Navy Seal endorses Trump's polices on securing border, economy

By Scott Benjamin

CHESHIRE – The United States embassy in Mexico City is the biggest of its kind – measuring “a whole city block” - and from 2014 to 2016 when Navy Seal Chris Shea was stationed there with Special Forces, each morning there was a line circling around it with natives who wanted to have the opportunity to live in America.

Shea says that they wanted to “get into the immigration office and do things correctly.”

“Try cutting into the line of people waiting overnight to get into see Taylor Swift,” he explained.

“See if people cutting the Taylor Swift line would get away with it,” Shea commented in reference to the growth for decades in illegal immigrants crossing the United States border.

He declared, “People waiting in lines for years to properly immigrate into a country and then people can cut the line and shortchange the system. I think it is unfair on a bunch of different levels.”

Shea exclaimed, “You need to close the border.”

He lauds Republican President Donald Trump for accomplishing that shortly into his second tenure in the White House.

Shea, a Watertown native who now lives in Cheshire, is considered to be the favorite to capture the GOP nomination in the sprawling Fifth Congressional District. The Republicans have not won there since 2004.

However, Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Riley recently wrote, “Mr. Trump might have declared victory, taken due credit for fulfilling a campaign promise, and turned to other matters. Instead, the White House has pressed on with a mass-deportation agenda that is turning his once-popular efforts to combat illegal immigration into a significant political liability. Chaos on the border has been replaced with chaos in Minneapolis, where federal immigration agents can’t seem to carry out their orders without killing American citizens in the process.”

On January 30 there were rallies in parts of Connecticut calling for a shutdown of the operations of the Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

Mark Pazniokus of CT Mirror wrote that Gov. Ned Lamont (D-Greenwich) said in his recent State of the State address, that ICE sees “the world as us versus them. They are not trained to deescalate — I think they are barely trained at all. They hide behind a mask. They come to Connecticut, and Minneapolis, to arrest people outside of schools, courthouses, often based upon the color of their skin.”

In an interview with Patch.com Shea commented, "I think it would be best to calm down a little bit and lets really look at what happened and if somebody did something wrong then stop what they’re doing and we should address it."

Shea remarked, “People should not be allowed to or be encouraged to interfere with the duties of the law enforcement authorities have been sent to do. Interfering is a felony, I believe. We’re having certain politicians not only endorse it, but encourage it. That can’t be a starting point either.”

He exclaimed, “I think unfortunately we have a polarized environment where people are jumping to one extreme or the other about shoot or no shoot situations where the very few can speak to this as I can speak to this – having been in this kind of situation. People should not be encouraged to interfere with the duties that law enforcement officers have been sent to do.”

Shea remarked, “The whole situation is predicated on the law. If you have people doing a duty that they have been sent to do under the law and you don’t like what they’re doing, then Congress should change the law. But nobody has been willing to do that for as long as I can remember.”

Shea said he admires the work of Operation Absolute Resolve in ,January, which led to the arrests and deportation to the United States of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro and his wife. Maduro is now facing charges, including narco-terrorism and drug trafficking.

“Everything they do is researched and planned,” he commented. “What they pulled off there was an amazing feat.”

Aside from capturing an alleged “drug kingpin,” Shea said there is much bigger global importance by not letting Chia or Russia into that country.”

When Shea graduated from Holy Cross High School in Waterbury, he didn’t see college as viable option.

“I knew that I wasn’t cut out for plugging away at the books,” he said. Although he later earned a bachelor’s degree from Charter Oak State College in New Britain.

His mother wouldn’t let him go out for the Holy Cross football team, but he went on to devote more than three decades to the Navy, eventually working on operation task forces in Sarajevo, Afghanistan and Mexico, jumping out of airplanes and firing guns.

Ian Ward of Politico.com wrote last year, “Since their founding in the early 1960s, the Navy SEALs have made their presence felt in every corner of the globe, executing some of the most dangerous and celebrated missions in U.S. military history.”

Longtime Republican State Central Committee member John Morris of Litchfield said, “Being a Navy Seal is special. It is not an easy thing to become.’

Morris said Shea will win the Republican nomination this year in the Fifth Congressional District.

Republican strategist Marc Dillon of Watertown said. “Conventional wisdom would make him the favorite. I don’t know him personally. I know his bio. He seems to be an impressive candidate.”

Shea, who is a lieutenant in the North Haven Fire Department, is running against Michele Botelho of Danbury, who sought the nomination in 2022 and 2024, and Jonathan De Barros of the Terryville section of Plymouth, who was the first GOP candidate to enter the race and bills himself as a Frederick Douglass Republican.

The nominating convention is in May.

