This week on The Wheelhouse.

We're talking to the candidates in Connecticut's fourth congressional district.

And.

For Connecticut public, I'm Frankie Graziano.

This is The Wheelhouse.

It's a show that connects politics to the people.

We got your weekly dose of politics in Connecticut and beyond right here.

Today, we're talking to the candidates for Connecticut's fourth congressional district.

This district covers much of the southwestern portion of the sta.. including most of Fairfield County, some of New Haven County.

We're going to be talking to incumbent Representative Democrat Jim Himes, and later we'll be talking to challengers, including Michael Goldstein, he’s a Republican, and Independent candidate, Benjamin Wesley.

Today's show is part of a series of interviews we're doing with political candidates in our state.

We're having a lot of fun doing this, talking with all sides Republicans, Democrats.

We got an independent on today's show for some of the key races in Connecticut.

Last week, we spoke with candidates for Connecticut's fifth Congressional district.

You want to go back and listen to that one?

It featured Congresswoman Jahana Hayes, challenger George Logan, City Public Dawgs.

The Wheelhouse is the destination for that.

All right.

Let'.. And up first, Congressman Jim Himes.

Congressman, thank you for coming back to The Wheelhouse.

Good morning Frankie.

Thanks for having.

Me.

Hey, nice to talk to you bright and early in the morning.

Nice to see you there.

You got a seat in Connecticut's fourth congressional district since I believe it was 2000 and died in the Obama elections.

Can you share 1 or 2 of your biggest accomplishments you feel like you've had so far in your time in office?

Yeah, yeah.

You know, I'm running because I think I'm, I think I can look back on that time and say, we've accomplished a bunch of things.

A lot of things, actually.

But you asked for one for for two.

So let me give you two.

and let me take you back in the Wayback machine, you know, to 209.

2010, when we passed the Affordable Care Act.

now, now, why do I highlight that from so long ago?

the answer is it was hugely controversial at the time.

I got I had over a dozen town hall meetings with, you know, people just completely, you know, at odds with each other.

But looking back on it now, the Affordable Care Act has provided health insurance literally to tens of millions of Americans and did away with a lot of the toxic stuff from which we barely remember anymore.

But, you know, it used to be that if you didn't have a job that offered you insur.. and you had a preexisting condition, you know, you'd had, breast cancer.

Yeah.

Diabetes.

You weren't getting insurance.

and all of that is a is a thing of the past.

Now, because of the passage of the Affordable Care Act.

which doesn't mean, by the way, we don't have a long way to go, on maki.. care system, more affordable, more accessible.

And we can talk more about that, if you like, because we have made other progress.

But let me highlight you.

Ask for two.

Let me highlight another one, which is absolutely essential, to the people of southwestern Connecticut, that's the bipartisan infrastructure law.

let me, let me let me say those first two words again, bipartisan infrastructure.

You know, as we talk right now, there are people sitting in traffic on 95 in the Marriott.

and this was a problem that grew up over decades, generations.

Right.

And, you know, for years and years and years, the infrastructure week that was it became a joke, right?

but finally, a couple of years ago and bipartisan was the word Democratic and Republican support for the biggest investment we've ever made in our infrastructure, which today is rebuild.. walk bridge in Norwalk.

It's going to help rebuild, the bridge over the Byram River in Greenwich.

It's rebuilding bridges, under and over 95 up and down the district.

So if you ask me for just two, I would probably highlight those two.

Congressman Himes, I don't have a lot of time today because there's three of you guys that were going to speak to.

But I'd love to follow up.. just because, as I'm sure you're always wor.. you're always worried about Republicans maybe not supporting this.

And we heard, the former president, in a debate, sort of stumble a little bit when talking about the ACA and concepts of a plan.

Just quickly, do you think, like t.. and maybe prosper in the future?

Yeah, it will survive.

And and the episode you referred to is, you know, the Republicans and Donald Trump in particular, after years and years and years of trying to end, the Affordable Care Act finally giving up because they realized the amount of good that it is done out.. And boy, do they ever.. if they achieved what they said they were trying to achieve, did away with it and kick tens of millions of Americans off their insurance?

Man?

The reaction to that would, would, would, would be up there with the reaction to, you know, the reversal of Roe v Wade, which they engineered a couple of years ago.

It would be pretty brutal.

And that's why you saw Trump stumble.

He understands that, you know, that that that while we've .. the Affordable Care Act in the end really helped a .. Let me give you some numbers on housing in your district.

these were published in the Connecticut Mirror.

So I'm going to read these, in 2023, the median house sale prices in Fairfield County up about 8% compared to those in 2022, up 55% compared to 2019.

Medium homes sold was $528,000.

Congressman in March of 2024.

Median listing.

Home.

home price was 796,000.

Out of reach for many people, particu.. some of those people in your district.

I imagine that this is something that people in your district want you to address and want the federal government to address.

Big time, big time.

You know, when you.. in southwestern Connecticut and, you know, southwestern Connecticut is doing pretty well econ.. particularly in places like Stanford and Norwalk, where you see companies moving in.

You talk to those business leaders, they'll tell you, I have two problems.

Love the quality of life down here.

