Man, is William Tong pissed. And he wants you to know it. Don’t get him started about ICE. Don’t get him started about the Trump administration trying to stop Connecticut from enforcing a law requiring agents to wear masks and stay out of courthouses. Well, do get Tong started. Because he’s running for a third four-year term as Connecticut attorney general. The 60-plus lawsuits he’s filed against the Trump administration on issues like that form a centerpiece of his argument for reelection. “Connecticut is under attack every single day, and and we need to build an even stronger firewall to protect Connecticut families,” the 53-year-old Democrat declared during a conversation Thursday on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven.” “I’ve been doing that for eight years, and have stood up to the most powerful forces, the biggest, most powerful corporate monopolies, the president of the United States. “I don’t care how big or bad you are. If you hurt Connecticut, I’m going to fight back.” Add up his 220-attorney office’s legal actions against not just the feds but against corporate Big Tech and Big Pharma and utilities (often in conjuntion with other states), Tong said: Connecticut has taken in or protected $5.2 billion. Twenty-two times his office’s annual budget. I got Tong started on ICE during the “Dateline” interview. I asked him about the argument made by Republicans — including Tong’s Republican opponent, John Bolton  — that the supremacy clause bars Connecticut from interfering with federal immigration enforcement. Including where agents can go and how they conduct themselves. That’s a central issue as Tong’s office defends the state and city against a Trump suit against the TRUST Act. And how often to sue Trump is a central issue in the attorney general race. “Let’s just do constitutional law again in 15 seconds,” Tong responded. “A lot of armchair quarterbacks, people in their basements, get on social media and tell me what the Constitution says. Let me just educate people. OK. The supremacy clause does not mean that I have to do everything Donald Trump says. It has never meant that in 250 years. We never gave up our sovereignty as a state. The supremacy clause says that when we, the states, delegate authority to the federal government over things like foreign affairs and yes, immigration. It is not supreme in all cases, everywhere, at any time. “States have rights. The federal government has duties, duties to us, duties to keep us safe, duties to protect American citizens and families, and yes, not to terrorize immigrants who do so much for New Haven and for Connecticut and for our country.” Tong, whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from China, drew a breath. A short breath. Turned it down a notch.  “I’m sorry if I’m getting a little hot here, but this is really personal to me. Turns out, according to the Supreme Court, six-three, I’m an American. Thank goodness. Yes, I am the first American citizen in my immediate family by right of my birth on American soil in Hartford Hospital.” Tong spoke with urgency throughout the conversation, as he has pretty much since Inauguration Day 2025, as he described the state’s efforts to fight federal intervention in elections. He spoke of suing to stop executive orders, including one that would have instituted a citizenship test for voters. He spoke of the legal battle du jour, against Trump’s directive to use voting lists to have the post office block certain people from receiving ballots. “Now they’re trying to use the Postal Service to stop people from voting. This is about Donald Trump using the Postal Service to pick and choose who he wants to vote, and to not just influence or impair or interfere with our elections, but to steal them, right? “I don’t care who the president is. My job is to protect Connecticut and to protect the franchise. … “It’s the job of states to run elections. We’re going to let one wannabe king or dictator choose who gets to vote? I mean, it’s outrageous.” In many of the lawsuits, Tong has joined fellow Democratic attorneys general in suing Trump. But other lawsuits do involve a broader bipartisan group. As president of the National Association of Attorneys General, he said, he sees firsthand how challenges against increasingly concentrated corporate power can unite Democrats and Republicans. Like the recent $17 billion settlement ($265.4 million earmarked for Connecticut) with Meta to remediate social-media harm to young people. Or the $7.4 billion victory against Purdue Pharma over its role in fueling the opioid and addiction crisis. Fatal fentanyl overdoses have declined siince that settlement. Meanwhile, new deadlier synthetic opioids — some too new to be illegal — flood onto U.S. streets. Does that ever discourage Tong? Does it make him question whether an attorney general’s successful efforts in court may not prove enough to tackle the crisis? He leapt at the question. “I never get discouraged,” he responded. “I never quit. I never back down, because every life saved, every community helped and strengthened, is meaningful. When I became attorney general, we lost 1,500 people a year to the opioid and addiction crisis. That’s 1,500 families wrecked by this crisis. And I know these people. I see these people. I know the moms that have suffered and the dads. That number, the number of people who have died, has gone down since we’ve taken this action. “Nobody is popping champagne corks or celebrating. But what I am saying is that all these efforts make a difference. You can’t ever get discouraged, especially when you’re standing up for people and families who are losing so much. They depend on you to keep bringing it and to hang in there.” Click on the below video to watch the full conversation with Connecticut Attorney General William Tong on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven.” Click here to subscribe or here to listen to other episodes of “Dateline New Haven.” And click here and below to read and watch an interview with Republican attorney general candidate John Bolton. William Tong with New New Haven Advocate Editors Tom Smith, Colleen Van Tassell, and John Guilemette between segments Thursday at WNHH FM. Paul Bass Photo The post Tong Vows To Keep Fighting Trump appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less