De Barros said, “I’ve told [Shea], ‘Maybe you should focus on helping me flip this district and then focus on running against [U.S. Sen.] Richard Blumenthal [(D-Greenwich)] in 2028. If we worked together, I think we could accomplish a lot more.’ ”

Botelho said in speaking to Republican Town Committees, a recurring concern is education policy.

Botelho commented, “What they are leaning in school and what they are not learning.”

She said that there should be debates between the three candidates before the convention.

Incumbent four-term U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes of Wolcott has become a leader in the Democratic caucus on education, school nutrition and child care issues. She has been credited with upgrading broadband service in the Northwest Corner of Litchfield County.

The former national teacher of the year also has been a solid fund-raiser, accumulating $4.084 million during the 2024 election cycle, according to Open Secrets.

In 2022, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) sponsored a community outreach center for Republican nominee George Logan in New Britain – the third largest city in the district. The GOP former state senator lost the race by less than 2,000 votes.

In 2024, Logan, a former state senator, returned, the NRCC opened a battle station in Farmington but Hayes prevailed with 53.4 percent of the vote.

The Democrats have won every election in the district since 2006, when U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy defeated Republican Nancy Johnson of New Britain, a longtime member of the powerful U.S. House Ways & Means Committee.

Has it become a solid Democratic district?

Former two-time Democratic gubernatorial nominee Bill Curry said, “That district is never going to be consistently a solid district for either party the way that it is currently constructed. But I do think that is solid Democratic this year.”

Do the Democrats have a viable platform?

Remarked Curry, “No, they don’t. In a normal year that would be a significant impairment. This is not a year that will be friendly to Republican challengers in this state. This is one of the strongest and clearest trends that I have seen in my lifetime.”

“In Connecticut, the rejection of Trump will be overwhelming,” said Curry in an apparent reference to the president’s low poll approval ratings.

The University of Virginia’s Larry Sabato Crystal Ball rates the district as “Likely Democratic.”

The Charlie Cook Partisan Voter Index rates it three percentage points more Democratic than the national average.

Shea only formally entered the race in January. Logan started his first run in July 2021, 10 months before the nominating convention.

The last time a challenger defeated an incumbent was in Murphy’s 2006 campaign. He entered in April of 2005 , more than a year before the convention, secured former U.S. Rep. Toby Moffett (D-6) as an unpaid senior advisor that summer and by November Hartford Courant political columnist Michele Jacklin was stating that Murphy’s campaign was the one to watch in Connecticut.

Dillon and Morris said that if Shea raises large amounts of money it will attract attention from the NRCC .

Granted, Hayes didn’t formally enter the race in 2018 until two weeks before the convention. However, Democratic incumbent Elizabeth Esty of Cheshire had announced just six weeks before the balloting that she would not seek a fourth term.

Notably, Hayes had the support of Murphy, who was leading the Fight Back CT organization that already was canvassing voters across Connecticut.

Sitting in a Dunkin Donuts in Cheshire, Shea said he has been told he would have to raise at least $2 million to take the seat.

He said that when he was stationed at the Pentagon - the “biggest office building in the world” - he would effectively get work “done by going around and meeting people.”

“My nickname at the Pentagon was the mayor of the Pentagon,” he said of his more than five years in the 28.7-acre building. “The Pentagon is where I got most of my experience.”

He worked in resourcing and during his tenure and “had a lot of interaction with Congress,” including a workshop on Capitol Hill.

Commented Shea, “[During those two weeks I got to] see things behind the curtain and see how the sausage is made.”

On his career in the Navy, Shea, 55, remarked, “I learned how to fight, and to use your noodle and how to overcome and to find different solutions to get out of different problem sets.”

About the time that he entered the Navy he also learned how to box.

He won the Waterbury Golden Gloves light-heavyweight title in 1991 and was on the Navy boxing team in 1996.

When he was stationed at the Naval base in Groton but would commute to Waterbury “three times a week” to get in the gym.

“It taught me discipline,” Shea remarked. “If you don’t want to get your head knocked in, you had to work really hard., and you have to stay in really good shape. There is a lot of running, a lot of time in the gym, a lot of sparing.”

He and his wife oversee Hero To Hero, which tries to help military veterans transition into careers as first-responders.

Is that difficult to accomplish?

Commented Shea, “I think it is largely dependent upon at least a couple things: What rank, education, and experience the service member has. Oftentimes folks figure out what they are going to do as they get off active duty or shortly after - which can be a little stressful. Our organization takes a lot of the guesswork and uncertainty out of the equation.”

Polls show that Trump has low approval ratings on the economy. Six years ago, just before the pandemic, Trump was praised for overseeing the best economy in 50 years.

