Four set sights on Himes’ district seat
WASHINGTON — Four candidates are angling for the 4th District seat of Democratic Rep. Jim Himes in an election year that is presenting unprecedented obstacles to campaigning and voting.
Jonathan Riddle, of South Norwalk; Michael Goldstein, of Greenwich, and TJ Elgin, of Westport, round out the Republican field, while Brian Merlen, of Stamford, gives Himes his first primary challenger since he ran for the seat in 2008.
Represented by Himes for 11 years, the district is now rated a safe Democratic seat by the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. Himes has $2.46 million on hand to support his re-election, latest Federal Election Commission filings show, giving him another powerful advantage over his challengers. His campaign spokeswoman said he’s focused on the coronavirus, not the cam
paign.
“Our district is one of the hardest hit in the nation, and his focus is 100 percent on helping guide us through this crisis,” Nichola Samponara said.
Riddle, who entered the race against Himes first, has raised the most funds of the challengers and had $8,697 cash on hand at the end of March, latest FEC filings show. Riddle said he stopped fundraising during the coronavirus outbreak.
The challengers come from a variety of backgrounds. Riddle, 30, works in wealth management. Goldstein, 70, is an ophthalmologist and lawyer. Elgin, 30, is the co-owner of a local brewery, while Merlen, 33, is a freelance video editor and producer. Two have run for elected office before, while two are mounting their first ever runs this year.
Jonathan Riddle
Riddle was an independent voter until the summer of 2019, when he registered as a Republican to run against Himes, he said.
“I’ve always identified myself as fiscally conservative, socially liberal,” said Riddle. “The Republican Party is far more suited to my view points and there is just absolutely things about the Democratic Party I can’t stomach or stand behind.”
Riddle has never run for office before or volunteered for a campaign, but got his taste for politics from classes in college and debates with his dad, a private tutor, he said. Peter Riddle is now his son’s campaign chairman.
Riddle criticized past candidates for the office for not hitting the pavement in Stamford, Norwalk and Bridgeport, he said, expressing confidence that he had the strategies to win.
“I looked at the way the local politics has gone with AOC [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.] winning in Queens,” said Riddle. “I looked at her and said ‘Well if she can do that, I can definitely do this.’”
Of course, coronavirus has upended traditional campaigning, so now Riddle and other candidates said they are focused on winning over Republican Town Committee support to secure the Republican nomination during the virtual convention that will occur on May 13.
If elected, Riddle said he would focus on reforming the rail and highway systems to ease commuting, attracting more business to the state and returning education to a “local issue” by eliminating the Common Core. He supports the repeal of the state and local tax (SALT) cap which currently limits Connecticut residents’ federal tax deductions, or adjusting it for cost of living in various states.
He is a conceal-carry permitted gun owner, he said, and supports closing the “gun show loophole” allowing individuals to purchase weapons at a show without a background check in some states, but he oppose a federal red flag law. On the administration’s coronavirus response, he said President Donald Trump worked quickly to implement travel bans and the media is “creating negative news.”
“The job he is doing is the best possible job any president can do and I think he is going to be regarded as one of the best presidents we’ve ever had,” said Riddle. “Separate from that is his rhetoric and the way he uses words and belittles people and is a bully, very egotistical; I don’t agree with that mentality that he has.”
Brian Merlen
Merlen has one main reason why he is running for Congress: he wants to draw attention to the role of Stamford-based opioid-manufacturer Purdue Pharma in the opioid crisis and motivate Connecticut Democrats in Congress to take more action on the issue, he said. Merlen, a Democrat, is clear-eyed that his shots of winning a primary against Himes are low.
“I would like to win the seat, but realistically I know a lot of delegates and local incumbents have been telling me I don’t have a chance to win the seat,” said Merlen. “If I don’t win the seat, then I hope to influence the Democrats more so on this issue.”
An activist, Merlen worked as a video producer with Stamford gallery owner Fernando Alvarez and artist Domenic Esposito to place a huge spoon, stained to symbolize heroin, outside Purdue Pharma’s Tresser Boulevard headquarters in 2018. Since 2018, he has worked with Alvarez and Esposito to organize and film protests against the company around the country, Merlen said.
The state of Connecticut is now engaged in litigation against the company, alleging it helped fuel the opioid crisis with deceptive marketing of OxyContin. The Sackler family, which owns the company, gave over $100,000 to Connecticut Democrats over many years and some of those contributions have been donated to substance abuse charities.
