As The World Outside Suddenly Changed, DeLauro Crowd Partied

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro of New Haven is on her way back to Congress for a 14th term.

With ​“Proud Mary” pumping and a crowd of more than 100 supporters cheering her on at the Shubert Theater, DeLauro spoke Tuesday night about a new world order. One where Hillary Clinton would be president and the Democrats take back the U.S. Senate and pick up some additional seats in the House of Representatives.

It didn’t work out that way. At all.

But that reality hadn’t yet sunk in at the Shubert during the first hour after polls closed, and Democrat DeLauro had coasted to reelection with an estimated 75 percent of the vote. As DeLauro posed for celebratory selfies, the crowd had last heard that pundits projected a Hillary Clinton possible landslide, or at least a comfortable victory.

“We have a real chance to turn the page in Washington, D.C. and in our country,” DeLauro told the crowd, which also hadn’t heard the news that the fortunes of Democrats nationwide had suddenly plummeted in that hour. ​“We are going to battle for the middle class. We are going to battle for families. We’re not going to battle for corporate interests.”

DeLauro confidently predicated that not only would Clinton be elected president, making history as the first woman president of the United States, but that it would make the difference in key issues that impact women and families.

“She will be a partner in the fight for equal pay, for equal work,” she said to cheers from the crowd. ​“She will be a partner in fight for paid family leave for college affordability, for child care affordability and she is committed to rebuilding this country, rebuilding our infrastructure. She’s going to create American jobs and rising incomes and that’s what we have to do in this country.”

DeLauro said she was going back to Congress ​“reenergized for the challenges ahead.”

“I truly promise this to you that I will not shy away from the hard fought battles,” she said. ​“I never have. I never will.”