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Candidate Interviews: Rep. Jared Golden, Sen. Angus King

Photos of Rep. Jared Golden, Sen. Angus King, polling expert Andy Smith, image of red pencil checking off a box; Your Vote 2024 words
Maine Public

These interviews were pre-recorded; no calls will be taken.

Earlier in the week, eight of the nine candidates on the ballot to represent Maine in the U.S. Senate or one of Maine’s two Congressional seats joined Jennifer Rooks for a Your Vote 2024 interview.

This show features interviews with U.S. Sen. Angus King and U.S. Rep. Jared Golden (2nd Congressional District) about their priorities. Also, University of New Hampshire political scientist and polling expert Andy Smith talks about the science and role of polls today.

Lightly edited transcripts of the candidate interviews will appear below as they're available.

U.S. Sen. Angus King: independent two-term senator

Rooks: Tell me about your decision to run for reelection for a third term. Why are you running?

Well, two or three years ago, Jennifer, I would have said I probably wouldn't run this time around. A couple of things have happened since. No. 1, there's plenty left to do. As I travel the state, I keep hearing about high prices, about housing in particular, about child care. All of those issues are still out there, and I hate leaving work on the table. No. 2, what I have noticed is that a lot of the work we've done in the last four or five years has been bipartisan. It's been groups that are formed in the Senate, and I've been a member of many of those groups, but we're losing a lot of those people. We're losing the middle, the people who were the ones who were doing the negotiating and putting some of these deals together. Lamar Alexander, Bob Corker, Roy Blunt, and this year we're losing Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema and Mitt Romney, and I felt like I had an important role to play in that middle in the Senate. And then finally, there's just — I'm at a place now where I'm more effective for Maine. Whether we like it or not, this is a place — the U.S. Senate — that runs on seniority, and I'm accumulating some seniority. Now I'm chair of two subcommittees, and I have a lot of good relationships, which are also important to getting things done. So it's a combination of a lot left to do, and the belief and feeling that I was in a good place to get those things done and to deliver for Maine in the country.

As you sit here today and think about your time so far, two terms, what would you say has been your greatest accomplishment for the people of Maine?

Well, that's a pretty fair question, and you added the people of Maine. So I'm going to start with some of those things. One of the very first bills I introduced when I got — well, actually, I'll mention two in the first year that I was there. One was on broadband, and the other was on negotiating for drug prices for Medicare. That was the year I entered. Now, the way things work, it takes time, it takes patience, and the timing has to be right. But in the past couple of years, both of those things have come to fruition. I would work — I've worked on them. Certainly, a lot of other people did as well. So the fact that we're now something close to 95% broadband access in Maine is astonishing, and that's the latest number I got from the Maine Connectivity Authority. The Inflation Reduction Act made the largest — I'm sorry, the bipartisan infrastructure bill — the largest investment in broadband in American history. It's going to essentially wire the country, and Maine being a big part of it. That rural broadband has been something I've been harping on for an awfully long time, going back to before I was in the Senate. And the other bill, as I mentioned, was negotiating drug prices — that finally happened in the Inflation Reduction Reduction Act, and it's already lowering prices for Medicare, saving them billions of dollars and saving seniors money in terms of out-of-pocket costs. So those are two things I'd point out that were particularly beneficial to Maine. Interestingly, one of the most important things I've been engaged in wasn't strictly senatorial. In 2019 the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Congress generally passed a bill creating something called the national Cyberspace Solarium Commission. And it was a commission set up to design, for the first time, a national cyber strategy. Because we were being attacked on all fronts, we were very vulnerable. And myself along with the Republican congressman from Green Bay, Mike Gallagher, were the co-chairs of that commission. We had over 50 meetings, Jennifer. This wasn't something where we sat on the shelf. But the important thing is, of our something like 80 recommendations, as of this fall, almost 75% have been enacted into law. And I can say with a certainty that although we're certainly not totally safe, we never will be in the cyber realm, we're a hell of a lot farther ahead than we were three or four years ago. By the way, very few commissions have more than 10% or 15% of their recommendations enacted. So I'm very proud of the work that we did. So, you know, those are just a couple of things. The Great American Outdoors Act I was in the midst of the negotiations that set up a significant fund to pay deferred maintenance at the National Parks, made Land and Water Conservation Fund permanent, that is being acknowledged as probably the most important conservation bill in the last 50 years. So a lot of those kinds of things. Battery storage — the world's largest battery, is being built in Maine, and it's going to make a real difference in our electrical future. So those are all things that I've been working on. I can go on, go down the list, but those are some highlights.

