John B. Larson  John Barry Larson (born July 22, 1948) is an American politician and businessman serving as the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1999. The district is based in the state capital, Hartford. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Larson is the former chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. Larson was born in Hartford, but has spent most of his life in nearby East Hartford. He grew up in a public housing project. He was educated at East Hartford High School and Central Connecticut State University. He worked as a high school history teacher and an assistant athletics coach at George J. Penney High School (later Penney High merged with East Hartford High School). Larson was also the co-owner of an insurance agency in East Hartford before entering public service. In 1971, he was selected as a Senior Fellow to the Yale University Bush Center in Child Development and Social Policy by the Head Start Program founder, Edward Zigler. Larson began his political career in 1977, when he served one term on the East Hartford Board of Education. He then served two terms on the East Hartford Town Council. In 1982, Larson was elected to the Connecticut Senate from the 3rd district, based in East Hartford. He served six terms in that body, the last four as President pro tempore of the Connecticut Senate. In 1994, Larson left the state senate and sought the Democratic nomination for Governor of Connecticut but was defeated by Bill Curry in the primary. After being defeated for governor, Larson entered private business for several years but was able to maintain his political credentials. Due in part to service in the Democratic Party and his local connections in the state, he narrowly defeated Secretary of State Miles Rappaport in the Democratic primary for the 1st District when 17-year incumbent Barbara Kennelly gave up the seat to run for governor in 1998. This was tantamount to election in this heavily Democratic district. He has been re-elected ten times with no substantive opposition. On February 1, 2006, Larson was elected Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus. The previous vice chairman, Jim Clyburn, moved up to chairman when Bob Menendez was appointed to the United States Senate. After the Democrats won control of Congress in the 2006 elections, Larson opted not to run for caucus chairman—a post that went to former Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman Rahm Emanuel, instead running unopposed for re-election as vice chairman. After being re-elected in 2008, Larson was elected chairman of the Caucus for the 111th Congress, after Emanuel was named White House Chief of Staff.