Love the schools, love the communities.

the traffic, which we just talked about with respect to infrastructure.

But housing, the numbers you gave are exactly right.

And so what that means is that, you know, younger people who aren'.. a ton of money in the private sector yet, have a hard time buying a home.

Forget about teachers and police officers and firefighters.

Right.

You know, those folks that aren't in the pri.. living in the communities they serve.

Here's the hard part.

And there's just no way to sugarcoat this.

But the federal government doesn't have a lot of tools with which to address the housing problem.

At the end of the day, the housing problem is a problem of supply.

We just don't have enough housing nationwide.

Those numbers are 4 or 5 million units that we need that we don't have.

So what's the answer?

The answer is that you get communities to really prioritize, especially those communities that are close to transit, right where you're near a train station.

You get those communities to prioritize housing.

Now, that's not to say that smaller towns can't do a b.. A better job.

but look at what Stanford's doing right now.

If you drive through Stanford, you will see cranes building housing throughout that city.

And so the answer is more of that in places like Norwalk and especially Bridgeport, Connecticut, where you've got a lot of land, some of the dirty, by the way, post-industrial land where we could build a lot of housing and start to ease some of that pressure that you talked about.

You mentioned Bridgeport.

We always talk about the income inequality between Bridgeport and some of the rest of the cities in Fairfield County.

Earlier this year, investigative reporter Jacqueline Rabe Thomas reported on a study showing that Connecticut's racial and economic segregation among the worst in the country.

The study was conducted by a New York City based group.

I believe it was called ergonomics.

actually, the governor, hired, these folks highest in Fairfield County out of any other county in the state.

What plans do you have to help address this issue?

you know, you're right, Frank.

You about that.

It it's somethin..

I mean, I'll be in one community, an affluent community like New Canaan or Darien or Greenwich, and then literally 15 minutes later, I'll be in a, you know, desperately poor neighborhood and just, just, you know, a stone's throw away.

and it's hard to answer that question quickly, but let me throw out some things that are the answer, continued economic growth so that, you know, whether it's a company or a restaurant or a hotel, they are offering those entry level jobs that m.. to somebody who just graduated high school but doesn't have additional training.

so that economic vibrancy is really the strongest thing we can do to give people economic opportunity.

And then and I really want to emphasize this, how do you how does a young person go from that, you know, maybe minimum wage starting job?

and start climbing the ladder?

The answer to that, of course, is education and train.. And that's why I want to highlight for you Norwalk Community College and Housatonic Community College, where I've been able to support advanced manufacturing programs to train high school kids, not just college kids, to do things like help build the F-35 jet engine.

and so the combination of having a vibrant economy, which we do here in southwestern Connecticut with making sure that community colleges, not just community colleges, but universities, and we've got a bunch of them, Sacred Heart, Fairfield, University of Bridgeport, UConn, are there to provide the training and education that a young person needs to continue climbing that economic ladder.

Glad that you mentioned education.

There are some of the highest ranking schools in the state, and your district schools are also some of the most segregated school districts in the state.

And then obviously, dairy ends in your district, too.

they're they're fighting a little bit some of the science of reading curriculum that's happening locally here in Connecticut.

What do you plan to do to at least, try to maybe have the federal government step in in terms of, segregated school districts and, issues that they're having with, teaching children, maybe in an Alliance district like Bridgeport?

Yeah.

Well, fr..

I got to acknowledge that, you know, education in this country is very much under the purview of municipalities and the state.

The federal government does.. in telling.

And by the way, I think this.. My daughter was educated at one of my daughters, was educated in the public schools, her.. you know, these are decisions that get.. by local school boards and by the state.

But, we do have, because you highlight this problem, we do have such a dramat.. between our affluent school districts and our poorer school districts.

Right.

I see this every single day.

And, you know, part of that is a challenge associated with the fact that, you know, we don't hav.. we don't have easy ways to move funds into those communities that need extra help because kids are growing up in poverty.

You know, the difference between a kid who grows up with a single parent who's working in a low income environment versus one that grows up in affluent environment, these differences start to show as two and three year olds, right?

So what does that mean?

Because we both understand the problem here.

And this is a role the federal government can play early childhood education.

Right.

So you start with early Head Start and Head Start programs that are, making real progress in communities like Bridgeport, where you do have those single parents working, you know, you double down on your commitment to those early years two, three, four.. when the difference is made a lot.

There's a real federal role to make sure we continue to fund those headstart programs.

And then we got to think more.

And I can't tell you I know the exact solution here, but we got to think more about supporting families with children with respect to child care.

Why do I say that child care is unaffordable today?

And what happens is one of the parents, if there are two parents, end up staying home because they don't have options, to to leave young children in safe and quality, child care.

And as a result, not only, you know, do you have somebody not getting trained?

They're not in the workforce.

They're not making income.

So that's an area two that I think we can make a lot of progress ..

Congressman Himes, just about 30s left or so in this interview.

So help me, you underscored the word bipartisan ea.. Talk to me about reaching across the aisle, particularly in a polarized House.

Thank you.

I every single day aware of the fact that my .. moderation and pragmatism and compromise, which is a little bit of a dirty word.

you know, you I, I focus on making.. And I did emphasize bipartisanship for a reason.

