Samford, Greenwich loom large in Republican congressional primary

GREENWICH – Connecticut is a two-faced state with one side facing the rest of New England and the other side facing New York City.

Isn’t Greenwich on the side that is directly linked to the NYSE opening bell, take-out Bone-In Rib from Bobby Van’s and where Jalen Brunson T-shirts outsell Jaylen Brown models 13-1?

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Michael Goldstein, who has lived in the Greenwich’s backcountry for 39 years, remarked, “It’s gone from being a New England attitude to becoming more of a suburb of New York City. Initially there was a concept of Yankee self-reliance. You don’t see that anymore There is a desire to remake the town and change it.”

“There is a lot more economic development,” related Goldstein, who annexed the Republican convention nomination in May in the Fourth Congressional District. He will face Daniel Miressi of Norwalk in the August 11 primary. Early voting starts on Monday, August 3.

The winner faces nine-term Democrat incumbent Jim Himes of Greenwich and independent candidate Damon Cerreta, who was born in Stamford, in the November 3 election.

Himes has garnered at least 59 percent of the vote in the last five elections. He had 61.1 percent against Goldstein two years ago.

“Greenwich is a much more diverse community, which in many ways makes it better.,” Goldstein, an eye doctor and attorney, added.

“There is more telecommuting where people don’t have to go anywhere to get to work. There are more jobs in downtown Stamford. Since the 9/11 attacks, the hedge fund industry has expanded in Greenwich,” he explained. “There are more wealthy individuals, which has improved the economy and developed public-private partnerships.”

Greenwich, with the ninth highest population in Connecticut and Stamford, which ranks second, represent the largest population block in the state of two municipalities that directly border each other.

Goldstein commented, “40 percent of the state income tax is paid in Fairfield County. This area is the strongest economy in the state.”

In the last 20 years, Stamford has jumped past Waterbury, Hartford and New Haven to ascend to the runner-up spot behind Bridgeport in population.

Remarked Goldstein, “From an infrastructure standpoint, it is overdeveloped. The number of roads to access the apartments in Stamford is limited. When cars try to get off of I-95 they back up on the highway.”

Stamford is what Tommy Shondell would call a “high-energy city.” It is one of the few cities in Connecticut that is attractive the 40 and under crowd. The confidential informant – the one who lives across the street from the house that is decorated with John Travolta movie posters – tell us it is difficult to get a restaurant reservation even on Thursday night.

Goldstein orders the grilled chicken sandwich at Caren’s Cos Cobber in Greenwich and the waitress politely says it comes with fries.

They used to sell T-shirts there that read on the back, “We Are Cos Cob 06807.”

There are quite a few zip codes in the Greenwich-Stamford corridor, but you can buzz by them quickly when I-95 isn’t congested with traffic.

However, in Stamford it is just two and half miles to go from exit 6 to exit 9, as you pass WWE, UBS and Henkel.

Goldstein commented, “Unlike the New Jersey Turnpike, which is mainly an interstate road, I-95 is a commuter road. The average trip is about 11 miles - at least between Greenwich and Bridgeport.”

He said reports indicate that regular commuters through the corridor spend 134 hours a year stuck in traffic on I-95.

Democrat former President Joe Biden boasted of signing the biggest infrastructure bill since the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System was built in the 1950s and 1960s.

Goldstein said in Connecticut the Biden package mostly addressed I-91 to I-84 near Hartford.

Goldstein is making his fourth bid for the seat in the 17-municipalitiy district, which stretches from Greenwich to Oxford.

Two years ago after losing the convention to financial executive Bob MacGuffie of Fairfield he prevailed in the August primary.

MacGuffie, who has endorsed Miressi, exclaimed in a recent phone interview that Greenwich and Stamford were the “cornerstone” s campaign. “That’s all they concentrated on. The strength in those significant-sized towns overwhelms the rest of the district.”

Jonathan Goldstein, Goldstein’s son, is managing his campaign - as he did in 2024 -and also seeking the state House seat in Greenwich’s 150^th District.

He said the coveted convention endorsement probably will “add about five points” to his father’s total in the primary.”

MacGuffie said since, as was the case in 2024, there is no statewide Republican primary, turnout will again be light.

He said, “The biggest number of votes come out of Greenwich and Stamford. I think that is the core But I also think that we’re growing support across the board.”

Jonathan Goldstein commented that is happening in Norwalk, Westport and in Oxford, which he contends is a town that stands out.

Oxford has, per capita, been one of the fastest growing towns in Connecticut over the last 20 years.

Jonathan Goldstein ‘said, “It is less connected to New York City. It has a different flavor to it.”

Goldstein said that he has been a leader in medical societies and is in his second term on the Greenwich Representative Town Meeting. He claims that is superior to Miressi’s resume, which includes stints as a high school ice hockey coach and a state Senate candidate. Miressi dropped out at the Fourth Congressional District GOP nominating convention two years ago after the first ballot.

However MacGuffie said Miressi, who will turn 37 later this year, is bright and represents the “passing of the torch” to a new generation of GOP leaders that includes Republican gubernatorial nominee Ryan Fazio, the state senator from Greenwich.

Some observers have questioned some of Miressi’s social media posts.

For example, he wrote in an April 10 post, “most restaurants are the same in FFLD County — This is what many don’t understand… there’s ENTIRE ECONOMIC SECTORS: hospitality, construction, “Dunkin Donuts” that have been taken over by illegal labor. American citizens boxed out, especially if they aren’t bilingual. Not Right.”