Let's look forward. If reelected, what's your first priority?

I think the first priority has to be housing, Jennifer. It ties in with so many other things. Housing is a real problem in Maine and across the country. And by the way, it's not just in in the cities, it's in rural areas as well. I know employers who are having hard time getting workers because the workers can't find a place to live or a place that they can afford. So I've been working on this for three or four years, but now I think I've got seven bills pending. One I'm most excited about was just introduced two weeks ago. My co-sponsor is a guy named Jerry Moran, who's a Republican senator from Kansas. It's called Farmhouse-to-Workforce, and basically what it would do is create or fully fund a program to renovate a lot of these older farmhouses that you see all over Maine, once you go outside of town, where often there's an elderly couple, give them a source of income, two or three workforce apartments, and that could really dent the housing problem in rural Maine. So housing is No. 1. I think border security is something we got to get done. I voted for, I think, every border security bill that's come along, we had a really strong bill last winter, bipartisan. The lead Republican negotiator was James Lankford, who's one of the most conservative members of the Senate, senator from Oklahoma, most knowledgeable about the border. It was endorsed by the border patrol union, not exactly a liberal bunch, and it was the strongest -- it was characterized as the strongest border control bill in 40 years. Unfortunately, the former president, at the last minute, pulled the plug, said, 'I don't want this. I want the issue to run on in November. I don't want Biden to have a success.' You know, I don't, I can't operate that way. I want to get things done. And I'm hoping when we get back, it's one of the things that's going to be on the agenda, and we can actually get it done. In Maine, one of the most important things is childcare. It's becoming — in fact, a friend of mine characterized it in a way I'd never thought of before. She said, 'For a family with, they both work, and a couple of kids, you know, two and six, not having child care is just like not having the road in front of your house to get to your job.' You can't work if you don't have child care. And I've been very proud of the work I've done with the Bath Y and the Bangor Y, BIW on child care, because I think that's going to be one of the major issues of the next 10 years. Reproductive rights, electricity costs, all of those things I think are on my agenda.

As you well know, discussions about age have been at the center of the presidential race. You are 80 and would be 86 at the end of this next term. Is it appropriate to look at age as a factor? And what do you say to voters who might be uncomfortable electing someone who's two decades past the typical retirement age?

Well, I think it's a very fair question, and it is, you said, is it appropriate to look at it? And I think the answer is yes. The first thing I would point out, Jennifer, just to make it very clear, I'm a year younger than Mick Jagger, just so you know. And Mick Jagger's still rocking. I saw him at Gillette Stadium about two months ago. But seriously, people age differently. If I didn't feel up to it, I wouldn't be doing it. If I was tired, I wouldn't be doing it, or doing the traveling that I'm doing around the state, or back and forth to Washington. I feel great, I've got the energy, and I feel like I've got something to contribute, if, like I say. And we all know people age, their genetic makeup is such that they age differently. I seem to have my mother's-side genes. My grandmother lived to 102, my mother to 96 and so I feel great. If I didn't, I absolutely wouldn't be doing this. It's a fair question, but I don't think an arbitrary limit makes sense, because everybody's different.

We're coming up on the one year anniversary of the horrific shootings in Lewiston in which 18 people were killed, 13 injured. Since that time, have you changed your stance on assault weapon legislation? Would you now support a ban on assault weapons?

I introduced the strongest assault weapon bill about six months ago with a guy named Martin Heinrich from New Mexico. It's called the GOSAFE Act. And basically what it does is ban — the real problem with assault weapons is the high-capacity magazine. The shooter in Lewiston had, I think, 30-bullet magazines taped together, something like that, so he could just keep shooting. Our bill would say a maximum of 10 bullets in a magazine that's permanent, that can't be just flipped out and flipped back in again. And my friends at Sportsman's Alliance don't like it, but to me, it's just a commonsense way to try to do something about this. The other piece, though, with Lewiston, Jennifer, is the brain damage to the fellow that did the shooting. It's now been established that he had been exposed to hundreds, if not thousands, of explosions during his time in the Army Reserve, and it affected his brain. They've examined it in Boston and shown significant damage. So some colleagues and I in Washington have a bill, in fact, it's in the Armed Services Bill that's pending, hopefully will get done after November, to have the Army pay much more attention to what they call "blast overpressure" in terms of preventive gear, trying to minimize the impact of this, and also, importantly, to screen soldiers at the beginning, just like they do high school athletes, for a kind of baseline in terms of concussion protocol, to determine if something's going on. I had a call with the Secretary of Defense about a month ago, and I said, 'Look,' this is almost an exact quote, I said, 'You've done all the studies. You know this is a problem. What I'm looking for now is action.' I want to be sure that we are paying attention to this issue, that it's being worked, and that people demonstrating some of these problems are going to be adequately treated. So a combination of a limitation on the weapons that are being used in these shootings, and dealing with, in this case, not only mental health, but a true organic mental problem, have got to be part of what we work on.