Our politics are way too hot, way too angry, frankly, way too dangerous.

I was in the chamber on January 6th, and we've got to back away from the rage and the anger and the accusations, or we're not going to have a democracy worthy of the American people.

Congressman Himes, thank you for coming on the show.

Thank you for talking to us.

It was great to have you on The Wheelhouse.

Thanks a lot.

Great to see you again.

A reminder for listeners.

We're talking to candidates for Connecticut's fourth congressional district this hour.

You just heard from Congressman Jim Himes.

Now I'm joined by a challenger, Republican Michael Goldstein.

Michael, welcome to The Wheelhouse.

Thank you very much for having me.

So great to talk to you.

So great to meet you.

There you are.

It's good to see you today.

I also want to be mentioned that we'll be posing some of the same questions to Mr. Goldstein that we asked Congressman Himes.

Same as well with Benjamin Wesley.

It helps our listeners maybe get to know the candidates a little better.

Why are you running for a seat in Congress?

Michael?

And what quali.. Sure.

So I've been a medical soc.. got involved in politics, through the medical society, through lobbying, advocacy and a whole bunch of other stuff, and learned for more than a decade how the political system works.

two years ago, I ran ads, and I'm down in a primary, and got 40% of the vote this time around.

I won a primary.

I'm running for Congress because I'm.

I'm somebody.

I can solve problems.

I have a background that's both physician and attorney, and I think that I have a tremendous expertise in our healthcare system.

But I realize that our healthcare system is just one of the many problems that this country faces.

And I think that, we have been through probably the worst admi.. that we've had in the last 100 years, and our country is is heading in the wrong direction, and it needs to be brought back to a much differe.. than it's heading right now.

I understand that you care very much about, health care.

I asked this question to, Congressman Himes.

I asked him about the Affordable Care Act.

Do you think the Affordable Care Act, should stick around and, maybe even be further supported by the federal government?

I think the Affordable Care Act should stick around till we find something better.

I think the the problem with the Afforda.. includes the fact that it has a high deductible.

It doesn't emphasize preventive care, nor early intervention, which are two essentials to general health and well-being.

When, you know, when you, diagnose.. you can your chances of success or cure at a much greater.

The Affordable Care Act has like extremely high deductibles.

So middle class people, can't afford to go to the doctor for for care.

And sometimes they care.

They they delay their care.

And they when they show up, it's much too late.

Also, there is no emphasis on preventive care.

And so those are two major flaws to the Affordable Care Act that need to be addressed with a different kind of, health care.

Affordable housing is an issue in your district.

I want to break down some numbers for you.

These were published in the Connecticut Mirror this past July 2023, and Fairfield County median house sale prices up about 8% compared to those in 2022, 55% compared to 2019.

A March 2024 median holds sold price was 528,000 796,000 for the median listing home price completely out of reach for many of Connecticut's families, what are your plans to maybe tackle this problem, maybe to get the federal government to tackle it?

Sure.

Well, if you look .. into the post-World War Two period, there was the same huge housing shortage.

So a lot of guys had come back from the from the war and were raising families and needed a place to live.

And we faced some of the same issues.

Hyland costs, excessive regulation.

And what they did is they streamlined the regu.. mass production of housing, with us, rather than building houses with, basements.

They built them on.. and they did it in an assembly line fashion.

And I think that using, prefabs, we, we can do the same thing of building, owned, prefabs, provided that we can obtain the land at a reasonable, reasonable price, or those towns can actually even give or or land or at least the land to individuals and the other the other part of that, is.. the regulations.

If you're building, you kn.. all your houses and within three or 4 or 5 variations, you should they should just all be approved.

Because what emphatically, almost everyone, through a very streamlined process so that the you can cut the red tape.

And I think that it worked extremely well post-Worl..

I think we should follow that example.

And I think it should be owned houses rather than rentals, so that way people can build equity and wealth, which will also reduce wealth, wealth dispari..

I want to go over something you had on your website.

You're laying out three guiding principles .. Once take back Connecticut, heal this country, Make America Healthy Again.

Can we explore these together?

Who are we taking Connecticut back from and why?

Sure.

Well, ri.. party state, and I don't believe.

And as whenever you have a one party state, you have no checks and balances.

So for example, we have this wonderful, public benefit, which is, which is creating tremendous economic hardships.

Individuals with their high electric bills, we have the highest taxes, one of the highest taxes in the country.

we are have we have stagnant economic growth.

And so we need a, a pro-business, attitude attracting businesses to Connecticut.

I think that Connecticut is one of the greatest states in the country.

It has everything going for it.

It has water, it has natural beauty.

It has proximity to New York and has know that everything that made Silicon Valley grow and prosper, and yet we're not growing.

So the our government is doing something wrong, and we need a government that's going to, stimulate economic growth and prosperity to the state.

We're asking candidates, whether or not they support Donald Trump.

you say Make America Healthy Again could be a play off of, Donald Trump slogan Make America Great Again.

Do you align yourself with the former president, or do you have any difference in policy, major, differences in policy kind of help us understand, relationship you might have with the former president and the party at large.

Okay.

