The three candidates vying to represent Maine’s 1st Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives squared off at a debate at Bowdoin College in Brunswick Tuesday night.
Republican Mark Holbrook and independent Marty Grohman are trying to unseat incumbent Chellie Pingree, a Democrat.
Pingree, who has held her seat since 2009, pledged to be a check on President Donald Trump if she’s re-elected and to fight against hateful rhetoric.
“I don’t think it’s ever right to go up to anybody in a restaurant or a public setting and try to make them feel uncomfortable. But I think we need to put some of it on the president, and he needs to think long and hard about how he speaks,” she said.
Grohman offered his role as an independent as an antidote to the divisiveness of the country.
“When we divide ourselves into teams and we’re just so focused on making sure the other side doesn’t get a win, then we don’t make progress as a country,” he said.
Holbrook said the increasing lack of civility is the result of moral degradation in society.
“We have to get people focused more outside of themselves and looking to a higher power. I don’t care what their faith is, but they ought to be looking toward God to help guide them,” he said.
If elected, Holbrook pledged to serve only two terms in Congress. He supports repealing the Affordable Care Act in favor of a free market approach to health care.
“I want it repealed, but it has to be done so piece by piece. Strategically, surgically, so people don’t get hurt,” he said.
Pingree, who has voted against efforts to dismantle the ACA, said she would address health care costs through prescription drug pricing. She referred to a bipartisan bill she introduced that would allow consumers to purchase prescriptions in Canada.
When asked how he would improve health care, Grohman said he would focus on areas where people agree, such as tackling the opioid crisis. Finding common ground was a theme Grohman returned to throughout the debate, including when he was asked a question by Holbrook.
“When does human life begin?” Holbrook asked.
Grohman, who says he support a woman’s right to choose abortion, said, “That’s a difficult thing to put a definition on. I think I want to focus on areas where we can work together to make progress, like the adoption process,” which Grohman says should be simplified to be an option for more families.
When Pingree had her turn to ask Holbrook a question, she referenced his support of President Trump’s stricter immigration policies. She asked what Holbrook would say to small Maine businesses that find it increasingly difficult to hire seasonal help through H2B visas.
Holbrook attributed the lack of available workforce to people addicted to opioids.
“We have to start addressing that and putting Americans back to work before we start importing people,” he said.
Holbrook said there isn’t a single policy put forth by President Trump that he disagrees with, including a trade war with China that has resulted on higher tariffs on Maine lobster.
“I’m sorry that it hurts, but I think it’s short term, and I think over the long term, everybody will benefit from [the tariffs],” he said.
One of the lighter moments of the debate came when Grohman presented his opponents with gifts instead of asking them each a question of his choice. He gave Holbrook a Whitman’s Sampler box of chocolates after Holbrook said in a previous debate that choosing his favorite President Trump policy was like a choosing from the famous box of chocolates.
Grohman gave Pingree a book written by his mother, “Keeping a Family Cow,” because both he and Pingree have farming backgrounds.
“For full disclosure,” Pingree said, “I’m not proud of this, but when we had the cow milking contest, Marty got first place and I only got third.”
As the two candidates laughed, Holbrook interjected, “Two career politicians knowing how to milk the taxpayers.”
Ranked-choice voting will be used in this race, and the candidates were asked who they would vote for as their second choice. Grohman declined to disclose his choice, but said he supports ranked-choice voting.
“I think it’s really important to open things up for independent voices,” he said.
Holbrook called ranked choice “an abomination” and said he would not use it.
Pingree said she supports ranked choice, but, “I think ranked choice gives us that choice, whether you rank or not. I don’t think I’m going to rank.”
Originally published Oct. 30, 2018 at 10:15 p.m. ET.
