State Rep. John Shaban to Challenge Congressman Jim Himes

REDDING, CT - Three-term state Rep. John Shaban will take on incumbent Democratic Congressman Jim Himes in this fall's election for the 4th District.

Shaban, a Republican who lives in Redding with his wife and three sons, is the ranking member of the state legislature’s Environment Committee, and a member of the Judiciary Committee and the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee.

In a post on his campaign Facebook page, Shaban highlights his fiscal conservatism, tipping his hand in how he intends to run against Himes.

"The state is another $141 million in the hole... Jim Himes and Governor Malloy are hapless."

Facing off against Himes will not be an easy task. Since ousting long-time Republican Congressman Chris Shays eight years ago, the Greenwich Democrat has been a formidable force on Election Day, scoring relatively easy victories with the district's lower Fairfield County constituency.

The 4th Congressional District covers all or parts of Bridgeport, Darien, Easton, Fairfield, Greenwich, Monroe, New Canaan, Norwalk, Oxford, Redding, Ridgefield, Shelton, Stamford, Trumbull, Weston, Westport, and Wilton.

But besides making finances and taxes central issues, Shaban also intends to try to sell voters on what he believes is Himes' inactivity while in Congress, as Shaban states in the video below.

"Once people realize, in fact, that his record for eight years has been done nothing/do nothing, people are finally going to realize that our federal delegation has the same responsibility as our state and local guys to improve our lives here in the state," said Shaban. "And all of our guys have been failing, on our Democratic friends side."

Photo: John Shaban speaking in Easton Town Hall in 2016. Photo via Shaban's state House GOP page