So I've never personally.. Yeah, I am supporting Donald Trump.

I think he's a far better alternative than his than his opponent.

And I think that Donald Trump, as well.

So somebody that, is going to be a much stronger negotiator and much, much more effective in dealing with our major foreign adversaries, which include China, Iran and Russia.

So I think we need a strong president with a strong foreign policy about, you know, negotiating .. because these people are extremely tough characters.

And, you know, Donald Trump had to deal with a lot of tough characters in the New York City real estate business.

So I think he's going to be much more forceful on that.

And I think that, you know, reducing the size of our government is, is ..

I think, in health care, where our health care costs have gone up 160% in the last decade.

A lot of it is bureaucracy, a lot of it is.. set, the consolidation.

And I think that our health care system can we can cut our.. by $1 trillion, by getting rid of a lot of the bureaucracy, make it better, make it more available.

And, and, and achieve the goals of preventive care and early intervention and, and increased access for everyone.

Talk to me about your stance on the Israel-Hamas War.

If elected to Congress, would you support the United States?

Continued, military aid to Israel?

Absolutely.

Israel is our only reliable ally in the Middle East and our best, ally in terms of fighting our strongest enemy, which is Iran.

I Iran is a global terrorist state,.. it is the best weapon against them in the Middle East.

And I think that anybody that that doesn't support somebody that wants to fight an enemy and, that's it is foolish, I think, that Israel would do a lot of the heavy lifting and dealing with Iran, and it would take a lot of the burden off of us.

I also think that it's the only democracy in the Middle East.

It's the only country that also is tolerant of LGBT.

It treats women with equality, which is not common, and in the Middle East.

And so it's the closest us culturally, it's a closest to us politically.

And it is also a country that also has co-developed that weapons.

A lot of our weapons are that,.. and redeveloped in the United States.

So we actually derive a lot of benefit from that.

So, any.

Any solutions that you have to maybe support people in Gaza on the other side to try to make sure that less civilians die.

Well, it's interesting, you know, a lot of that stuff is overstated.

Supposedly, 80% of the people that have been killed have not been civilians.

75% of the population of Gaza is committed to the the Hamas charter, which which calls for the extermination of every single Jew in the state of Israel.

So they are.

And unless you change the culture you have dealt with the people, and what they want to do is kill Jews.

And of course, they came across the border exactly with that attention.

They didn't come to conquer.

They didn't come to fight a war, they just came to murder.

And so unless you change the culture of people, if people want to exterminate you and I'm Jewish, then you have to either that you have to change the culture, or you have to make sure that the.. And you certainly have to destroy their lead, the the leaders and instigators who are actually initiating those policies.

beyond that.

I, we only got about a minute left.

Thank you for sharing that perspective I appreciate it.

It must be a time, hard time, particularly for people in the in the Jewish community.

Also a hard time for, individuals supporting those in Gaza as well.

We're going to talk about this a little later.

We have a panel on.

But, just finally wrapping up here, just help me understand how you could reach across, both sides of the aisle here, if elected.

As you imagine, this i.. Well, look, I think .. and I think that that's one area..

There's general dissatisfaction.

And general dissatisfaction affects, politicians on both sides of the aisle.

So certainly, you know, working with doctors .. as well and I've worked with Democrats in New York as a medical society leader.

And I do believe that, there it it can be done.

I think it pick things that people want to solve together and work on them, not hate rather than the things that polarize us.

That was Michael Goldstein, candidate for Congress in Connecticut's fourth congressional district.

Thank you so much for coming on the show.

Thank you for doing a little bit of ..

Thank you very much.

You can learn more about me on my website that goes in for congress.com.

Thank you.

All for.

All.

That was Michael Goldstein, Republican candidate running for a seat in Connecticut's fourth congressional district.

We also spoke with Congressman Jim Himes, the incumbent candidate for the fourth district.

And now we're joined by the independent candidate in the race, Benjamin Wesley.

Benjamin, good to have you on today.

Thank you for having me.

Very great to have you on.

Hey, tell us more about yourself.

Benjamin, why are you running for a seat in Connecticut's fourth congressional district?

Sure.

My name again.

I'm an I'm an engineer.

I'm, basically a layman trying to inject what I think is, a different perspective into the race.

I, I work as an engineer, middle class life, lifestyle, and, basically what I'm seeing, personally, I, I want to jump into the race just to give peo.. an opportunity to vote for peace.

When I see the platforms from, my opponents, Doctor Goldstein and, Congressman Himes, I see, a continuance of sending more money to wars abroad that we don't have money for.

And, in many cases, it's it's, it ends up, killing civilians, people that, you know, we, we sensibly want to help.

and I think that there's an alternative and voters deserve a choice if they want to vote for peace, if they want to keep money in their pockets.

I think I'm an, a great alternative.

Can you drill further into that?

Your stance on some of the vario.. conflicts that the United States is currently involved in right now?

Sure.

So in th..

I think as I've said this in multiple interviews, yes, it is illegal.

The the words obviously illegal, but to say it's unprovoked is I think is, a really tough case to make.