Sen. King, what can the U.S. do at this point to help bring peace between Israel and its neighbors?

Boy, how long have you got, Jennifer? That is, it's one of the most complicated problems I've ever experienced. I've been to the Middle East a number of times, both to Israel, Jordan, the Gulf states, Saudi Arabia. It's so deep seated and complex. What I think the U.S. can do is continue to put its weight behind trying to bring the parties to some kind of table to discuss where we go from here. My problem with Prime Minister Netanyahu's position is that he doesn't even want to talk about a two-state solution. In my view, without a two-state solution, you're talking about perpetual war. You're just going to have a constant kind of Hamas-Hezbollah tension and occasional violence. And of course, the last year has been more than occasional. It's been awful violence. So we've got to figure out how do we get to a lasting peace? And I think the U.S. has got to continue to just try to lead these negotiations, push on Israel, work with the Gulf states and push back on Iran, where a lot of this is coming from. If it were easy, you know, we would have done it, but I know that the secretary of state has spent a lot of time over there, but I think it's time to make clear that there has to be some conclusion of this, that the ongoing violence in Gaza is serving neither, and is not serving Israel well. And of course I'm worried now about a wider war in Lebanon or with Iran. So I think we've got to have people step back from the brink and think about, how do we solve these problems long term? And that's the direction I've tried to move in. I told Prime Minister Netanyahu directly I was at a table sitting right across from him, and said, this was last winter, that 'Your bombing campaign in Gaza is doing more harm to Israel than it is to Hamas.' On the other hand, Hamas is ... that's no Sunday school either. Today is, Oct. 7 is the anniversary of that horrendous massacre that they perpetrated. Here's an interesting fact, for example, in terms of Hamas, those tunnels that we hear about and read about that were built in Gaza, if they stretched, if they were made a straight-line tunnel, they'd go from Portland to Philadelphia. Think of what that infrastructure could have done, what that money could have done for the Palestinian people in Gaza, instead of turning it into a fortress? So long answer, but it's a complicated problem.

Jared Golden: Democrat, third term U.S. Representative for Maine's 2nd district

Rooks: Why are you running for reelection?

Golden: Well, I want to continue to represent the people of Maine's second congressional district in in the United States House of Representatives. I'm proud of the work that's been done the last six years that I've been a part of and also proud of the approach that I've taken, which has been very thoughtful, pragmatic, seeking to find compromise whenever possible, strong when I feel like I must be for the good of the people that I represent. There's some things that I still feel motivated to accomplish that haven't been done, and I've seen some successes come home finally in the last couple of years. So since the last election, the delegation finally got a six year freeze on Right Whale regulations that were going to be very damaging to Maine's lobster fishery, but we actually tried to get 10 years. We were able to get six as a compromise, but that time is going to go by pretty fast, so I'd like to see more time added to that as we try and figure out what's really going on and get better data and protect the lobster fishery. Just this year, finally, I was able to go to the ribbon cutting of a new substance use and co-occurring mental health treatment facility for veterans in Maine. That's something I've been working on since I was in the state house, and I successfully got that facility approved in the fall of 2020, in my first term in Congress. But there was a lot of red tape in the way. So, you know, it took us even from having it approved almost four years to finally get to a place where it's about to be open and taking in veterans to who are in crisis right to get them the care that they need. So I share that story just as a way of saying, like this, business is sometimes slow. You have goals in mind, and you got to be resilient and really keep plugging away at it.

I was planning to ask you as my second question, what you're most proud of, what what accomplishment you're most proud of? Is it that, or is there something you'd like to add to what you've told me about already?

I mean that facility for vets, when I first got elected to represent Lewiston in the State House, one of the first public meetings I went to as an elected official was a meeting of veterans from the greater Androscoggin area. And that issue came up, the lack of inpatient care beds in Maine, in the in the VA healthcare system. And so I started working on that almost immediately. So, yeah, that I'm very proud of finally seeing that through and getting that done. I'm frustrated that it took 10 years.

