The Senator of State

For Chris Murphy, the Democratic senator from Connecticut, everywhere he goes is a reminder that his star is on the rise.

On a gray, rainy February evening in Hartford, he spoke for two hours with constituents about why he’d just voted to remove President Donald Trump from office in the Senate impeachment trial. What should have been a stuffy political event turned into a cathartic, almost religious experience for the 100 attendees aggrieved by Washington politics.

With elbows tucked at his side, hands together, and a preacher’s cadence, Murphy regaled...