Benjamin Wesley
Benjamin Wesley (Independent Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Connecticut's 4th Congressional District. He lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Wesley completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Benjamin Wesley's career experience includes working as a manufacturing mechanical engineer.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: Connecticut's 4th Congressional District election, 2024
Connecticut's 4th Congressional District election, 2024 (August 13 Democratic primary)
Connecticut's 4th Congressional District election, 2024 (August 13 Republican primary)
General election
General election for U.S. House Connecticut District 4
Incumbent Jim Himes defeated Michael Goldstein and Benjamin Wesley in the general election for U.S. House Connecticut District 4 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Jim Himes (D) | 61.1 | 200,791 |
 | Michael Goldstein (R)  | 37.3 | 122,793 | |
 | Benjamin Wesley (Independent Party) | 1.6 | 5,273 | |
| Total votes: 328,857 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Jaden Skudlarek (Independent)
Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Jim Himes advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Connecticut District 4.
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 | ||
| ✔ | | Michael Goldstein | 53.7 | 4,312 |
 | Bob MacGuffie | 46.3 | 3,713 | |
| Total votes: 8,025 | |||
| = 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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Daniel Miressi (R)
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Wesley in this election.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Benjamin Wesley completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Wesley's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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- Fight for Peace in Gaza and Ukraine-I am deeply concerned and alarmed by the genocide in Gaza, and the threats of wider war -- including possible use of nuclear weapons -- in both the Middle East and the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Our current Congressman, Jim Himes, supports the continued arming of both Israel and Ukraine, and will not be moved from his position. That position needs to change, and that is why I am running as the peace candidate.
- 2. ***A 21st Century Peace Dividend*** The Cold War is over. So is the War on Terror. America does not need the one trillion dollar plus annual defense budget that it currently has. It does not need the more than 800 bases it currently maintains worldwide. Let's identify what savings in military spending can be made and return that money to the People! This can be either in the form of lower taxes or investments in affordable housing, improved schools, new infrastructure, and better social services. This was successfully done in the 1990's, a time of greater prosperity and large job growth.
- 3.***Save our schools, save our children*** The education of our children is critical to the betterment of our society. Unfortunately, within each of our three largest school systems(Stamford, Norwalk, Bridgeport) most of the kids are reading and doing math at a proficiency level well below average. Additionally, recent articles indicated that in Norwalk ,there were teacher staffing cuts in 2023. Additionally, Bridgeport’s Superintendent is recommending closing 6 public schools due to inadequate funding and building conditions. Over 1400 children will be affected and no commitment has been made to existing staff. Many could be let go.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign website
Wesley’s campaign website stated the following:
| “ |
1. An immediate ceasefire in Gaza and a plan for rebuilding As of Sept 05, 2024, the United States had shipped it’s 500th shipment of weapons since October 7th. That’s equates to one shipment every 16 hrs. since October 7th. Over that time between 40,000 and a quarter million Palestinians have been killed in with bullets and bombs provided by the United states. I would take up the cause of Peace for the United States by taking following actions to end this genocide: 1) Immediately call for an end to weapons sales to Israel until until there's a lasting Ceasefire agreement 2) Immediately call for refunding UNRWA and other support organizations. 3) Demand a peace conference of leading nations to establish a lasting political settlement between the Israelis and Palestinians. 2. A 21st Century Peace Dividend The Cold War is over. So is the War on Terror. America does not need the one trillion dollar plus annual defense budget that it currently has. It does not need the more than 800 bases it currently maintains worldwide. Let's identify what savings in military spending can be made and return that money to the people! This can be either in the form of lower taxes or investments in affordable housing, improved schools, new infrastructure, health care for all, and better social services. This was successfully done in the 1990's, a time of greater prosperity and large job growth. 3. Get the people affordable housing Housing must be a priority! Housing is obviously a huge problem in Connecticut's 4th District district and in the state generally. There’s nearly a 100,000 unit shortage in Connecticut. The average multi-room rental in Fairfield county is nearly $2700! Additionally, homelessness has reached all time highs. Anyone who's walked by the tent city under the Bridgeport train station bridge is aware of the issue. I’ll work with the federal housing administration, local governments, realtors, builders, and social service agencies on ways to increase affordable housing inventory. 4. Save our schools, save our children The education of our children is critical to the betterment of our society. Unfortunately, within each of our three largest school systems(Stamford, Norwalk, Bridgeport) most of the kids are reading and doing math at a proficiency level well below average. Additionally, recent articles indicated that in Norwalk, there were teacher staffing cuts in 2023. Additionally, Bridgeport’s Superintendent is recommending closing 6 public schools due to inadequate funding and building conditions. Over 1400 children will be affected and no commitment has been made to existing staff. Many could be let go. Again, endless war funding is a major reason our kids aren't getting the education they need. It results in lack of resources and ill-maintained schools. If elected to Congress, I will not vote for a single dollar of supplemental funding for foreign wars without a congressional war resolution and will fight to get more federal dollars into our children's schools. 5. Retool and diversify our military contractors for a peacetime economy Connecticut receives the 7th largest amount of military contractor funds among the 50 states. Three of our large employers: General Dynamics Electric Boat, RTX’s Pratt & Whitney and Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky offer high paying jobs and employ some of the most technically advanced personnel in the world. However, it also means the state's economy is highly dependent on the military industrial complex and, by extension, on war itself. I'd introduce legislation encouraging the diversification of our military contractors into civilian operations. Sikorsky's Turbotrain is one such example of this retooling. The Turbotrain was a revolutionary train capable of high speed velocities (175 mph) in the late 1960's and was a good commercial success for the primarily military helicopter company. 6. A fighter for free expression The federal government recently passed legislation giving the President the right to shutdown TikTok and any other other Social media companies that he or she deems "foreign-influenced". Recent media reports and judicial rulings confirm that the federal government was collaborating with X, Facebook, and other big social media to identify users deemed subversive and blocked them. That's a direct violation of the First Amendment! You deserve a congressman who will fight for your right to express yourself freely without government interference.[2] |
” |
| —Benjamin Wesley’s campaign website (2024)[3] | ||
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Ben Wesley for Congress, "About Me," accessed October 22, 2024
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Benjamin Wesley’s campaign website, “Priorities,” accessed October 22, 2024