The Sacklers gave $17,400 to Himes’s campaigns from 2008 to 2016. Himes has promised not to take more funding from the family in the future.
Merlen grew up in Stamford with disabled parents, he said, and survived a bout with testicular cancer after he graduated from Southern Connecticut State University. Working as a freelancer, he’s seen his jobs slashed by coronavirus and is devoting time to local volunteering, he said.
Like Riddle, he’s hoping for an Ocasio-Cortez style upset in the 4th District; but unlike Riddle, he also aligns his political views with the progressive Ocasio-Cortez, as well as Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., he said. He favors Medicare-for-all.
He previously ran for state representative and city representative in Stamford, he said, but was unsuccessful in those races.
But after working together on opioid-related activism, Republican Elgin encouraged Merlen to run for Congress, Merlen said.
“We thought it was a way for us to further get the message out would be for us to actually take on people who took the Sackler money, instead of just speaking on it,” Merlen said.
TJ Elgin
Elgin affirmed that he is coordinating with Merlen and both candidates said they are both considering a third-party runs if they don’t win their primaries.
Elgin previously ran for selectman of Westport in 2016 as an unaffiliated candidate, and challenged Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., for his seat in 2018 as a Green Party candidate. He promised to petition onto the primary ballot if he does not receive the nomination.
“I anticipate this one is going to be a bit different,” Elgin affirmed. “When I get through the primaries and get to basically duking it out to the seat, I have other third parties that are going to come to my aid and endorse me.”
Elgin grew up in Westport and has been co-owner of Full Moon Brewing in the town since 2017. Recently, Elgin has helped organize and participate in “rolling rallies” on April 27 and 20 to protest in favor of the reopening of the state and has connected with voters at the events, he said.
“To be honest, their versions of essential businesses in the state is not the version that helps anybody,” said Elgin. “They need to start reopening things. There are so many people who are suffering.”
Elgin was arrested for breach of peace and interfering with an officer in Dec. 2019 in Westport, after neighbors mistook him for a burglar. Elgin has alleged police used excessive force and suggested the arrest may have been politically motivated, connected to his candidacy for Congress. He filed a complaint against the Westport police, he said. He has not been convicted on the charges.
Elgin backs Trump’s re-election and his moves to restrict immigration during coronavirus. He said he supports House Democrats’ bill to expand gun sale background checks and wants to reform the health insurance industries, noting he’s “against pharmaceutical companies and Western medicine for the most part.”
Michael Goldstein
A doctor and lawyer, Goldstein is now trying to add “member of Congress” to his resume. Goldstein resides in backcountry Greenwich and has lived in Connecticut for 30 years, while practicing opthalmology in New York.
He is married with two adult sons. After practicing medicine for years, Goldstein became curious about the law when his son was studying for the LSAT exam.
“I looked and said ‘hmm I could do this,’” Goldstein recounted. Goldstein took the LSAT and attended Pace University for law school at night. He used to practice law with Kern, Augustine, Conroy and Schoppmann representing health professionals, but is no longer active in the field.
Goldstein was exposed to politics through medical advocacy and regulations in New York, but said his heart is in improving life in Connecticut. He decided to run for Congress because he wants to focus on reforming health care policy, which he believes is “heading in the wrong direction.”
Goldstein supports amending or repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, he said. He wants to reduce the “excessive over-regulation of health care,” which he said is a factor in driving up costs. He supported modifying laws and regulations to allow independent physicians be more competitive and increase competition. He also supported the status quo of abortion policy under Roe v. Wade.
Goldstein said Trump has done a “good job” responding to the coronavirus, noting how much “catching up” the U.S. had to do to ready its health infrastructure for the virus and after a delayed start, due to “misinformation” on the large part from China. Goldstein supported placing health investigators in every U.S. embassy to help detect virus threats and reducing American dependence on medications produced overseas.
Goldstein also supported Trump’s effort for a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, while backing a path to citizenship for children who brought into the U.S. illegally, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients.
After breaking his leg, Goldstein was hobbling around on crutches in September, mulling over a run for Congress, he said. Advisers told him it was a bad idea. He tuned them out and launched social media profiles for the first time ever.
“If you believe in trying to do something, whether or not people discourage you or not, you should just do it and ignore the naysayers,” Goldstein said.