I mean, you, you can look at article, new article after article in the New York Times where they're discussing about how we had 13, CIA bases along the Ukraine Russia front.

you can go on YouTube and listen to Victoria Nuland in 2012, where she discusses, the the coup of the then president, Viktor, Lukashenko, two weeks before she's discussing who she's who she wants to be, the next, leaders of Ukraine before he's even deposed.

And will shortly after that leader is deposed.

And the person she wanted to pick is the one in charge.

So, you can see, in the Ukraine conflict, you can see the American hands all over it.

And now there's a .. there's hundreds of what I believe to be.

We can never get an answer out of our, security establishment.

How many have died?

But what I believe to be 4 or 5, 600,000 dead Ukrainian men.

And I wanted to end.

And I think the only way that this is going to end is through dialog and and negotiation.

What about the Israel-Hamas conflict?

Wow.

That's a threat to the next one, Yeah.

Well, in terms of.

What's going on, man, what's going.

On, right.

The world needs somebody to try to solve these conflicts, right?

All right.

again, I don't, I want a healthy and prosperous Israel.

But this Iran is going to be is going to exist in Iran, where it she's Israel is not getting new neighbors anytime soon unless the tectonic plates move.

And we're going to have to find a way to peace for these to for these countries to peaceably, coexist with each other.

We're not going to regime with 20 years ago, Netanyahu came to this to the United States and said that if we got rid of Saddam Hussein and we'd have peace in the Middle East.

now, 4000 soldiers later, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis later, that proved not to be true.

Then he came again three, four months ago and said, you know, if we you know, if we go to war with Iran, basically we're going to find we're going to be able to get peace in the Middle East.

That's again, for me, once, you know, fool me twice that, that we know that that that's that dog doesn't hunt anymore.

So we need to find a way to peaceably negotiate this.

and, quickly, before, you know, as many experts say, World War three starts up.

I believe that at one point you were a registered Democrat.

Is that correct?

I am still a registered still a registered Democrat.

So what ways do you see your politics is different from the Democratic Party?

How come you won't, run as a Democrat in this case?

well.

I think the Democratic Party has, y..

I consider myself a Dennis Kucinich Democrat.

he's actually, I appreciate it.

He's actually running again in Ohio for his seat, for his old seat.

But if you remember Dennis Kucinich, he was a big fighter for, you know, making staying out of the war in Ukraine.

I mean, I'm sorry we got so many wars sent out of th.. you know, not, not going into Libya without our authorization for war.

Just staying constitutional, staying truthful.

If we're going to go to war, we need to deliberate.

Congress is is one responsible for deliberating this?

It seems to me we're sleepwalking into World.. We're not even going to let Congress decide whet.. We just might find ourselves in to end a nuclear war without even having a discussion, as is required by the Constitution, as was just as was expected by the founders.

This is a very important process.

This is something that needs to be discussed.

It's not something where we just shovel more weapons and, and and, money towards proxy wars.

No, you should have a discussion in the Congress and decide.

Yes, we want to actually go to war and and tell the American people why this is critical to our national security.

You're running in the fourth Congressional District.

That includes some of the highest achieving schools in the state, but also some of the most segregated school districts in the state.

Do you have a plan to address this problem?

We often hear that this is, more of a state issue with funding, but federal government obviously could intervene.

you know, I don't as far as desegregation is concerned, I, I'm up for uplifting all scores.

I mean, for me, it's, it's extremely frustrating that I think we're the 30th richest congressional district out of the 530.

And we've got, you know, the superintendent probably rightly, in, in Bridgeport is asking to, you know, close, you know, several dilapidated schools.

And that's to me, that's insane.

And when you go, you know, as as when, when, when I talk to every day, Connecticut voters and they say what our priority should be, they say, you know, we need to help the people in in Lahaina.

We need to help the people.. We need to help North Carolina after the hurricane.

And we need to help ourselves.

the priority for our tax dollars should be, improving our own schools.

So, to the segregation issue.

I don't have much to say on that, but I do want all schools to be lifted up.

And I think we should be the priority for our own tax dollars.

But in general, I think you're saying don't fund defense as much, don't fund foreign wars, spend more money on the home front.

Is that what you're saying, that specifically?

In fact, you know, in general, we have 800 bases out in, outside of the United States.

Why?

We're not at war.

We have the largest, you know, we have the largest defense budget that we've ever had.

why we're not at war again.

in the 90s, we had a process where we when we when the Soviet Union was, destroyed, we started having a peace.

And then and then obviously, the 90s was probably one of the most prosperous times we've had in this country in a long time.

So, and I, you know, I .. those dollars home that it do..

I don't want a strong military.

I want a military that's here on the home front keeping us safe as opposed to being in countries where we're not want it.

I right.

The Iraq.. has voted multiple times to kick the United States out, but we still have three bases there.

The Syrian government never invited us in the first place.

And we control a third of the country, and we have a large base there.

I've asked you, Jim Himes, why we have not left Syria, why he continues to, fund those operations even when the government does not want us there, but of the billions we can save.

Here in Congress.

It's a polarized time as we've, mentioned several times on today's show, will your independent party status help you reach across the aisle and work effectively with people across both parties?

Well, is that the point?

I mean, I I'm on I want to advocate.

