Democrat Jared Golden is one of three challengers seeking to unseat incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin of Maine’s 2nd District in November. Maine Calling Host Jennifer Rooks asked Golden what, if anything, needs to be done to reduce partisanship in the nation.
This is an excerpt of “Maine Calling” from Friday, Oct. 5, 2018. To listen to Jared Golden’s full appearance, click here.
Golden: Well I think that is a choice. It’s a choice that voters get to make in terms of who they choose to send to represent them in Congress. It’s a choice that each of us as individuals has in regard to how we interact with one another when we talk about politics, whether that’s on social media or face to face or in a town hall. I think that who we choose as leaders matters very much. Someone asked me just the other day, yesterday actually, a college student asked me, “Does leadership matter? And can one person make a difference in changing a culture like what you’ve described down in Washington?” And while I don’t think it’s entirely possible that one person can handle this and change it all by themselves, I do have experience in life where I’ve seen how leaders really have a big impact. It trickles down to the greater body and who you have as leaders and how they choose to approach the issues, I think it really does make a big impact. So how do we change the dysfunctional partisan environment? I think that we have to choose leaders who, again, stay focused on not taking credit for what gets done and not trying to blame the other side or blame someone other than themselves when things don’t get done.
Rooks: What is the biggest issue facing the constituents of your district and how will you address it if elected?
Golden: Health care. We have the oldest population in the state of Maine. It means that we have a lot of health care needs. I also want to point out that with the loss of tens of thousands of good middle-class jobs over the last decade plus, the largest growing job sector that we have in Maine’s 2nd District is the health care industry. So when it comes to the issue of health care it’s not just about people’s access to health care, about their needs as individuals and making sure that they have coverage that they can afford that’s not breaking the piggy bank. It’s also an economic issue in regards to jobs and making sure that we are protecting what good jobs we have left in this state. Types of proposals that I support are fairly common and straightforward. I can’t think of any rational reason why Congress has not enabled Medicare and Medicaid to push drug companies to negotiate for lower drug prices. That’s what we allow the Department of Veterans Affairs to do, so why aren’t we allowing Medicare and Medicaid to do that? I can only suspect it’s because the lobby has been too strong and they’ve been pushing back against it. We could allow, like the Maine Legislature did, for people to safely re-import cheaper prescription drugs from Canada. But when we tried to do that in the Maine Legislature, the powers that be went out and went after it in the courts and it got struck down. The only solution to that is a federal law that will allow it to take place. I also think that at some point in this country we’re going to have to make sure that every American has access to health care. I believe that we should have a public option where if you can’t get health care that you can afford or if you’re not getting it through the workplace then you should have an option to buy into a government-backed health care plan. That will introduce competition into the marketplace that will make sure that private insurers have to bring down their rates and their premiums. I particularly like the idea of making Medicare eligible at age 55. I think that is something in a older state, an older workforce like Maine’s 2nd District, thousands of workers would really benefit from the ability to say, at 58 or 60, “You know what, I’ve been working all my life, I’ve got my retirement savings. I’m ready to retire, my body is certainly ready for me to retire. But what I’m waiting for is Medicare coverage.”
Rooks: What committee would you like to serve, or what committees, and why?
Golden: There are so many committees I would love to serve on. I look to my time in the Legislature. I served two years on the Transportation Committee. I think that’s a great committee to be involved in, where certainly I don’t think anyone would argue that Maine’s infrastructure doesn’t need a lot of attention. We’ve been struggling as a state I think, we don’t have a lot of excess money. We’ve been underfunding our roads and bridges and we need more federal investments, so that would be a great one I think, where I could take two years of experience in the Maine Legislature and bring that down to Congress.
This interview has been edited for clarity.