U.S. House of Representatives
Elections 2018 Chris Murphy In 2018, Hayes ran for the Democratic nomination for Connecticut's 5th congressional district. In the November general election, she faced Republican Manny Santos, a former mayor of
Meriden. Her candidacy was also supported by the
Connecticut Working Families Party (CTWFP). were the first women
of color to be elected to Congress from
New England.
2020 Hayes was reelected, defeating the Republican nominee, former federal prosecutor David X. Sullivan, with 55.1% of the vote.
2022 Jennifer Moffitt in 2022 Hayes ran for reelection in
2022 and faced the most competitive election of her career. She narrowly defeated Republican
state Senator George Logan in the general with a margin of 0.8%. She was questioned during the campaign about the ethics of hiring two of her children to work and receive a salary as campaign staffers.
2024 In 2024, Hayes defeated Republican nominee
George Logan in a rematch of the 2022 election.
Tenure Hayes was sworn into office on January 3, 2019, as the
U.S. representative for
Connecticut's 5th congressional district. During the
116th Congress, she was appointed to the
Education and Labor and
Agriculture committees. After the
2020 elections, Hayes was reported to be on the shortlist for
Secretary of Education in the incoming
Biden administration, though the role eventually went to Connecticut
State Commissioner of Education Miguel Cardona. At the start of her second term, Hayes circulated a letter to the Republican House leadership urging it not to place Representative
Marjorie Taylor Greene on the House Education Committee, citing Greene's claims that mass school shootings, including the
Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, which occurred in Hayes's district, were false flag operations. In May 2023, during her third term, Hayes was among the 46 Democrats who voted against final passage of the
Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 in the House. The following month, during the
United States House Committee on Education and the Workforce hearings on a proposed federal ban on transgender athletes, she criticized the bill, stating, "We are talking about a very small percentage ... So this hearing, this legislation, these conversations further put a target on the backs of these students who are already in the scariest times of their lives."
Committee assignments For the
119th Congress: •
Committee on Agriculture •
Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry •
Subcommittee on Nutrition and Foreign Agriculture (Ranking Member) •
Committee on Education and Workforce •
Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education •
Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Caucus memberships Hayes's
caucus memberships include: •
Black Maternal Health Caucus •
Congressional Black Caucus (Educating for the Future Task Force, chair) • Gun Violence Prevention Task Force (
deputy whip) • Friends of Ireland Caucus (co-chair) • College Affordability Caucus (chair) ==Personal life==