I want to come be a congressman that.. and I want to be accountable to people when, for example, during Covid, when the, the option for $3,000 check was being tossed around by President Trump, Nancy Pelosi said, no, we're not going to give him that political, you know, political win, before the election.

And instead we ended with ended up wit..

So $1,200 less me, I would have been in the I would have been in the room running to, to the white House saying, yes, please, I want this $3,000 check.

Those people are hurting.

that's the kind of congressman I want to be.

So if it means I have to go to the other side of the aisle just to get the things that are needed for my people, I'm going to do it.

I want to button up something you said earlier really quickly while I have you.

Because we do have just a little bit of time.

You talked about the war in Ukraine and about there being a situation where one of the sides was unprovoked.

Are you saying that, I don't know if you're maybe, I don't know what the word I'm looking for is here, but are you saying t.. Russia does have at least some kind of claim to Ukraine?

No, that's not what I'm saying.

What I'm saying?

Yes.

What I what I'm saying ..

I think the first year of the war, every time someone spoke, it was always a illegal and unprovoked war.

Illegal.

Sure.

You I mean, th.. for how you can go to illegal legally, but as far as unprovoked, the United States has been pushing for the the you're blaming.

The United States.

You're saying that they have more o..

The red line for the United, for the for Russia.

And we've known this for 20 years.

This has been stated by Putin multiple times, as was stated when Russian when th.. Soviet Union broke up was that they do not want NATO to go.

It was basically an inch further from East Germany.

But let's, let's, let's, let's, let's not even go there.

You know, just talking 21st century.

They didn't want NATO in Ukraine or in, or in Georgia today you can look at the newspapers today, all the national, all the, foreign policy magazines are still pushing to have made a name.

I get you, but you're saying that we have some kind of role.

And we have some.

Yes, but.

You're not saying that Russia is, is is is is somewhat, I can't I can't think .. that's our time.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Thanks.

from Connecticut Public Radio.

This is The Wheelhouse.

I'm Frankie Graziano, Benjamin Wesley.

Great speaking with you today on the show.

All right.

Thank you.

We now have to take a quick break, but when we return, we'll be joined by Ebong Udoma, senior reporter for WSHU.

We'll also be joined by Andy Blye, reporter with the Greenwich Time.

Ebong and Andy will help us analyze what we just heard from all three candidates for Connecticut's fourth congressional district.

You have a question about what you just heard?

Join the conversation.

88872096778887209677.

Also want to let you know that we're tracking early voting across Connecticut at Connecticut Public, first time that state residents are doing it in person before a presidential election last week, my colleague catch n, the host of Where We Live, spoke with poll workers and the Connecticut secretary of State to talk about how towns are getting ready for 15 days of early voting.

Find that conversation at CT public.org/where we live right now.

You're listening to The Wheelhouse.

Thanks for listening to Connecticut Public Radio.

Support comes from the web.

Dean Stevens Museum presenting common ground in a Fractured Nation, an all day political symposium on November 2nd.

Join in lively discussions about the past and future of American democracy.

Diaz museum.org.

Donald Trump has politicized the profound pain of grieving parents.

It's execution.

No longer.

Abortion because t.. That's a mischaracterization of what's known as perinatal hospice.

We'll hear the truth about why it's sometimes needed and the care families receive.

That's on the next on point.

Listen, this morning at ten.

Support for arts and culture reporting on Connecticut Public Radio comes from Hartford Stage and Blythe Wild Mansions Gardens and Arboretum.

Listen for reports on Morning E..

Recognized for exceptional storytelling and visuals, watch outstanding shows on demand and listen to local and regional reporting and award winning podcasts anytime, anywhere.

See what all the hype is about?

Stream today at CT public.org/awards.

Support comes from Wesleyan University presenting Black Voices and Visionaries in Cinema, a seminar exploring black storytelling and film.

Keynote talks by award winning filmmakers Charles Burnett and Shaka King.

Register at Wesleyan Dot.

Edu.

This is The Wheelhouse from Connecticut Public Radio's Frankie Graziano.

This hour we've been talking to candidates for Connecticut's fourth congressional district.

Fourth district encompasses most of Fairfield County, some of New Haven County.

Now we're breaking down some of what we heard from the three candidates.

Democrat Jim Himes, Republican Michael Goldstein and Independent candidate Benjamin Wesley.

With me now, Andy Blye, reporter from the Greenwich Time and Hearst Connecticut Media Group.

Andy, so excited to have you up here.

Thank you for having me.

I'm excited to be here.

Thank you for brav.. Yeah.

It’s real s.. to leave Fairfield County but I braved it, yes, I made it.

You made it here.

I have to say that I'm happy to see you and good friend of mine, joining us remotely today, Ebong Udoma, senior political reporter for WSHU.

Ebong, great to have you on today.

Great to see you again, Frankie.

Great to see you.

I love your zoom set up to.

Nice to see you.

You got a question about what you heard from the candidates?

Join the conversation.

Maybe you want me to clean up my act after I had trouble speaking at the end of the last, interview.

Give us a call (888)#720-9677.

Andy, we spoke with each of the candidates .. in the fourth Congressional District.

