Connecticut's 4th Congressional District election, 2024 (August 13 Republican primary)

From Ballotpedia
Jump to: navigation, search


Ballotpedia Election Coverage Badge-smaller use.png
U.S. Senate • U.S. House • State Senate • State House • Special state legislative • State ballot measures • How to run for office
Flag of Connecticut.png


2026 →
← 2022
Connecticut's 4th Congressional District
Ballotpedia Election Coverage Badge.png
Democratic primary
Republican primary
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: June 11, 2024
Primary: August 13, 2024
General: November 5, 2024
How to vote
Poll times: 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Voting in Connecticut
Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Solid Democratic
DDHQ and The Hill: Safe Democratic
Inside Elections: Solid Democratic
Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Democratic
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds
U.S. House battlegrounds
Federal and state primary competitiveness
Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2024
See also
Connecticut's 4th Congressional District
U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th
Connecticut elections, 2024
U.S. Congress elections, 2024
U.S. Senate elections, 2024
U.S. House elections, 2024

A Republican Party primary took place on August 13, 2024, in Connecticut's 4th Congressional District to determine which Republican candidate would run in the district's general election on November 5, 2024.

Michael Goldstein advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Connecticut District 4.

All 435 seats were up for election. At the time of the election, Republicans had a 220 to 212 majority with three vacancies.[1] As of June 2024, 45 members of the U.S. House had announced they were not running for re-election. To read more about the U.S. House elections taking place this year, click here.

In the 2022 election in this district, the Democratic candidate won 59.4%-40.6%. Daily Kos calculated what the results of the 2020 presidential election in this district would have been following redistricting. Joe Biden (D) would have defeated Donald Trump (R) 64.8%-33.8%.[2]

Candidate filing deadline Primary election General election
June 11, 2024
August 13, 2024
November 5, 2024


A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate whom they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. Connecticut law gives parties discretion to decide whether unaffiliated voters may vote in their primaries. As of October 2025, both parties operated closed primary where only a voter affiliated with the party may vote in a party's primary.[3]

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

This page focuses on Connecticut's 4th Congressional District Republican primary. For more in-depth information on the district's Democratic primary and the general election, see the following pages:

Candidates and election results


Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Connecticut District 4

Michael Goldstein defeated Bob MacGuffie in the Republican primary for U.S. House Connecticut District 4 on August 13, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Michael Goldstein
Michael Goldstein Candidate Connection
 
53.7
 
4,312
Image of Bob MacGuffie
Bob MacGuffie
 
46.3
 
3,713

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 8,025
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Candidate profiles

This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.

Michael Goldstein

Image of Michael Goldstein

WebsiteFacebookTwitterYouTube

Party: Republican Party

Incumbent: No

Political Office: None

Submitted Biography:  "I am an Ophthalmic Surgeon who later became an attorney. As an officer, past President, and past Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the NY County Medical Society I have been an active advocate for improving our healthcare system. In 2022 as a political unknown I petitioned onto the ballot and obtained 40% of the votes in the Republican Congressional Primary. Since 2022, I have remained politically active and was elected to the Greenwich RTM where I serve on the Health and Human Services Committee. I believe in giving back and I have served on the boards of non-profits, including serving as President and later Chairman of the Board of my medical school alumni assn. I live in Greenwich CT with my wife Belle who is also a physician; I raised my children here. I am passionate believer in the greatness of our American democracy and the opportunities it offers to all people regardless of, race, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and economic circumstances to achieve success. I have seen this great country being destroyed from within by the Biden administration and enablers like my congressional opponent and I cannot stand by and let this happen. I am determined to fight for our way of life so that our democracy is preserved for the next generation. This is a driving force for my run for Congress. I believe that a Congressman needs to serve the people by taking positive steps to improve their lives while acting in the best interests of the US."

Key Messages

To read this candidate's full survey responses, click here.

Our economy is suffering from high energy prices, reckless government spending & the printing of money. Life has become unaffordable for many Americans. The price of gasoline, & heating oil have doubled. Natural gas, electricity, food prices & consumer goods are much higher. Higher interest rates make housing & car loans unaffordable. The interest costs on our federal debt will lead to higher taxes. We are being forced to buy oil from dictatorships rather than produce it here and creating American jobs. Ct. faces some of the highest electric bills in the country because federal laws block us from buying enough domestic natural gas to generate our electricity. We have to import it at higher prices. These laws must be changed.

