The Hilltop Brigade began in 2006 as an email list of friends and friends-of-friends interested in national and international affairs and deeply concerned about the direction our country was heading in under President Bush and the Republicans. Our strategy that first year was to leverage volunteers from Connecticut's two "safe" Democratic congressional districts to help defeat the Republican incumbents in Connecticut's three adjacent congressional districts.
Supported and encouraged by Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro and Congressman John Larson, the Hilltop Brigade helped flipped two of Connecticut's Republican-held seats to Democratic. We decided to canvass, to meet voters at their doors and remind them how important their vote is. Our volunteers not only encouraged more voting, we each learned how personally invigorating it is to do something so positive and effective in a critical election.
In 2008 we again canvassed in October and flipped the final seat.
In 2012, the Hilltop Brigade made advance trips to Washington to make sure that the Democratic campaigns would include our canvasses as they planned their field operations. We worked with the campaigns to try to assure that the canvasses were well-run and that our volunteers got the support they needed, that the volunteers would have a good experience so that they would come back.
That year, 2012, when Chris ran for Senate and Linda McMahon spent $50 million of her own money against him, we expanded our operations. Parties at Rosa’s house in New Haven were a huge draw and Dick Blumenthal was a stalwart supporter, attending recruiting parties when possible, and showing up for canvassing on multiple occasions.
In addition to the October Saturday canvasses in the Second, Fourth and Fifth districts, we sent volunteers to canvasses run by Roland Lamar out of his office in New Haven. We added Sunday canvasses in New Haven, as well. And we paid a lot of attention to the send-off of canvassers – often having special political “celebrities” there to help make our canvassers feel as special and valued as they truly are!
Come 2014, with Connecticut’s five Congressional districts, a comfortable blue, the Brigade disbanded—but not for long! The 2016 election showed we needed to keep our own congressional delegation strong, and look beyond to other critical elections in states that could use some reinforcements.
In 2018, when Teacher of the Year Jahana Hayes decided to run in the closely divided 5th District, the Brigade volunteers rallied to support her to victory.
In 2020, Covid didn’t stop the Brigade, which switched from door-to-door canvasing to phone banking to help incumbent Congresswoman Susan Wild’s campaign in her critical 7th District in Pennsylvania.
It’s time to get back to work to make sure Connecticut stays blue—and do our part to take back the House of Representatives! Seldom have the citizens in our state had such potential influence, both locally and nationally, to impact our country’s history. Our mission in 2024 is to support incumbent Jahana Hayes in the highly contested 5th District, which has become a target of the Republican national party. Let them try!
We look forward to our challenge—and our upcoming victory. Join Us
Rita Berkson, Penny Bellamy, Rosa DeLauro, and Stephanie Farber
