Matt Maxwell and Bill Stevens both call Newtown their home, but they have a couple of other things in common. Both Republicans have announced intentions to challenge incumbent US Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty in November, and are seeking the Republican nomination for Connecticut's Fifth Congressional District.Connecticut Mirror, when Mr Stevens declared his candidacy via e-mail and a posted release on a Facebook page in early February, he became the fourth declared candidate to challenge her. The other Republicans seeking to oust Rep Esty are Mr Maxwell who resides in Sandy Hook, Clay Cope of Sherman, and John Pistone of Brookfield.Mirror reported, when the state General Assembly held hearings on new gun laws after the Newtown shootings by opposing what he called "asinine legislation" to tighten gun laws in the state.Tax Reform Detailedmattmaxwellforcongress.com.Revolutionary HeritageAppropriate Military Supportstevensforcongress.org.

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In his candidacy release, Mr Stevens states, "Our Nation is in grave danger. Connecticut needs a congressman who will fight to strengthen our national security, rebuild our military, secure our borders, and defend the Constitution and our Second Amendment rights."

Mr Stevens' release states he is a graduate of the New Mexico Military Institute (commissioned, second lieutenant), and the University of California, Santa Barbara, and that his background includes Asian studies, international banking, and sustainable energy.

He believes in Constitutional law, limited government, and free market capitalism.

In a subsequent Facebook post, Mr Stevens says, "As her replacement, and as an Army officer and Newtown Dad, it will be my job in Congress to vote in support of the Constitution, that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

Through the site, he also extended Rep Esty an invitation "to come back to Newtown and tell me why gun rights shouldn't be upheld as equally and fairly as civil rights, women's rights, and gay rights."

In his introductory material, Mr Maxwell invokes the name of a famed Connecticut political figure, stating he is a "direct descendant of Governor of the Colony of Connecticut Thomas Fitch, the senior." The Sandy Hook resident is positioning himself as a hardworking family man who pledges to make streamlining the federal tax code a top priority.

"I am not the typical Republican or Democrat that runs for Congress in Connecticut's Fifth District," Mr Maxwell states. "I am relatable. No trust fund, no millions in the bank, not a professional politician, not a lawyer, although I am on the Newtown Republican Town Committee.

"I am a blue-collar guy, from my days as an assistant manager in retail, to being a subcontractor for Charter and Cablevision, to working as a general maintenance subcontractor for Target stores," he continued. "Now I [am able to] buy a house to fix with my own two hands."

His bio states that Mr Maxwell is 35, married, with two sons, and moved to Sandy Hook in 2014. He grew up in Bridgeport, Danbury, and just across the border in New York State, moved to New Milford at 20 years old, then lived for a period of time at the four corners in Brookfield.

"Connecticut is my home, even though I have not spent my whole life in Sandy Hook," Mr Maxwell states. "We are here to stay in this loving community that fosters optimism and the small town feel many of us thought does not exist in the 21st Century. Plus the fact that we love our house and our neighbors so much, we cannot imagine finding that anywhere else."

Mr Maxwell believes the nation can promote national economic growth by "balancing budgets, and streamlining our 72,000-page tax code."

"The federal tax plan I support: up to $36,000 is tax-exempt, after that a 10 percent flat tax," Mr Maxwell stated. "Remove all current business taxes replaced with a flat 16 percent tax, after capital expenditures, taxed on net profit."

He believes an "average middle income family would see about $5,000 more than they currently do," under his proposal.

"We need a growing national, state, and local economy," Mr Maxwell said. "We need more freedom for parents and educators to make local decisions on education. It is time we stop looking at the issues through the prism of partisan politics and use common sense. Common sense has become so rare, it is often now described as a superpower."

To learn more about Mr Maxwell, visit

Mr Stevens also coincidentally also refers to his Colonial-era heritage, stating in his bio that his "family tree has roots in colonial America, settling north of Boston in the early 1600s and then near Stonington, Connecticut. His ancestors fought in the American Revolution, and his grandfather and father served in the US Navy and Air Force respectively."

He has lived in Newtown with his wife and three children for eight years, and now works for a New Jersey-based energy company where he leads the pursuit and analysis of new wind energy investments. His career portfolio includes hundreds of installed wind turbines, and more than a billion dollars invested in several states, according to the bio.

Mr Stevens grew up in the western New York town of Arkport, and after graduating from high school in 1983 he reported to Army ROTC boot camp at Fort Knox, Ky., and spent the next two years at the New Mexico Military Institute.

After receiving his commission as a second lieutenant in 1985, the bio states that he attended the University of California Santa Barbara while serving part-time in a National Guard artillery unit. In 1987 he earned his bachelor's degree in Asian Studies with a concentration on Japan.

Upon his graduation, Mr Stevens moved to Japan for eight years, working for a Japanese bank, financing industrial projects in Hong Kong, China, and the Philippines. The bank transferred him to Singapore for two years where he helped finance projects in Indonesia.

A decade later, Mr Stevens returned to the US and began his career in the energy industry.

Besides vowing to fight to protect Americans' Second Amendment rights, Mr Stevens pledges to provide the tools US service men and women need while controlling inflated military budget allocations, and will work to identify and defeat extremists who are targeting America and its global interests.

He is calling for "simply worded legislation, that America's southern border shall be immediately secured, by any means possible: a wall, fences, electronic surveillance, raw manpower, or any combination thereof until no person is physically able to cross that border except through the proper location and procedures."

Regarding immigration, Mr Stevens calls for enforcing "the laws we have, and reduce H1B visas being exploited by American companies to replace American workers with cheaper imported labor."

"That is unacceptable," Mr Stevens goes on to state through his website. "And I don't need a lecture on being anti-immigrant or racist. My wife is a legal, Green Card-carrying immigrant from Japan, as I was once in her country. We have a lot of friends who came to America legally - others coming to America should, too."

Mr Stevens also believes that, "Helping our own countrymen should be a priority before we allocate resources to other countries."

For more information on Mr Stevens, visit: