Most of the local candidates running in the November general election have familiar names in Greenwich. But the endorsed Democratic candidate for the Connecticut’s 149th House District that includes parts of both Greenwich and Stamford is a new name.
Amiel Goldberg, a longtime resident of Stamford’s Westover neighborhood and elected member of Stamford’s Board of Representatives, hopes to unseat Republican incumbent Tina Courpas.
Goldberg describes his Board of Representatives district in Stamford as purple – one third Republican, one third Democratic and one third unaffiliated.
The 149th district includes all of Greenwich’s District 10, which is the town’s largest geographic RTM voting district. It also includes parts of D11, D7 and D4.
And while Greenwich’s Representative Town Meeting has 230 members, Stamford’s legislative body, the Board of Representatives, has 40 members. The city has 20 districts, and each district has two representatives.
“We have a very strong oversight role for the Mayor and both the Board of Finance and Board of Education,” Goldberg said.
“The most important thing I learned on the Board of Representatives wasn’t so much the legislative process as it was making government work for constituents – getting you the services you’re owed and you deserve,” he said.
“It’s really fulfilling,” he said. “You can connect the dots between the problem and getting it resolved.”
Goldberg, a self-described centrist who is working toward qualifying for Citizens’ Election Program funding, listed his top three priorities as a candidate for the 149th House district as: “Do what is just and repair what is broken,” focus on affordability, and provide constituent service.
“I’m not partisan. I’m a Democrat because I align with the core values: pro-choice, reasonable gun control, and that we owe a duty to our fellow citizens to make the world a better place.”
Amiel Goldberg in Greenwich Library. June 26, 2026 Photo: Leslie Yager
Goldberg is mostly retired from a career in financial services and risk management.
He moved to Stamford in 2007 to work at UBS as a financial services investment banker. After UBS, he went to work at General Electric Asset Management as chief risk officer. Later he moved to IBM and finally on to Bank of NY Mellon in their corporate treasury function where he was responsible for their quantitative risk management platform.
“So basically I’m a geek,” Goldberg joked. “I get along well with computers.”
Goldberg’s wife, Kirsten Hohmann is an internist with Stamford Health Medical Group. Their daughters, Emma and Zoë attended Stamford Public Schools. Emma recently graduated from Tulane with Masters in Public Health and is set to start a job as an epidemiologist at the Louisiana State Dept of Public Health, working on their sickle cell anemia monitoring program. Zoë is a rising senior at University of Rochester, studying politics, philosophy and economics.
Goldberg said his path from the business world to Stamford’s Board of Representatives was inspired by his volunteer experience in his daughters’ public schools in Stamford and in his faith community.
Growing up in South Carolina
Goldberg grew up in South Carolina in a family he described as rooted in community, faith and strong values.
“One of the most formative experiences of my childhood was in going through school integration. That opened my eyes to how lucky I was, and made me feel connected to the outsider. What has always resonated with me, to paraphrase, scripture – ‘It’s about being welcoming to the stranger, for once you were a stranger in a strange land.'”
Further on that theme, Goldberg said his struggle to learn to read also left a mark.
“It was not until middle school that a teacher said, ‘I think Amiel is dyslexic and he needs to learn a different way.’ That’s when I learned one person can make a difference in a person’s life. This was in the 1970s. Special education was not a thing in the 70s.”
“Special education and special needs is so important to me because I know what it’s like to be ‘the dumb kid’ in class and people assuming I was stupid,” he recalled. “The reason I’m a problem solver is because the first big problem I had to solve was figuring out how to read.”
Goldberg describes his decision to run for State Rep in the 149th district as organic.
“I decided to run because I think the people in the district deserve a choice,” he said. “When voters hear how I would have represented them differently, I think they’ll make a different choice.”
“I don’t think State Rep Courpas’s votes have been moderate or centrist. She has backed a hyper partisan agenda. I don’t understand how that sits well with the people in the district. I want them to have an opportunity to express a different opinion.”
Goldberg said his votes would have differed from State Rep Courpas, including her vote against HB 5043, a bill targeting weapons convertible to automatic fire and closing loopholes around untraceable “ghost gun” parts. The bill passed the House but failed in the Senate and did not become law.
“A vote I don’t understand is, as close as we are to Newtown, CT, how could you vote against the reasonable gun safety laws that were proposed? Why do you think an automated hand gun is a good idea?” he asked.
“I grew up in the south where guns are very much part of the culture. But guns are a tool. A pistol is for personal protection. A rifle for hunting large game. A shot gun is for duck hunting. But an M16 also known as an AR-15 is designed for the battlefield. I don’t think that tool should be used against our police officers on the street, our citizens on the playgrounds, and students in our schools.”
As for HB 5044, legislation protecting vaccine access amid federal public health rollbacks, Goldberg said Courpas’s vote was problematic from his perspective. The legislation passed and was signed by the Governor in April. It removes the requirement that the state’s vaccine standards be linked to those set by a federal committee.
“I don’t understand how the daughter of a doctor could vote no for making vaccines more affordable and accessible,” he said.
As for the vote on protecting home schooled children, Goldberg said he would have voted in favor of HB 5468, “An Act Concerning the Provision of Parent-Managed Learning.” Courpas voted against HB 5468. The legislation passed.
“Why did she vote no on a home schooling bill designed to protect students from abuse in an unregulated home education system?” Goldberg asked.
As for HB 7066, the “Safe Spaces” bill to create protected areas (schools, hospitals, churches) for Connecticut residents regardless of immigration status, Goldberg said while Courpas voted no, he would have supported the bill.
“If you can’t reconcile the rhetoric with the votes, then I think it’ll be very easy to vote for me. If you’re okay with the way (Courpas) has been voting, there’s nothing I can say to change your mind.”
Housing Shortage
Asked for comment on the controversial housing bill, HB 5002 (Special Session Public Act 25-1) addressing the state’s shortage of housing, Goldberg said he understood the affordable housing situation in Greenwich is radically different from Stamford’s.
“The solutions for one can’t be overlayed on the other. But that doesn’t mean we can’t learn a lot from each other. Isn’t it about helping your neighbor or helping your millennial kid who wants to move home?” he asked. “My daughters desperately want to move home but without our help they can’t afford it. That breaks my heart.”
Goldberg, who lives in a single family neighborhood in Westover featuring large homes on large lots, said that like many in Greenwich, he feared an increase of density in his neighborhood.
“That doesn’t mean there isn’t a way to do it right,” he said.
Asked about the prospect of a candidate from Stamford running in the 149th district, Goldberg said, “The two communities – Stamford and Greenwich – are tightly intertwined: economically, from a transit perspective and from a non profit and community organization perspective.”