Our border must be closed to illegal immigration. Criminals, gang members, terrorists , drug, sex and child traffickers must be deported. Illegal aliens must be defunded. It is absurd that we are providing extensive economic benefits to illegal entrants into our country. Crime shouldn’t pay. Fentanyl originating in China, packed in Mexico and smuggled into the US, is killing tens of thousands of Americans. Counterfeit pills labeled oxycodone or something else contain fatal doses of fentanyl are killing unsuspecting Americans. To me that is murder and those who sell lethal fentanyl pills are murderers. I will propose laws that make this crime murder and those who make and distribute these pills should be prosecuted for murder.

Our healthcare system has become overly expensive and overly bureaucratic. Physicians and other healthcare providers suffer burnout from the regulatory compliance that takes up to 20 hours per week of their time. Patients feel that healthcare has become more of a business and they feel that they are no longer the priority. High deductibles keep middle class and working class people from seeking medical care and they loose the benefit of preventive care. There is little competition and choice in healthcare. This needs to be reformed, competition which lowers prices and improves quality must be expanded. Patient dissatisfaction, physician burnout, overregulation, and loss of competition and choice must be reversed. Patients must come first.

This information was current as of the candidate's run for U.S. House Connecticut District 4 in 2024.

Voting information

See also: Voting in Connecticut
Ballotpedia will publish the dates and deadlines related to this election as they are made available.


Campaign finance

Name Party Receipts* Disbursements** Cash on hand Date
Michael Goldstein Republican Party $156,511 $156,511 $0 As of December 3, 2024
Bob MacGuffie Republican Party $102,145 $101,091 $1,054 As of October 10, 2024

Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2024. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee."
** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election.

District analysis

Click the tabs below to view information about voter composition, past elections, and demographics in both the district and the state.

  • District map - A map of the district in place for the election.
  • Competitiveness - Information about the competitiveness of 2024 U.S. House elections in the state.
  • Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the district and the state.
  • State party control - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.


Below was the map in use at the time of the election. Click the map below to enlarge it.

2023_01_03_ct_congressional_district_04.jpg
See also: Primary election competitiveness in state and federal government, 2024

This section contains data on U.S. House primary election competitiveness in Connecticut.

Connecticut U.S. House competitiveness, 2014-2024
Office Districts/
offices 		Seats Open seats Candidates Possible primaries Contested Democratic primaries Contested Republican primaries % of contested primaries Incumbents in contested primaries % of incumbents in contested primaries
2024 5 5 0 11 10 0 1 10.0% 0 0.0%
2022 5 5 0 11 10 0 1 10.0% 0 0.0%
2020 5 5 0 13 10 0 2 20.0% 0 0.0%
2018 5 5 1 13 10 1 1 20.0% 0 0.0%
2016 5 5 0 12 10 0 0 0.0% 0 0.0%
2014 5 5 0 10 10 0 0 0.0% 0 0.0%

Post-filing deadline analysis

The following analysis covers all U.S. House districts up for election in Connecticut in 2024. Information below was calculated on August 6, 2024, and may differ from information shown in the table above due to candidate replacements and withdrawals after that time.

Eleven candidates ran for Connecticut’s five U.S. House districts, including five Democrats and six Republicans. That’s an average of 2.2 candidates per district. There was an average of 2.2 candidates per district in 2022, 2.6 candidates per district in 2020, and 2.6 in 2018.

The number of candidates who ran for the U.S. House in Connecticut in 2024 was tied with 2022 for the second-fewest in the last 10 years.

No districts were open in 2024, meaning all incumbents ran for re-election. One district was open in 2018, the only election cycle in the last 10 years in which a district was open.

Three candidates—one Democrat and two Republicans—ran for the 4th Congressional District, the most candidates who ran for a district in Connecticut in 2024.

The Republican primary for the 4th Congressional District was the only contested primary in 2024.

No incumbents ran in a contested primary in 2024 for the sixth consecutive election cycle.

Candidates filed to run in the Republican and Democratic primaries in all five districts, meaning no seats are guaranteed to either party.

Partisan Voter Index

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

Heading into the 2024 elections, based on results from the 2020 and 2016 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was D+13. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 13 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made Connecticut's 4th the 111th most Democratic district nationally.[4]

2020 presidential election results

The table below shows what the vote in the 2020 presidential election would have been in this district. The presidential election data was compiled by Daily Kos.