Economic disparities, something you have to address, obviously, when you're talking about Fairfield, County.

Do you think they were able to address it?

Do you think that they were able to effectively at least identify how the federal government might be able to help?

Yeah, I think that's a big challenge, right.

Because as, Representative Himes pointed out, some of the zoning issues are decided locally.

the school decisions are decided locally.

So obviously people in Congress have their the power of their office to communicate with local officials and to, you know, go on the media and talk about things.

But as far as specific legislating or decision making, they don't have all of those authorities.

And, yeah, the fourth district, I believe, has 17 different towns and cities, different municipalities.

So each one of those has kind of unique challenges.

But, yeah, I mean, as as we saw, there's a lot of topics for congresspeople and candidates to deal with, but I think, all are sufficiently concerned, I'll say that.

And they have to kind of advocate, I guess, in this case, about did you hear anything from, Michael Goldstein in this case that that might have sounded helpful?

Not really, because, as as Andy just said, a lot of these are local issues.

I know that, as far as affordable housing was concerned, goes to and talked about, prefabs and, stuff like that.

But he never mentioned, what the federal government's role will be in all of this.

And, so, you know, a lot of this and regulations are mostly local.

So he talked about, dealing with regulations.

So I don't think this was an issue that, they really had much to offer.

What about Benjamin West?

Let's ask.

Ask him.

Either of you .. hear anything from Ben.. or on income inequality as well, Mr. Wesley?

Well, you can go ahead.

Yvonne.

Yeah.

Well, basically, it seemed to be that Jim Himes stressed on improving the national economy, that as if you have, a better economy.

A lot of these issues would be, you'll be in a better position to handle them.

So, that's the way that, the federal government can play a role in this, as far as I, I see it, if the if the economy improves, it will be much easier to deal with a lot of these issues.

Although in Fairfield County, an improving economy makes housing even we have an even worse situation with housing.

The better the economy gets.

Go ahead.

Andy.

Yeah, I .. And as Ebong just said, it's like if a congressman person can move the needle nationally, you know, everything will change nationally.

the phrase I wrote, in my little notebook back there was rising tide lifts all boats.

But yeah, I mean, as Representative .. it's like it's really difficult right now without housing stock for teachers, firefighters, people just starting out in their career.

So it's a major challenge.

And whoever wins this seat will play maybe some minor role.

Right.

But this is a .. can to advocate.

But I don't know.

I don't know if these.

these gentlemen, particularly Congressman Himes, are more supportive of maybe seeing work live.. go through in the local session.

Yeah.

This year.

That's what it sounded like to me.

Right.

..

So again, as we've said from the start of this, that's a local, bill local idea and, he, he can advocate for it and say he thinks a bill in the state House is a good idea, but he won't cast a vote on those.

There were several things I heard, in, the interviews, apologize to the folks at home.

We got a kind of rapid fire today because we have three candidates, and then we have to get to a.. for this very point that I'm about to mention, a couple of different things.

We heard about, both Ukraine and Russia and then Israel and Hamas, that conflict as well, that I want to kind of go through.

During Michael Goldstein's interview, he stated that 80% of casualties in Gaza are not civilians.

They are Hamas or family members.

Mr. Goldstein, pulling that number, it sounds like, from the Jewish News Center, Kent Jones, a right leaning media organization that supports the Israeli government.

At the end of September, Oxfam International stated that conservative figures show that more than 6000 women, 11,000 children killed in Gaza by the Israeli military over the last 12 months.

anybody want to help me button that.. Well, that sounds that sounded kind of strange to me, but, now that you've been able to source it, you know, it is hard to to to know the exact figures because we are depending on of Hamas for the casualty figures and, and then on the other side, Israel discounts anything that comes from the, the Hamas health is Hamas health department, I think has been the one giving us the, the figures from Gaza.

So, but from just observing what's going on, it's almost impossible to have the amount of damage that there's been and destruction in Gaza without having a high casualty of civilians.

I yeah, I'm not I don't know where those numbers came from per se, but, yeah, I think Wesley brings an interesting component into this discussion.

Right.

He's.. We should not be funding these in any capacity, whether it's in Gaza or Ukraine.

So, I don't know those specific numbers.

I've cited different numbers in my reporting.

but yeah, I do think that's why Wesley, as an independent candidate, brings an interesting angle into this, because Doctor Goldstein and Mr. Himes are both supporter.. America should continue backing the government there.

But, Wesley has a different idea.

So I think I don't know if Wesley has, as much electoral probability.

Juice as you have juice behind, but.

Well, yeah.

Go ahead.

Yeah, but ba.. just to get into the conversation to get his point of view across more than trying to actually win the seat.

So he has a unique perspective and he would like to have that aired.

And I think the more discourse there is, the better.

It's a it's a popular.. if you think about it particularly maybe among ultra conservatives or progressives as well; kind of stay out of wars and take care of.. Maybe be more isolationist in that regard in terms of how you spend money.

And that has been a talking point for Trump.

He's been the one who has been pushing for getting, for getting out of all international conflicts.

although he's, I don't know, I thought one thing that was interesting that happened was that Goldstein actually embraced Donald Trump, which is not what what is happening in the first Congressional District, where we had a hard time trying to get, the Republican candidate there, George Logan, to mention Trump's name.

