021).
In the most recent elections, Connecticut voted for Joe Biden of the Democratic party, and he won the election. In Congress, the state is also dominated by the blue party of Democrats. The 4th District follows similar trends in the president’s election into the U.S. White House. Close competition has recently been between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.
The Pattern of Supporting the Republican and Democratic Parties
The State of Connecticut has supported the Democratic party for an extended period. Before the year 2000, the citizens of this state mainly voted for the Republican Party except on the two last occasions (Kingzette et al., 2021). Residents of this state have voted in favor of the Blue party since 2000 (Kingzette et al., 2021). Sometimes, their presidential choices have won and have failed on several occasions.
In the most recent elections, citizens of this state voted in favor of the current president, Joe Biden, of the Democratic party. They also voted for Bill Clinton, who was part of the Democratic party but was defeated by Donald Trump. Today, the state is not considered a battleground between the two parties as it majorly supports the Democratic Party.
The 4th District follows suit in its voting patterns but needs to be more precise than the state’s overall. There have been changing trends in support, whereby, on some occasions, the Republican Party has gained support. The trends fluctuate due to differences in campaign strategies between the two parties. Sometimes, the will of the citizens is aligned with the promises of the Republican party, which makes it rise in support (Johnston et al., 2019). The party is said to have a possibility of bringing the state and the church close. This gives it an edge over its counterparts among residents of the 4th District.
How Representatives and Senators Came to Power
Christopher Murphy is the current Senator of Connecticut state and has served since 2013. Before that, Christopher was the House Representative of the 5th Congressional District of Connecticut. In addition, Murphy served in that position from 2007 to 2013 and was also a member of both chambers of the General Assembly of Connecticut. Chris is a lawyer and an author, born in 1973. Mr. Murphy served two terms in the House of Representatives from 1999 to 2003. Christopher also served two terms in the Connecticut Senate from 2003 to 2007.
Jim Himes holds the office of the House of Representatives representing the 4th District of Connecticut. Mr. Himes is a member of the Democratic Party and was born in 1966 in Peru. Himes has served since 2009 and is also a businessman. In 2002, Himes was appointed commissioner of the Greenwich Housing Authority and served for two years. Jim chaired the Greenwich board, which was responsible for taxation and estimates.
The aim of creating the Senate in the United States of America was to make a fence against the fickleness and passion that influenced the attitude of the public and House of Representatives members. Representatives are elected by eligible voters who reside in the congressional District the candidates represent. The state legislatures chose the senators until the ratification of the 17th Amendment. The six-year term gives them more time and an opportunity to serve the people they represent. The vice president is usually the president of the Senate and has the power to preside over its daily proceedings as the Constitution.
Legislations Sponsored by the Representative and Senator
Having grown up in Wethersfield, Senator Chris Murphy became interested in public service to the extent of participating in clean-up exercises. Chris Murphy has recently sponsored legislation on climate change, which he believes there should be aggressive policies. The legislation is known as the Super Pollutants Act of 2019. The senator has set ambitious targets for reducing carbon emissions by 2030 (Hertel-Fernandez et al., 2018).
This motion will also ensure that greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to suitable levels under the leadership of President Joe Biden. The legislation has not yet become law, and the senator included it in the campaigns while running for office. This legislation aligns with biblical principles in the protection of the environment to enable a safe living planet for human beings.
Jim Himes has sponsored seventy-five bills, and the recent one was based on reducing the presence of the U.S. in Afghanistan to shape counterterrorism in 2022. The legislation is known as the Reclamation of War Powers Act, which referred to Foreign Affairs and Armed Services. Jim believed the world should not have nuclear weapons and supported sanctions on Iran (Schuur et al., 2019). Mr. Himes believes too much deployment of U.S. security to the nation of Afghanistan will make the government of the U.S. lose shape in countering terrorist attacks (Schuur et al., 2019).
