U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy looked with curiosity at the storefronts as he walked down the streets of Naugatuck Thursday. Unassuming in a baseball cap, a T-shirt, shorts and sneakers, people were often surprised when they realized they were speaking with the senator as he introduced himself.
Winding down his Walk Across Connecticut, an annual tradition for the past decade, Murphy said it did not surprise him that affordability remains the top issue that worries residents the most.
“People’s budgets are getting more and more squeezed,” he said. “Wages are not going up fast enough and the cost of everything is getting higher. People are already panicked.”
Every year, Murphy walks 70 to 100 miles over four days to connect with residents and hear their concerns. The senator began his walk in Colebrook on Tuesday and will finish in Bridgeport on Friday.
“I’ve been walking through a less affluent part of the state this year,” Murphy said, explaining how he walked through Torrington and Waterbury.
He shared the story of a woman he met along the walk who works at a local motel and can barely pay her bills. Furthermore, she was given no vacation over five years, he said.
“She feels suffocated,” he said.
He also met another couple who lost their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits due to tightening eligibility requirements in the program under Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill.
Murphy said the couple was taking a bus to New Haven to get a meal, which would take six hours...
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