In a recent interview, Miressi said, “I don’t think there is anything wrong with that statement.” He said that he has worked with “wonderful” legal immigrants from Spain, Venezuela and Mexico.

However, he added, “Go to any Dunkin Donuts or McDonald’s . It is not high school kids working there. It is people who have gotten here because of open border policies.”

“To me, if you go to a place and you can’t have a job experience at Dunkin Donuts because no one there speaks English: Who is that benefitting? It is not benefitting the American consumer,” Miressi exclaimed. “It is not benefitting our culture. You need to have a common culture to survive as a nation. Everyone has benefitted from che3ap labor. If you start hiring legal Americans again, you’re going to have to pay them American wages”

On issues, Himes said this spring that Trump has underestimated Iran’s resolve during Operation Epic Fury

Goldstein replied, “That’s probably true.”

“They [Iran] did have one more card in the deck,” he said, referring to control of the Straits of Hormuz, which has led to higher gas prices in the United States.

The Social Security Trustees have warned that dual trust funds for old-age benefits and disability payments will run out by 2032 and the retirement portion will be exhausted by 2024.

A recent Wall Street Journal editorial stated that if Congress had approved Republican former President George W. Bush’s 2005 Social Security reform package – which allowed workers to invest $1,000 from their payroll taxes in private investment accounts - in “2011 workers could have begun benefiting from the growth in diversified stock and bond funds.”

The editorial indicated, “If a worker had invested $83 per month in an S&P 500 index fund and reinvested dividends, the account would have grown to some $55,000 by now.”

U.S. Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) have proposed creating an additional investment fund that would invest in stocks and bonds and generate a higher rate of return.

Goldstein supports that approach, saying that a “60-40 stock-bond mix would yield an average yearly return of 6.467% - higher than the current investment return on the trust fund and would generate $180 billion dollars more per year than the current average return from the trust fund.”

He said that 60-40 mix would “almost cover the current Social Security shortfall.”

Miressi said he also supports investing Social Security funds, noting that Democrat former President Bill Clinton had a proposal in the mid-1990s that would have added trillions of dollars to the trust fund by now.

“It is time to be bold,” Miressi said.

Regarding Social Security reform, Himes told Patch.com in May that there are tools to be applied, such as raising “the cap on wages,” raising “the percentage” and “although it is painful – raise the retirement age. It has been done in the past.”

Remarked Himes, “We need to do it in a progressive way so that we’re not hurting vulnerable people. “I have constituents who don’t even notice their Social Security check. Very wealthy people.”

Goldstein said he would support raising the threshold on income exposed to the Social Security tax. It now sits at $184,500. Democrat former President Barack Obama proposed in 2008 that it be raised to $250,000.

However, he said, “Raising the level should have a commensurate increase in benefits.”

On a separate subject, Himes has said inheritance funds should be taxed the same as income.

“The very core of this country is an avoidance of massive, hereditary wealth,” he remarked to Patch.com. “We should tax more the passage of wealth from one generation into another.”

Goldstein complained, “That is sort of double taxation.”

Elected officials from Trump to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have called for eliminating the debt limit. Why go through another government shutdown?

Goldstein disagrees, saying that, “One of the biggest problems is there are a lot of people in this country that want to spend money. There have to be constraints.”

The federal government has a $39 trillion debt and hasn’t had a balanced budget since 2001.

Goldstein said that he opposes legislation sponsored by U.S. Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that would place a 50 percent tax on artificial intelligence.

“Whenever you overtax an industry, you may be making it less competitive,” Goldstein commented.

He said that over time artificial intelligence will create more jobs.

Goldstein commented, “One job will be replaced with another,”

New York University Finance Professor Thomas Philippon wrote in his 2019 book “The Great Reversal” that the United States only has four domestic airlines.

Economist Clifford Winston of the Bookings Institute has stated that limits competition. He wrote that the United States should seek cabotage rights to foreign airlines to service American domestic routes in return for American air carriers having the same rights in those foreign countries.

Goldstein said, “I don’t think it will happen.”

Winston also wrote wrote recently in the Wall Street Journal that airports are “public monopolies that restrict competition. A privatized, market-driven airport system would encourage existing airports to compete for more airline service and would lead to new private commercial airports.”

Goldstein said he opposes that plan.

“It is a critical infrastructure,” he commented. “It should be under the control of the government.”

Resources:

Interview with Michael Goldstein, Patch.com, on Monday, June 22, 2026.

Phone interview with Bob MacGuffie, Patch.com, on Wednesday, June 24, 2026.

Phone interview with Jonathan Goldstein, Patch.com, on Thursday, June 25, 2026.

Phone interview with Daniel Miressi, Patch.com, on Friday, June 26, 2026.

Interview with Daniel Miressi, Patch.com, on Tuesday, June 30, 2026.

E-mail statement from Jim Himes, Patch.com, on Wednesday, June 24, 2026.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/u-s-airlines-and-carmakers-need-to-go-global-8f76109a

https://patch.com/connecticut/brookfield/himes-calls-congress-assert-its-war-authority

https://www.greenwichtime.com/business/article/Greenwich-Avenue-is-nation-s-5th-expensive-street-12501039.php

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/07/08/new-trust-fund-social-se

https://patch.com/connecticut/brookfield/himes-calls-congress-assert-its-war-authority

https://patch.com/connecticut/brookfield/himes-calls-congress-assert-its-war-authority