At a time when young people are less likely to identify with either major party, Robert Alves and Ben Proto, the heads of the state Democratic and Republican parties, respectively, pitched competing visions to CT Examiner for how they can attract this next generation.
“Affordability,” a buzzword that’s captured the national political conversation in recent weeks, was key.
Alves, who has chaired the Connecticut Democratic Party since Feb. 1, 2025, said that the Democratic Party is the party working to make things more affordable for young people.
“We want Connecticut to be affordable, and we want things to invest in things that also match our morals,” he told CT Examiner in a recent interview by phone.
Alves said Democrats also want to protect a women’s reproductive rights and accessibility to healthcare. But the “big tent” quality and the core values of the party, he said, was the primary draw for all voters, not just young people.
“There’s a home for you,” Alves said. “We don’t always have to agree, but there’s the core things that we value in Connecticut.”
Proto, who has chaired the Connecticut GOP since June 2021, said young people should join and support the Republican party for a simple reason: their future.
Affordability and economic opportunity, Proto said, are the strengths that the GOP has over the Democrats.
“I think at the end of the day, everyone – I don’t care what generation you are – cares primarily about one thing and that’s their ability to pay their bills,” he told CT Examiner in a separate interview by phone.
And while this may be the biggest issue voters face in their day-to-day lives, Proto said, it isn’t necessarily the issue that grabs attention.
“I think, ultimately, the primary issue is affordability and financial. I think the Democrats are really bad on it, and so they’ve coopted social issues, which play far better on social media.”
“I don’t think it’s fair to bucket into a social or economic, because those things aren’t mutually exclusive. A lot of the issues that causes social problems are economics,” Alves said.
A Pew Research Center poll found that only 52% of voters under 25 identify with a political party, with roughly half of that population saying they are something else or independent, and a Yale study recently found that not only is the voting population under 30 just as diverse as the wider voting public, but that voters ages 18 to 21 preferred Republican candidates by a margin of 11.7 points.
Those results, tossing out the conventional wisdom that young people skew liberal, suggest an important change in politics, according to both Alves and Proto.
Proto said it’s the constant conflict that turns young people off to party politics generally, but that young people were gravitating towards the Republican party because its philosophy was becoming more popular.
“They don’t like the tone of the conversation,” Proto said. “They don’t like the constant fighting and bickering and screaming and yelling and name calling that the parties engage in, so I think that has turned off some of them.”
“But as we’re looking at, over the last couple of years, I think we’re beginning to see more young people moving towards the Republican philosophy and the, you know, the less entitled and more opportunity driven.”
Alves, on the other hand, said that the draw towards conservatism was the result of previous mistakes by Democrats.
Speaking about young people, Alves said, “I think that Democrats, for a long time, took a lot of their support for granted and they didn’t do a good job at telling people all the great work that they were doing. So that part of it was their messaging.”
Alves also said that some young people have views that don’t always align neatly with every issue, and that makes them feel as though neither party is quite right for them.
But it’s that diversity of opinion, he said, that the Democratic party can accommodate and welcomes.
“They may be socially with Democrats, but economically, they may be a little bit more conservative,” Alves said. “And that’s where I say to young people, the Democratic Party is the home for you. We’re the big tent party. We have progressive Democrats, liberal Democrats, we also have conservative Democrats.”
Alves drew a line between state and national Democrats.
Alves, for his part, said Connecticut Democrats are not only “absolutely” different from the national party, but that they are better in some ways, particularly in terms of accomplishing goals and delivering on promises to constituents.
“I think we can be a model for the national party on so many levels,” Alves said.
“We have the majority of municipal officials now,” Alves said. “We have the governorship. We have all the state constitutional officers and all the federal officers.”
“It’s because we deliver – it’s because the work is being done.”
Proto in contrast described a more consistent set of values that he said animates Republicans on the state and national level.
“I think, you know, when you look across the country, where you are geographically, sometimes there are different thought processes,” Proto said.
Republicans across the nation more or less share the same vision of the country, Proto said. When it comes to the core values, such as the belief in individual rights, belief in the Constitution, belief in the judicial system and belief in personal responsibility, the Connecticut GOP is not unlike other Republican parties across the nation and in Washington.
But both Alves and Proto agree that for young people interested in politics, the place to start is closer to home.
“The best way for young Democrats to get involved is to call their local DTCs. You can reach out to the state party and tell them you want to get involved,” Alves said.
“Find your place, find your role, and then find your mentor. Find somebody who wants to take you under their wing, who you want to learn from.”
Connecticut politics, Proto said, are uniquely structured in a way that helps young people get involved.
“The thing about Connecticut, unlike 48 other states, is we don’t have regional political geography, so everything is done from the 169 towns, both on the Republican and Democrat side,” Proto said. “If we were to go to any other state, it would be the county structure, a much larger geography being involved.”
“So, if you want to get involved, look to your local town committee.”
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Harvey is a graduating senior from UConn’s Department of Journalism