HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said Wednesday that voters in Tuesday's election rejected what he called the "cruelty" of President Donald Trump's administration, and that the results were about more than prices.

"This election was not only about prices or money, it was about character, it was about decency and values," Blumenthal said at a post-election briefing with Gov. Ned Lamont and other Connecticut Democrats, which was carried by CT-N.

Blumenthal then listed what he said voters had turned against. "The American people rejected the cruelty of ICE agents dragging people from cars, shooting them in the back, American citizens detained," he said.

He also pointed to cuts that he said kicked children off SNAP and people off federal home heating aid, the elimination of research grants for cancer cures, and what he described as the president's "vanity projects for an arch or an East Room ballroom."

"And the cruelty of corruption, because we are in a corruption crisis which is inextricably bound to an affordability crisis and a constitutional crisis," Blumenthal said.

Earlier in his remarks, Blumenthal called the election "a rejection of Trumpism" and of what he described as an "insane illegal war," and said the "crushing cost of rising prices" tied to that war weighed on voters. He also called it "a bad day for billionaires" who he said spent heavily to keep the status quo.

He said Democrats need to do more than oppose the president, pledging to back programs that cut costs for health care and other everyday needs while continuing to "hold Trump accountable, fighting corruption."

"I'm determined to continue the fight to end this cruelty, to end the violations of the rule of law and the principles of basic decency," Blumenthal said. "Americans are better than what we have seen."

Blumenthal said he expects to chair the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in the new Congress.

Asked later about his own plans, the senator said he did not have a formal announcement but looks forward "to being on the ballot in 2028 and continuing to serve the people of Connecticut."