A Republican candidate known for his positive message about the future of America, Justin Bernier is running for Congress in the 5th District of Connecticut.

With the country at war after 9/11, Justin joined the U.S. Navy as a reserve intelligence officer.  He volunteered for duty in Afghanistan in 2007 and served alongside members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and other government agencies.  Justin, recognized for his activities by the military’s senior intelligence officer, was awarded the Joint Service Commendation Medal.  “Bernier’s performance of duty in a combat zone,” the citation read, “reflects credit upon himself, the Joint Intelligence Operations Center-Afghanistan, and the U.S. Navy.”

After returning home to Connecticut, Governor M. Jodi Rell asked Justin to serve as Executive Director of the Office of Military Affairs, a position responsible for helping veterans and their families, strengthening Connecticut’s defense industry and preventing the closure of critical defense facilities.  The senate unanimously confirmed Justin as a department head shortly thereafter, making him the youngest cabinet member in the state.

Under Justin's leadership, the State of Connecticut reached a historic agreement with the Department of the Navy to improve Submarine Base New London and avoid a future shutdown.  Justin then wrote a bill to let American troops vote electronically when deployed overseas so their ballots could be counted in time.  To save the state money, he returned funds to the treasury at year’s end and held back millions of dollars in authorized bond funds.

Justin was Chairman of Connecticut's Military and Defense Advisory Council, an unpaid panel of experts committed to helping the state's veterans and defense workers.  He also served voluntarily on the state's Council on Education for Children in Military Families.

Governor Rell thanked Justin when he stepped down from his position to run for Congress, citing his “hard work and dedication” to the state.  The New Britain Herald reported that “Connecticut’s defense industry and infrastructure lost a military-friendly advocate.”  Justin remains active in the veteran community as an officer in the Veterans of Foreign Wars, an organization recognized for its charitable activities across Connecticut.

Justin is currently a member of the state’s Commission on Compensation of Elected State Officers and Judges.  Arguing that elected officials should share sacrifice in the budget crisis, he was the lone member of the commission to support a pay cut for Connecticut politicians.

Earlier in his career, Justin was a Senior Legislative Assistant in the U.S. House of Representatives.  Congress Daily reported that he “fought doggedly and successfully to save Connecticut's New London Submarine Base, which the Pentagon had hoped to shutter during the 2005 base-closure round.”  Justin directed the team that proved closing the Sub Base would provide no savings to the government yet destroy 30,000 jobs and $1.5 billion in economic activity in Connecticut.

Justin also coordinated efforts to stop wasteful defense spending in order to fund programs our troops really needed, including body armor and hardened vehicles.  He wrote a bill to enact much-needed reforms to the Intelligence Community and spearheaded legislation to prevent Russia from using U.S. foreign aid to make biological weapons.  Justin then travelled to Asia to facilitate a multi-billion dollar proposal to let Taiwan buy eight submarines from the United States in a deal that would create thousands of jobs in Connecticut.

Justin worked in the private sector for SAIC, a Fortune 500 scientific, engineering and technology applications company. He was a laborer on construction sites during his graduate and undergraduate studies.

Family Life & Education

Justin Bernier was born in Hartford in 1975 into a middle-class family. He and his eight younger siblings graduated from the Farmington public school system. Justin was also educated in Connecticut's outdoors, earning the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts.

Justin graduated from Fordham University in 1997. He later earned a master's degree in International Security and Economic Policy from the University of Maryland, and a second master's degree in International Relations from Georgetown University.  Justin also graduated from the Engalitcheff Institute on Comparative Political and Economic Systems, a program of The Fund for American Studies at Georgetown. 

Justin lives with his wife Jennie and their daughter Renée in Plainville, just three miles from where he grew up.  The Berniers are members of the YMCA and St. Patrick's Parish in Farmington.

A lifelong Republican, Justin has volunteered for GOP candidates at all levels of government since he was 20-years-old.  He launched Republican Majority PAC in 2011 to help the party elect candidates to key offices across Connecticut.