However, economics commentator Nick Timiraos wrote in recently in The Wall Street Journal, “The vital signs of the American economy are pointing in the same, favorable direction more convincingly than at any point since before the pandemic. Inflation is falling. The labor market is holding.”

Shea commented, “I don’t think [Trump] gets enough credit for that.”

Mortgage interest rates have been high, but just fell below six percent.

Shea said he has a three percent mortgage rate in D.C. and then for roughly the same property has a 6.25 percent rate after buying a home more recently in Cheshire.

“The housing was erratic, at best, as far as finding a house in our price range,” Shea said. “It also is harder for young folks, even those with good jobs, to jump in and get a house.”

Trump has suggested extending mortgages from 30 years to 50 years.

“If people are disciplined and pay it off early, it might make sense,” said Shea. “It is an awful long time for a mortgage.”

The president also has recommended capping consumer interest rates at 10 percent.

Shea remarked, “I think it sounds really good. But I’m not a big fan of price controls. [It give consumers a false sense of security. Plus it would be less a percentage for the businesses, and there would be more defaults on it.”

As for Trump’s tariffs, which were ruled illegal in a recent 6-3 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Shea said, “I think he’s used it as a negotiating too. China has been stealing our lunch for as long as you can remember.”

In a 2019 interview, Sacred Heart University Scholar-in-Residence Gary Rose said after his book, “Connecticut In Crisis” was published, that the future success of Connecticut’s economy would depend considerably on the Pentagon budget, as the state has three major defense contractors and a raft of subcontractors.

Shea indicated there is need for more military spending, saying “Our Navy was underequipped ship wise“ while he was serving.

He said he believes that Connecticut’s defense industry will remain robust.

However, in their recent book, “The Trillion Dollar War Machine," policy experts William D. Hartung and Ben Freeman reported that there are state-of-the-art defense ventures in Silicon Valley – some operated by Elon Musk and Peter Thiel -that might capture contracts that traditionally have gone to the legacy military contractors.

Will that hurt the Connecticut defense contractors?

Said Shea, “That I have no idea.”

When he is not working at the fire department, making countless phone calls to secure campaign contributions or speaking to Republican town committees Shea listens to a a range of podcasts - Patrick McDavid’s PBD, Dave Rubin on The Rubin Report, Megyn Kelly’s The Megyn Kelly Show and Uncommon Knowledge with Hoover Institution Fellow Peter Robinson.

As the Republican nominee the last two elections, Logan shunned mentioning Trump.

Shea, who said that said he attended two Logan campaign events, commented, “I think he wouldn’t let the words come out of his mouth.”

In contrast, Shea said, “I’m a fan of Trump, especially on the policy side.”

He acknowledged, for example, that he didn’t agree with the president’s comments about Rob Reiner, after the famous actor and producer was killed.

Shea said a lady told him the other day: “I’m not looking to marry [Trump] or for him to be my spiritual advisor. I’m looking for him to stand in the breach for the people who would do this country harm and get us on back on a solid footing economically and on the world stage.”

He declared, “We as a nation decided to put a bare-knuckle brawler in there. That is what we got. He comes out swinging a lot the time.”

Resources:

Interview with Chris Shea, Patch.com, on Thursday, January 29, 2026.

Phone interview with Chris Shea, Patch.com, on Wednesday, February 4, 2026.

Phone interview with Jonathan De Barros, Patch.com, February, 2026.

Phone interview with Bill Curry, Patch.com, Friday, January 30, 2026.

Phone interview with Marc Dillon, Patch.com, February 2026.

Phone interview with Michelle Botelho, Patch.com, February 2026.

Interview with John Morris, Patch.com, Thursday, February 12, 2026.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/trumps-cowbell-moment5cc1e94f?mod=author_content_page_1_pos_7

https://www.wsj.com/economy/federal-reserve-soft-landing-inflation-

5dd00d29?st=yqK4fH&mod=djemwhatsnews

https://ctmirror.org/2026/02/04/ct-lamont-state-of-the-state-address/ https://ctmirror.org/2026/02/23/ct-lamont-lawmakers-divided-ice-what-toknow/

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/03/10/navy-seals-congresstrump-00212473

https://www.war.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/4370431/trumpannounces-us-militarys-capture-of-maduro/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pentagon

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/trump-can-quit-while-hes-ahead-on-immigration-6ceb14ca?mod=author_content_page_1_pos_5

https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/jahana-hayes/summary?cid=N00043421

https://www.npr.org/2026/01/05/nx-s1-5666321/democratic-congressman-jim-himes-discusses-trumps-military-operation-in-venezuela.

Gary Rose interview, Patch.com, August, 2019.

Michele Jacklin, Hartford Courant, November 2005.

“The Trillion Dollar War Machine,” William D. Hartung and Ben Freeman, Bold Type Books, 2025.