Republican Justin Bernier, the 35-year-old former Naval intelligence officer from Plainville who mounted an unsuccessful bid for Congress in 2010, announced this week he'll run again in 2012.
He lost the Republican nomination for the 5th District to former state Sen. Sam Caligiuri, who went on to lose to Democratic U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy. But with Murphy's recent announcement that he'll run for U.S. Senate, the 5th becomes an open seat. Bernier is the second candidate to officially enter the race; Republican businessman Mark Greenberg of Litchfield, who also ran in 2010, has already said he will mount another run.
Bernier says reducing the nation's debt and reigning in federal spending are at the core of his candidacy. In a web video heralding his campaign, he proposes bringing government spending down to 1998 levels, when the government actually had a surplus.
"This is the greatest challenge facing our country right now,'' Bernier said. "If you look at where we're going, by the end of this decade, we're going to be spending one out of every $4 just to pay off the debt.'