2020 presidential results in Connecticut's 4th based on 2024 district lines
Joe Biden Democratic Party Donald Trump Republican Party
64.8% 33.8%

Inside Elections Baselines

See also: Inside Elections

Inside Elections' Baseline is a figure that analyzes all federal and statewide election results from the district over the past four election cycles. The results are combined in an index estimating the strength of a typical Democratic or Republican candidate in the congressional district.[5] The table below displays the Baseline data for this district.

Inside Elections Baseline for 2024
Democratic Baseline Democratic Party Republican Baseline Republican Party Difference
58.6 40.2 D+18.4

Presidential voting history

See also: Presidential election in Connecticut, 2020

Connecticut presidential election results (1900-2020)

  • 15 Democratic wins
  • 16 Republican wins
Year 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020
Winning Party R R R D R R R R R D D D R R R D D D R R R R R D D D D D D D D
See also: Party control of Connecticut state government

Congressional delegation

The table below displays the partisan composition of Connecticut's congressional delegation as of May 2024.

Congressional Partisan Breakdown from Connecticut
Party U.S. Senate U.S. House Total
Democratic 2 5 7
Republican 0 0 0
Independent 0 0 0
Vacancies 0 0 0
Total 2 5 7

State executive

The table below displays the officeholders in Connecticut's top four state executive offices as of May 2024.

State executive officials in Connecticut, May 2024
Office Officeholder
Governor Democratic Party Ned Lamont
Lieutenant Governor Democratic Party Susan Bysiewicz
Secretary of State Democratic Party Stephanie Thomas
Attorney General Democratic Party William Tong

State legislature

Connecticut State Senate

Party As of February 2024
     Democratic Party 24
     Republican Party 12
     Other 0
     Vacancies 0
Total 36

Connecticut House of Representatives

Party As of February 2024
     Democratic Party 98
     Republican Party 53
     Other 0
     Vacancies 0
Total 151

Trifecta control

The table below shows the state's trifecta status from 1992 until the 2024 election.

Connecticut Party Control: 1992-2024
Fourteen years of Democratic trifectas  •  No Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Governor I I I R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R D D D D D D D D D D D D D D
Senate D D D R R D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D
House D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D

Ballot access

The table below details filing requirements for U.S. House candidates in Connecticut in the 2024 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Connecticut, click here.

Filing requirements for U.S. House candidates, 2024
State Office Party Signatures required Filing fee Filing deadline Source
Connecticut U.S. House Ballot-qualified party 2% of registered party members in the district N/A 6/11/2024 Source
Connecticut U.S. House Unaffiliated 1% of votes cast for the office in the last election, or 7,500, whichever is less N/A 8/7/2024 Source

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ A majority in the U.S. House when there are no vacancies is 218 seats.
  2. ↑ Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' 2020 presidential results by congressional district, for new and old districts," accessed September 15, 2022
  3. ↑ Connecticut General Assembly, "Conn. Gen. Stat. § 9-431," accessed October 20, 2025
  4. ↑ Cook Political Report, "The 2022 Cook Partisan Voting Index (Cook PVI℠)," accessed January 10, 2024
  5. ↑ Inside Elections, "Methodology: Inside Elections’ Baseline by Congressional District," December 8, 2023


Connecticut's current delegation to the United States Congress
Senators
Richard Blumenthal (D)
Christopher Murphy (D)
Representatives
District 1
District 2
District 3
District 4
Jim Himes (D)
District 5
Democratic Party (7)


v • e
2023-2024 Elections to the United States Congress
Senate by StateCongressLogo.png
House by State
Alabama • Alaska • American Samoa • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut • Delaware • Florida • Georgia • Guam • Hawaii • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Louisiana • Maine • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota • Mississippi • Missouri • Montana • Nebraska • Nevada • New Hampshire • New Jersey • New Mexico • New York • North Carolina • North Dakota • Northern Mariana Islands • Ohio • Oklahoma • Oregon • Pennsylvania • Puerto Rico • Rhode Island • South Carolina • South Dakota • Tennessee • Texas • U.S. Virgin Islands • Utah • Vermont • Virginia • Washington • West Virginia • Wisconsin • Wyoming
Election information
Super PACs/Organizations
Retrieved from "https://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=Connecticut%27s_4th_Congressional_District_election,_2024_(August_13_Republican_primary)&oldid=9643840"