Jim is determined to make his point work in the government of the current president. Himes included this legislation while running for office, but it has not yet been passed into law. This legislation is inconsistent with biblical principles since it advocates for sanctions on a particular nation, Iran, in this case.
How Interest Groups Rate the Representative and Senator
A high rating in terms of delivering Murphy’s promises to the people during their campaigns in Connecticut. The American Civil Liberties Union rates Chris Murphy 88 percent in terms of performance (Cody, n.d.). The organization gives a rating similar to that of the representative, Jim Himes. Chris Murphy is rated 80 percent by the American Conservative Union (Cody, n.d.).
The body rates Jim Himes 78 percent in the latest research (Cody, n.d.). The Americans with Disabilities Act rates Jim Himes 85 percent and Senator Chris Murphy 80 percent (Cody, n.d.). The Christian Coalition (CC) rates Jim Himes at 80 percent and Chris Murphy at 85 percent (Cody, n.d.). The ratings are given based on past decisions and actions by the senators, representatives, and governors.
Classification of Representative and Senator as Conservative or Liberal
A conservative leader seeks to preserve traditional values, traditions, and institutions. In the U.S., the citizens love maintaining their culture to avoid being eroded by foreign cultures. Some politicians work to preserve American culture, while others do not take care of their ancient practices. To ascertain their performance levels based on these aspects, Jim Himes and Chris Murphy are rated differently by unions, including the CC, ACLU, and ADA (Schuur et al., 2019). Liberal leaders, on the other hand, work on protecting the rights of a person based on liberty and political equality before the law.
A liberal leader believes that the government must sustain social and political variations. The ACLU gives a rating of 88% to Chris Murphy and Jim Himes (Cody, n.d.). This means that they are liberal leaders of their hard work in the laws they are sponsoring. Chris Murphy is determined to protect the planet by fighting global warming. Chris Murphy is after taking care of climatic change and protecting the environment. On the other hand, Jim Himes supports human rights and wishes to protect American citizens from terrorist attacks. Jim prefers that the government reduce its presence in Afghanistan and make more efforts to protect the country internally.
Conclusion
This research paper shows that electing leaders who defend the rights of its citizens is essential for residents of Connecticut and the 4th District. Voting patterns in Connecticut have changed occasionally, but it has remained clear that they lean towards the Democratic party candidates. People of the 4th District also have shown variance in their choice of leaders and have tended to vote for the Democratic party.
Voters need to be made aware of the choices they make and the consequences they receive. However, from the ratings given by different organizations, it is evident that the residents made the right choices. The people of the U.S. need to make choices of leaders to elect based on their performance and not political alignments of the Republican or Democratic parties.
References
Cody. (n.d.). Summary Statistics – Rate your politician – top senators – governors – representatives | common ground scorecard index | common grounder commitments. Common ground scorecard. Web.
‌Hertel-Fernandez, A., Mildenberger, M., & Stokes, L. C. (2018). Legislative staff and representation in Congress. American Political Science Review, 113(1), 1–18. Web.
Johnston, R., Rohla, R., Manley, D., & Jones, K. (2019). Voting for Trump and the electoral mosaics of U.S. metropolitan areas: Exploring changing patterns of party support by neighborhood. Cities, 86, 94–101. Web.
Kingzette, J., Druckman, J. N., Klar, S., Krupnikov, Y., Levendusky, M., & Ryan, J. B. (2021). How affective polarization undermines support for democratic norms. Public Opinion Quarterly, 85(2). Web.
‌Simmons, L. (2021). Building political action coalitions in Connecticut. In Partnering for change (pp. 147-162). Routledge. Web.
Schuur, J. D., Decker, H., & Baker, O. (2019). Association of physician organization–affiliated political action committee contributions with US House of Representatives and Senate candidates’ stances on firearm regulation. JAMA Network Open, 2(2), e187831. Web.
‌Terbeek, C. (n.d.). “Clocks must always be turned back”: brown v. Board of Education and the racial origins of constitutional originalism. American Political Science Review, 1–14. Web.