Ethan Wolin, Contributing Photographer

Sen. Richard Blumenthal LAW ’73 returned to his alma mater on Tuesday evening to speak to the Yale College Democrats.

The senior Connecticut senator mostly recounted anecdotes from his long political career and offered advice for novices. The hourlong event in Linsly-Chittenden Hall was interrupted briefly by pro-Palestine protesters.

Standing before a crowd of roughly 100 students, Blumenthal stressed the value of starting out in politics by forming relationships through local campaigns and community organizations.

“Go back to your roots,” Blumenthal said he was told by Justice Byron White LAW ’46 during the now-senator’s year clerking for Justice Harry Blackmun. Blumenthal added, “You don’t have to go back to your hometown, but you do have to set down some roots.”

Five minutes into the senator’s introductory remarks, an attendee stood up and began to read a statement demanding that Blumenthal “call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.”

About a dozen students pulled out pieces of white cloth with the word “ceasefire,” and some held them up while walking by Blumenthal at the front of the room.

“You refuse to hold Israel accountable, but we will hold you accountable,” the protester yelled, referring to the over 32,000 people Israel has killed in Gaza since Hamas killed 1,200 and took over 250 as hostages during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel. “Shame on you, senator, and shame on all of you who remain complicit.”

The protesters, numbering about 30, marched out of the room while chanting “shame.” Blumenthal resumed a minute and a half after he had been interrupted and said he regretted that the protesters could not hear his position on the ongoing war.

He told the remaining group that he supports an “extended pause” in fighting along with the release of Israeli hostages and certain Palestinians imprisoned in Israel. He also called for increased humanitarian aid to Gaza.

“Many in the Congress, like the president, are losing patience with the Netanyahu government,” Blumenthal said, referring to Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

The rest of the event focused less on current events than on sometimes extended stories from Blumenthal’s nearly five decades in public life.

When asked how individual testimonies affect policymaking, Blumenthal spoke about the PACT Act of 2022, which expanded benefits for veterans exposed to toxic chemicals, and brought up legislation he has introduced to protect minors on social media.

During the Q&A section near the end of the hour, one student asked Blumenthal whether it amounted to a conflict of interest for members of Congress to trade stocks.

Blumenthal, whose wealth exceeded $80 million in 2015, said he holds no individual stocks personally and has no hand in trades by his wife’s company that he reports in disclosure forms. He would support banning members of Congress and their spouses from owning stocks, Blumenthal said, adding that it was “pretty tender territory” at home, a line that drew laughs.

Blumenthal told the News after the event ended that he enjoys returning to Yale, where he attended law school and where three of his four children have been students. The fourth will start at the law school in the fall.

He said he was not surprised by the pro-Palestine protests. “What I really hope to do with protesters is to engage with them and hear their point of view,” Blumenthal said.

The News was unable to seek comment from the protesters who marched out of the event.

“Our organization is in support of our peers’ right to stand up for the causes they believe in,” wrote the Yale College Democrats in a statement to the News. The group added that it adheres to the University’s policy against event disruptions, which the moderator announced before Blumenthal spoke.

Blumenthal, 78, has served in the Senate since 2011.