Merlen uses third-party candidacy to push issues important to him,
GREENWICH — Brian Merlen knows the uphill challenge he faces running for Congress.
Merlen, a 34-year-old Stamford resident, is running as a third party candidate, after earning the nomination of the Independent Party to run for the 4th Congressional District.
And he is facing sixterm incumbent U.S. Rep. Jim Himes as well as Republican candidate Jonathan Riddle in a presidential election year that is likely to see a surge in voter turnout.
As a result, Merlen is realistic about his chances. But he also remains focused on why he got into the race: to bring attention to issues he feels are important.
“I stand for institutional accountability,” Merlen said. “I want to take on the kinds of firms that donate to major party candidates like Himes and Riddle. I want to fight for the people, not for corporations.”
“I feel strongly that we need to have Medicare for all,” he said, noting a policy that was a centerpiece of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign. “When I graduated in the middle of the housing crisis in 2008 and 2009, I was diagnosed with testicular cancer and my parents were mentally ill and on disability.”
That health crisis, Merlen said, taught him the value of a social safety net. His cancer diagnosis showed him that a crisis can come at any time.
That’s been proven again by the crisis this year of the coronavirus pandemic, which has put people out of work and left them unable to pay for food, rent and other necessities.
“This is something that motivates me because I know people like Jim Himes are never going to feel the struggle that real Americans, like myself, face because of health conditions or long-term costs or a lack of housing at a time when shelters can’t even take on new clients,” Merlen said.
“These are systemic issues because at all levels of government, people just try to kick the can down the road and not help people in need,” he said.
Issues in the campaign
Merlen is a passionate advocate for doing more to combat the current opioid crisis. He has pushed for more funding to end addiction and taking a harder legal stand against big pharmaceutical firms.
“I am motivated because of the people out there who are struggling,” he said.
The Democratic Party, he said, has moved too far to the center. Politicians are focused only on their donors’ interests and not on helping to meet the needs of the people, Merlen said.
Merlen pointed to what he called “questionable financing” of Himes’ previous campaigns, when he received donations from Raymond and Beverly Sackler, who are among the owners of Purdue Pharma. Himes returned $25,000 in past donations to the Sackler family and Purdue in 2019 and vowed to no longer accept donations from them.
“It seemed disingenuous for Jim to take this money from the Sacklers and act like he is a champion helping people and solving the opioid crisis,” Merlen said. “He returned that money to save face.”
Purdue Pharma is facing hundreds of lawsuits for its role in propelling the opioid crisis by producing and marketing the highly addictive painkiller OxyContin.
He also called out the support for Himes from Lockheed Martin and Goldman Sachs, where Himes worked decades ago. Merlen said it is major campaign contributions from firms like those two that make it “insurmountable” for someone like him to get elected to Congress.
Third-party candidate
Merlen initially sought to run in a Democratic primary this year against Himes but withdrew before he was put on the ballot. Ultimately, he got back into the race as a far more leftist politician than the Independent Party typically runs.
The opportunity was offered to him, Merlen said, and he took it because he the Green Party did not have ballot access for the race and he wanted to keep discussing the issues.
“I still feel very strongly for the issues at the core of the Green Party and the Socialist Democrats,” Merlen said.
In the campaign, Riddle is attacking Himes as too far left and supporting “socialist policies” and Merlen is calling out Himes as too centrist.
“The Republican strategy is to paint everyone as Alexandria Ocasio Cortez or Bernie Sanders. And the reality is that people like Riddle and Himes have far more in common because of their donor base and advocacy than they’d like to admit,” Merlen said.
“I think the Republicans have a marketing strategy to make everyone seem like a socialist and pretend they’re all like Bernie. It’s obvious from Himes’ voting records and his own positions that he’s not anything like Bernie.”
In his own approach to politics, Merlen said rejecting the “group think of political parties” at the expense of looking at the issues is causing damage across the country. He said politicians should not vote the way a political party wants them to but “on the merits of an issue.”
Merlen said a candidacy like his can push politicians further left. He pointed to the acceptance of gay marriage and racial equality, LGBTQ rights and reforms in the nation’s drug policy as examples from recent years.
“Even if I don’t win this seat, I want to champion the issues that many of us on the far left are supporting,” he said. “I believe in advocating, and as a third party candidate you’re able to put pressure on the incumbents. Third parties push the major parties.”
The 4th Congressional District stretches along the Connecticut shoreline and includes Bridgeport, Darien, Easton, Fairfield, Greenwich, Monroe, New Canaan, Norwalk, Oxford, Redding, Ridgefield, part of Shelton, Stamford, Trumbull, Weston, Westport and Wilton.