Rick Torres is a life-long Bridgeport resident, a successful small-business owner, and a true leader and steward of public good in his neighborhood, community, and native city.

He prides himself in being a student of the Constitution, and is running to be the kind of a citizen legislator envisioned by our Founders.

Rick was born in Bridgeport  in 1959.  His father, Juan, a Cuban immigrant and a political activist whose radio program had been shut down by the Batista regime, welcomed the Cuban Revolution.  In 1961, Juan took his family back to Cuba to help Castro lead his native land out of tyranny—or so he thought. It took Juan only a couple of months to become disillusioned with the communist dictator, and another 5 years to secure permission to leave Cuba again. In 1967, Rick and his brother were brought back to Bridgeport—with not much more than the clothes on their backs.

He spent his post-Cuba childhood across the street from P.T. Barnum Public Housing Project while living in section eight public housing. Rick attended Bullard Havens Technical high school where he became a master carpenter. He also he proved to be a star athlete, becoming Captain of the Basketball Team, selected All-Conference in football—and chosen King of the Prom!—and earning two athletic college scholarships: one in basketball and one in football.  With his eyes set on becoming a doctor, but lacking any academic foundation, Rick enrolled himself for a year into a prestigious prep school—striking a deal with the headmaster to work, in lieu of paying the tuition, as a school carpenter full time over the summer and two hours each day during the school year.

Winning a full academic scholarship, Rick went on to study biology in Washington University.  It was there that he met his future wife—now of 27 years—Michele.  In 1983, Rick graduated with honors and returned to Bridgeport.  He enrolled in the Ph.D. program in Microbiology and Biochemistry at the UConn Health Center. Two years later—he and Michele now having two sons—Rick had to quit graduate school to support his family.

Rick and Michele started a series of small businesses, working double shifts for years.  Eventually, they bought Harborview Market: a once thriving neighborhood store which had fallen on desperate times.  Today, Harborview is once again a successful business, a bakery and a cafe frequented and loved by people in the community and beyond. Rick and Michele have five children: John, Alex, Michael, Kaitlyn, and Gabbi. All five attended the same elementary school as Rick, St. Ann School in Bridgeport, right around the corner from the market.

Ever since his return to Bridgeport in 1983—long before Barack Obama gave community organizers a bad name—Rick has been very involved with the people looking to improve Bridgeport.  Rick took an active role in a number of neighborhood and community organizations, and ran for several local government offices.  Initially a registered Democrat—having been attracted to the “social justice” rhetoric of the Democratic Party—Rick in due course became first a closet Republican, and then a full-fledged Conservative.  The more Rick looked around, the more inescapable was the conclusion: it was exactly the ‘compassion’ of the big government—professed by the Democratic Party—that was incentivizing poverty.  On the other hand, the only logical solution to end poverty was to help people get off the government dole.

In 2003, Rick ran for Mayor of Bridgeport on the Republican Ticket. Rick knew that quality education was a sure way up from slavery of government ‘compassion’. Advocating small neighborhood charter schools in Bridgeport became central to his campaign.  In the city in which Democrats outnumbered Republicans 6 to 1, the polls right before the elections were showing Rick even with the Democratic incumbent.  The Bridgeport Democratic Machine—rivaled perhaps only by that of Chicago—became very worried.  For example, Dodd and Blumenthal both came to campaign against Rick.  On election day alone, ACORN spent $100,000—on top of city officials getting a day off to man the polls.  Despite all of this, Rick got 41% of the vote.

The lessons learned helped Rick in 2006—now the Bridgeport RTC chairman—to participate in managing a successful Bridgeport campaign for Christopher Shays.

Rick ran for mayor of Bridgeport because of complete disillusionment with the politics of his hometown. He felt a responsibility to step up and take his city back from those who had been abusing it for years. His run for Mayor was the beginning of a new path of learning in economics and the founding principles of this great Republic.

Now, seven years later, he again feels a duty to run for office.

In this election the very fabric of our freedoms are under direct assault.

Rick Torres is running for Congress to preserve and restore our freedoms and he has the energy and understanding of our first principles to win.