The utter desperation of Rep. Gary Turco shilling for the Larson campaign and sticking a shiv into his “good friend” Jillian Gilchrest. Treachery infests plea to stop Bronin at Monday’s nominating convention.

The whiff of fear pervades State Representative Gary Turco’s text message to delegates supporting State Representative Jillian Gilchrest’s bid for the Democratic nomination for Congress on the First District. Turco’s text asks Gilchrest supporters to abandon his “good friend” if at Monday’s nominating convention she does not reach the 15% necessary to qualify for the August primary between incumbent John Larson and surging challenger Luke Bronin.

Turco’s “not this time, Gillian” message announces that this will be Larson’s last term—-and Bronin must be stopped from winning the seat so Gilchrest can try again in two years. Turco is an odd choice for a messenger.

Delegates will not know if Gilchrest has 15% until the end of the roll call, so the switches Turco requests could be fatal to her reaching the magic threshold in the state with the most restrictive ballot access laws in the nation.

Democratic loyalists have been commenting for the past week that Larson’s campaign appears to be struggling to nail down commitments from a majority of delegates. Turco’s text is the first public acknowledgement that Bronin could accomplish what has been thought unthinkable for months: the Hartford Democrat winning the party endorsement at the convention held in Larson’s hometown, East Hartford, denying the 14-term veteran a two-year retirement tour in these urgent times.

Turco and his overmasters want to downplay the West Hartford Democrat’s chances at the convention while ignoring their dread of her greatest campaign asset: Jacqueline Kozin, the best Democratic delegate hunter in the state. She’s faced tougher challenges than this one—and triumphed.

Here is Turco’s fear-filled text message:

*********, this is Gary Turco, State Representative from Newington. This is a real text from my cell phone and not a robotext, I thought it be easier than a phone call since I know we are all bombarded at the moment.

I am reaching out because I am told that you are a strong of Jillian Gilchrest. Jillian is a good friend of mine and someone I think should be our Congressperson in the future.

But, I am hearing that if Jillian Gilchrest does not get the 15% to primary on the first ballot, that Luke Bronin could win the convention and that would give him a huge advantage to win the primary, which would give him a huge advantage to win the primary, which would make it very difficult for Jillian to run in two years after Congressman John Larson retires, which he has strongly signaled will happen.

Can you join me in supporting Congressman at the convention if Jillian doesn’t get the 15% to primary and it is only between Luke and John?

Calls to treachery on convention roll calls are blunt instruments. Their intent is to wound fatally the prospects of a candidate for the sole purpose of heaving over the finish line a competitor who has fallen short on his own. In this intense contest, Turco’s desperate plea is an acknowledgement that after 28 years in Congress 77 year old John Larson has drifted away from the Democratic activists in the 27-town district and is running out of effective pleas to support him and instead must strain to manipulate the presumed interests of those who believe it is time for a change. It’s a dangerous wager that required a more talented messenger than the Larson campaign was able to find.

Published May 9, 2026.