Mark Nielsen
The Republican Opponent: Connecticut's 5th
Congressional District

Republican lawyer Mark Nielsen is challenging incumbent Jim Maloney in a re-match fight for Connecticut's fifth district seat in the House of Representatives.

A native of Danbury, Nielsen represented his hometown in Connecticut's General Assembly from 1993-1999, first in the House and then in the Senate. He served as chairman of the Select Committee on Children and sponsored legislation creating a home-visitation program for children at risk of abuse or neglect. As a member of the Human Services Committee, he helped shape a bill that limited cash welfare benefits to 21 months. Nielsen is also known for filing a lawsuit against the legislature in an attempt to strengthen a spending cap that linked growth in state spending to inflation and the personal income. The lawsuit reached Connecticut Supreme Court, where the court ruled in Nielsen's favor but elected to take no action on the matter.

Nielsen, 39, first challenged Maloney for the Congressional seat in 1998 and lost by only two percentage points. This year he is trying again, campaigning on education, Social Security, and tax reform. He supports partially privatizing social security, merit pay for teachers, and private school vouchers for low-income students. He says he favors a "flatter, simpler" tax code, but has declined to give details.

Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush and Arizona Senator John McCain both visited the district this year to aid Nielsen's campaign. McCain's visit is a key part of Nielsen's attempt to present himself as a reformer who supports campaign finance reform, including a federal ban on soft money.

A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Neilsen currently practices law and serves on the board of the Yankee Institute for Public Policy, a conservative Connecticut think tank that promotes limited government. He lives Danbury with his wife and their child.