Goldstein to make second bid for GOP nomination in Fourth District

Michael Goldstein, who amassed more than 2,400 valid petition signatures to run in a primary for Congress, last year, is making a second bid for the Republican nomination in the Fourth Congressional District, a seat that the GOP hasn't held since the 2008 election.

In a news release, the Greenwich physician and attorney stated, "These recent structural challenges to our nation with open borders and dependence on foreign oil and foreign manufacturing has crippled our economy and eroded our middle class. Our weakness in dealing with foreign adversaries has emboldened them and has made the world a more dangerous place. This must be reversed."

Goldstein, a member of the Greenwich Representative Town Meeting, fell short at the May 2022 GOP convention of the 15 percent threshold to qualify for the August primary. He and a team of volunteers collected the necessary signatures. He took 40 percent of the vote against the convention nominee, Jayme Stevenson, the former first selectman of Darien, in the primary.

Stevenson was easily defeated by U.S. Rep. Jim Himes (D-4) from the Cos Cob section of Greenwich in the general election.

Stevenson is now the Connecticut chairwoman for Women For Nikki - the organization that is supporting former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley's bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

Himes was initially elected by a narrow margin in 2008 over then-U.S. Rep. Chris Shays (R-4) of Bridgeport. In the recent years his pluralities have grown.

Goldstein will face former Connecticut Tea Party leader Bob MacGuffie, a longtime financial executive from Fairfield, in the race for the nomination. MacGuffie formally entered the race in March and has presented detailed weekly news releases on Himes' record.

During the 2022 campaign, Goldstein, a former chairman of the New York County Medical Society Board of Trustees, was critical of Democratic President Joe Biden's 2021 $1.9 trillion stimulus package. He said that it was largely responsible for a surge in inflation to 9.1 percent.

Goldstein has said that the federal government needs to reduce spending with deficits of $1.7 trillion. However, he has added that a slight more amount of spending should be made on defense in light of the threat from China.

He also has called for a reduction in administrative costs for health care. Additionally, he has opposed Biden's proposal to erase some college student debt.

The Republican convention will be held this coming May, and if there is a primary, it would be held in August.

The district has 17 municipalities stretching from Oxford to Greenwich. It includes four of Connecticut's nine largest populations - Bridgeport, first; Stamford, second; Norwalk, sixth; and Greenwich, ninth.

Republicans won every election in the Fourth District from 1968 through 2006.

Sacred Heart University Professor Gary Rose, who has written a book on the district, recently told Patch.com it has become more Democratic. He indicated that is due to the migration of some residents from New York City and Westchester County during the pandemic. Also, he noted that more college graduates are registering as Democrats. Greenwich, - for example, which had long been a GOP stronghold, now has three Democratic state representatives. The Democratic presidential candidate prevailed there in 2016 and 2020.