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Vulnerable Democrat Went to the DNC While Her Constituents Back Home Faced Disaster

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  August 28, 2024 5:15 PM

While plenty of vulnerable Democratic incumbents stayed far away from last week's DNC, there were those who did show up. Such appearances certainly went noticed by Republicans, especially when it comes to Rep. Jahana Hayes of Connecticut's 5th Congressional District. 

Hayes left Connecticut on a Sunday and was all too happy to post about various parts of her arrival, including when she arrived at airport. That same day, however, the CT Emergency Management & Homeland Security X account warned of "Flash flood warnings." Hayes still posted approximately 20 minutes later how excited she was for the CT delegation to be "checking in" at the DNC.

Two women died as a result of the flash floods, with the police identifying the victims on Monday, who were both from Oxford, Connecticut. 

Hayes also posted a video from her official account last Wednesday night speaking to how she had spoken with federal officials to get FEMA assistance for her district. She did so while still in Chicago for the DNC.

The congresswoman also claimed in such a video that she could not get a flight home. However, flightstats.com showed that there were several flights between Chicago O'Hare and Hartford on Monday, August 19th, on Tuesday, August 20th, and on Wednesday, August 21st. 

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Many users chimed in to give thanks to the congresswoman, but still others took issue with her remaining in Chicago.

On Thursday, Hayes once more posted about the floods, in what appeared to be some sort of self-congratulations from the congresswoman. 

"Some love to play for the cameras, but real leaders support what’s necessary to make our communities more prepared and resilient in the face of unexpected events," Hayes wrote, despite how she remained in Chicago while her constituents faced natural disaster. "That means investing in preparedness, infrastructure, Nat’l Weather Services, climate resilience, first responders and securing federal funds for damage mitigation-exactly the kind of things that Republicans always oppose," she continued, making it a partisan issue. 

"It’s easy to show up for a photo op, it’s a lot harder to do the work that will make our communities safe," Hayes even wrote to conclude her post.

That post also earned considerable outrage from users through numerous replies and quoted reposts who used her own words against the congresswoman. 

Another Connecticut Democrat, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), also appeared at the DNC to give a speech about Vice President Kamala Harris' supposed strengths on immigration in what the Trump-Vance campaign referred to at the time as "the most absurd lie yet from the DNC stage."

In contrast, Hayes' Republican challenger, George Logan, was out in the community surveying the damage and speaking to residents who had been affected by the flooding while the congresswoman was at the DNC.

Logan also called out Hayes' shortcomings over his own X account, referring to them as "unfortunate." With original emphasis, he also noted that "her statement explaining her absence made several claims that are inconsistent with the facts," especially when it comes to the flights available.

He also criticized the congresswoman for misidentifying which parts of the district were affected. "If she were here to see the damage firsthand, perhaps she would know the affected area was Southwestern Connecticut," he noted about Hayes.

"The Congresswoman must be transparent and answer for her inconsistencies immediately. If you’re going to be out politicking with fellow partisans while your constituents endure a once in a lifetime natural disaster, you should at least be straight with them about it," Logan wrote to conclude his post.

Tellingly, a local outlet, the Republican American, did a poll recently asking residents if the congresswoman should "have returned from the DNC to respond to the floods in her district," with 67 percent saying "Yes, her presence was needed." Thirty-three percent answered "No, it would have been performative and CT's federal legislative delegation already secured emergency funds."

The National Republican Congressional Committee was all too happy to share the results over X earlier this week. 

Connecticut's 5th Congressional District is one of the closely-watched House races this year with Hayes and Logan once more facing off. Hayes narrowly won in 2022 with 50.4 percent of the vote to Logan's 49.6 percent in what was mostly regarded as a "Toss-Up" race.