So it's interesting that, and in the in the fourth Congressional District, it's actually skewing more Democratic these days that he.

Used.

As great point average.

Andy, should you be distancing yourself right now if you're, a candidate in the fourth Congressional District, particularly in the statewide races, I think Ryan Fazio very clearly, he's a Republican running in the 36th district, very clearly trying to distance himself from Donald Trump.

Should Michael goal seem to be..

I I'm not going to say what he should or shouldn't do.

Right.

But, y.. state Senator Ryan Fazio as well, because he's taken a very different approach where he, he does not want to talk about national politics at all.

And Doctor Goldstein, you know, says he's a supporter of Trump just a few minutes ago.

So I don't know how it's going to work electorally.

Right.

The the fo.. Congressional Congressional Dist.. voted first for Hillary Clinton and then for Joe Biden by pretty wide margins.

So I don't expect a large change where the district is going ..

He's up at the top of the ballot.

But, yeah, I mean, obviously there are people who support Trump's message in the district.

And, Goldstein.

I do appreciate, as a reporter, right, to have someone be open and honest.

So, yeah, I appreciate that.

Electability, though.

Is that like, so so that's where I think I was getting two guys.

And does it hurt your chances in a.. if you were supportive of maybe the maybe the Trump wing of the party because then does that speak to maybe a bang?

You can answer this as well to not being able to reach across the aisle, maybe digging in further.

I think, okay, well, I'll.

Just go ahead.

Go ahead.

I'll briefly say, you know, the campaign trail is one place.

And then when you if you win a seat, people sometimes act differently.

But, yeah, I, I don't know, but.

At least you know where he lives beforehand.

I think it's a point.

Whereas I think I was trying to say .. you might not necessarily have that idea.

In some ways.

The race is it's an easier decision for voters because you know, where I'm stands and you know where I know where to.

Go.

Goldstein.

Yeah.

You know, and so it's it's I think it's, another reason, to, to look at this is that, the fifth Congressional District has attracted national funding.

and the fourth Congressional District has not.

About two minutes left to go on this.

you guys are doing a great job.

I might take off of the next couple of minutes because you guys are doing a fantastic job here.

but let's talk about the third candidate here.

a little more.

We had the occasion to have a third candidate on for the first time, an independent getting involved in this race as compared to the other ones.

So what did you hear from Benjamin Wesley?

Was he able to insert himself here and maybe be some kind of a factor in this race?

I think one one thing I wanted to mention while I was in front of a microphone is, it's really difficult to beat an incumbent.

And that's true for Doctor Goldstein, and even more so for Mr. Wesley.

Obviously, he's on the show today, right?

He's up on the same stage, so to speak.

So he is communicating his message in that way.

And, you know, he's addressing Himes on his record.

But yeah, it's it's going to be difficult for anyone to be.

I'm just go around.

And you have to realize he's a Democrat, but he needs to get his, his his point across.

He needs to get into the conversation.

And that's probably one of the reasons wh..

I was having trouble articulating this earlier, but I was trying to wonder whether or not he was.

I was a little confused by his Ukraine stance.

I was wondering if he was saying sort of that when to use the word unprovoked, if he had was kind of saying that Ukraine was getting what it deserved.

It didn't sound like he was saying that.

He was saying, I think it sounds like that America is, has some role in this and that, we shouldn't be supporting this war, at least spending money on it, because we should be spending some more money at home.

Do I have that right?

At least it was that.

Well, that that there was more American.. in what was going on in Ukraine that when we were, that we were led to believe.

but if you remember, it was a Joe Biden that was on Zelensky's case telling him that this was going to happen and he didn't believe it until the last minute.

And now you have an authoritarian regime that they're dealing with, which is why, you know, it's it's tough to hear some of the things that Benjamin Wesley is saying in that regard.

But then again, a lot of people do feel similarly that, we shouldn't be funding former wars.

What kind of foreign wars?

What a conversation we had with Andy Blye and Ebong, who, after the big event that we had with three candidates in Connecticut's fourth district.

Thank you for coming on the show.

Thank you.

Frankie.

Nice to see you again soon, Andy.

So good to have you on the show.

Thank you so much for coming up here.

Thank you.

Coming up next week, we're going to hear from candidates for Connecticut's second congressional district, incumbent Democrat Joe Courtney and Republican opponent Mike France.

And before we head out, a reminder to listeners Connecticut Public has you covered.

For all you need to know about the 2024 election.

We got a voter guide at Connecticut public.org/election.

My man, Patrick Scahill, put that together.

Details about the candidates and the issues and how you can cast your ballot CT public.org/election.

You know, we got you on election coverage.

Stay tuned.

Just two weeks away,.. and the night after today's show.

Produced by Chloe Wynn, edited by Robin Doyle and Aiken Technical producer is the mae.. Reyes, Joe Costin, Bradley O'Connor, manager.

Our live stream graphics today by Sam Hockaday.

Thank you.

To t.. and Julianne Versace, download The Wheelhouse anytime on your favorite podcast app.

I'm Frankie Graziano.

This is The Wheelhouse.