About

Chris Coutu: Citizen Leader, Citizen Legislator

Chris Coutu’s life has been defined by service to his country, to his community and to his family.  Chris is running for Congress because he knows our nation is at a crucial crossroads. He wants to preserve America as a land of opportunity for future generations. 

Chris is firmly rooted in blue-collar, middle-class American values.  After high school graduation, Chris joined the Air Force and completed his Associate’s degree.  He paid his way through college by working full-time at Mohegan Sun Casino and within the mental health field to complete both his undergraduate and graduate degrees. He was the first member of his family to earn a college degree.

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During his 17 years of service in the Air Force, Army National Guard and Connecticut Air National Guard, Chris worked on avionics systems for C-130 and A-10 aircraft and rose to the rank of Executive Officer. 

During his time in the Reserves, he also worked in his family’s small businesses.  He shucked scallops in the Atlantic, coordinated transcontinental truck routes, and manned the pin machines at the tool and die shop.

Chris is the rare political candidate who understands the working lives of middle-class Americans.  In Congress, Chris will do right by middle-class families and small businesses because he’s always been right there with them -- and Washington isn’t going to change that.

In 2005, concerned that the aging heroes of World War II and Korea were being forgotten over time, Chris established the non-profit AmericanWarrior organization. 

 AmericanWarrior has paid for all expenses to send 730 Connecticut veterans of World War II and Korea to visit their memorials in Washington, reunite with their old comrades, and honor their fallen brothers.

New Leadership

In 2007, Chris decided his hometown needed new leadership and ran for the Norwich City Council.  After a few weeks on the Council, Chris persuaded his Republican and Democratic colleagues to support a spending cap and to cut hundreds of thousands of dollars from the proposed budget.  As a result, Chris helped change the “tax and spend” culture that had plagued Norwich for many years. 

Soon, his supporters urged Chris to bring that same kind of leadership to Hartford – by challenging an entrenched, 14- year incumbent State Representative who had won his previous election by a 23 percent margin.  In the midst of the 2008 Obama landslide, Chris was one of the only Republicans in New England to defeat a sitting Democrat at any level of government.

As a State Representative, Chris has fought tirelessly against the excessive spending, taxation, and borrowing that are killing Connecticut jobs. He joined the suit to sue Governor Malloy for his unconstitutional budget and he was the lone “no” vote against the $1.1 billion speinding package of 2011.

Fighting for Our Future

Chris is driven to fight for our nation’s future and to the preserve the American Dream because as a husband and father, he believes he owes it to future generations -- and to his own baby daughter, Alexandria.

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Chris and his wife Neringa were married in 2004.  Shortly after Alexandria’s birth on December 28, 2010, Chris and Neringa watched as their tiny daughter fought for her life after requiring open-heart surgery.  Watching her recover, Chris knew he had to ensure that she would have the opportunities that Americans have cherished for generations.  She is Chris’s ultimate pride and joy and she is his “Seven Pound Inspiration.” Chris is running for Congress for all of our kids.  We are at a crossroads as a nation.  We can either roll up our sleeves and get to work or roll over and wait for our America to fade away.  Chris is rolling up his sleeves.

 

Christopher Coutu is a member of the Army National Guard.  Use of his military rank, job titles, and photographs in uniform does not imply endorsement by the Department of the Army or the Department of Defense