You said there's more, yeah, there's more left to do. What do you what is on that list? What is on that short list of what needs to be done right away?

I'm going to keep continuing with certain other related goals I've had, you know, I passed some bills through the house for our tribes here in Maine. Of course, it didn't get through the Senate. We may pick that work back up. Of course, that's got to be complemented by state action as well. So I really am working in consultation with the tribes on the right approach and strategy there. I want to continue to focus on earmarks in the budget that I think are really important. I've tried to put money into the bucket of apprenticeship and training programs, often through the community college system, like we've done that for the loggers, the master apprenticeship training program, got about a million dollars up to Northern Maine Community College for that, got money for welding training facility, got some for Husson for a new lab STEM related in their nursing program. And so I want to continue to focus on that. I think that's an important issue here in the state, and not super exciting, but I've really put a lot of money towards wastewater and sewer treatment facility upgrades. When I was in the legislature, I heard from people who were talking about how old all that infrastructure is around the state, and a lot of towns just don't have the money to do it, and so I've been trying to dedicate a lot of money towards that. And obviously it's important for health, for the well being of our environment, preventing leaks and other pollution that can take place when those facilities age. But it has to be done. It's critical infrastructure. But, it's pricey, and it comes at a high cost for property taxpayers, if it's paid for at the local level. So I think that federal investments really important. And these are, perhaps, you know, local in the weeds, things that aren't super exciting to some people, but it's really important work that I enjoy working with towns to get done.

Among the top issues for voters right now, as you well know, prices especially for groceries and housing. What can you do as a congressman to address these very real pocketbook challenges?

Well talking more about things that I've been a part of than successes that I'm proud of, would be things that we did in the inflation Reduction Act relevant to health care. So in that legislation, we finally made it the law that the U.S. government will negotiate directly for lower prescription drug prices. For starters, that's going to save the Medicare Trust Fund hundreds of billions of dollars over the next 10 years. And we know that there's a funding issue around the corner there, and this is going to help address that, but more meaningful for me and for the people of Maine is the healthcare savings going directly to Maine seniors. So in the district, we've got well over 100,000 people in Medicare, several 1,000 who have diabetes, and now, because of the IRA, have $35 insulin, which is a huge saving we are at this time. We the federal government, are now negotiating, I think, the 10 or 15 most expensive medications under the Medicare program, but that's going to expand over the course of the next six to eight years to as many as the 80 most expensive and those savings will ultimately benefit all seniors, starting on January one of 2025 out of pocket prescription drug prices will be capped at $2,000 for seniors who have had really expensive medications, they know how quickly they can go over that $2,000 limit, sometimes far in advance, catastrophic, almost cost. So that's going to be huge savings. We've we've seen figures that show that there's going to be 10s of 1000s of seniors in Maine starting next year, who will average between $100 and $500 in savings. And that law is also going to allow them to take those prescription medication costs and spread them out over 12 months so they have more of a fixed budget, a little easier to plan. It's very important. And then that same law, we put subsidies in for middle class families. About 30,000 families in Maine experienced about a $500 savings on their health care premium as a result of that law. So that's that's just one thing we can do to bring down prices in the here and now. And of course, I've talked about the need to reduce government spending, or at least to reduce the projected deficit, which is growing year by year. And we've actually done some work. Inflation Reduction Act was part of that, as well as the budget deal that was reached in the 2023 cycle to avoid the default on the debt, all making headway towards reducing our deficit, which is well out of hand. And I think relevant to the issue of inflation and confidence of the Fed, that they can go in the other direction, which they've now started to do by lowering interest rates, essentially acknowledging that inflation is slowing and in a place where we now have to look at the other side of the house and make sure that we don't see rising unemployment.

As you well know, an estimated 360,000 people in Maine depend on Social Security, with more people retiring every day. However, as you also know, the Social Security Trust Fund is being depleted and projected to run out in 2035. What measures do you support to bolster Social Security?

I think the strongest starting point to protect working middle class people is to look at the cap on contributions and social social security through the payroll tax. So right now, you pay in on every dollar you earn up to $168,000 a year. And any income that gets earned in excess of 168,000 a year, there's no more social security contribution if you were to lift that cap and just apply it to every dollar earned for I mean, when we're talking about $168,000 households, we're talking about the very wealthiest households in the country, particularly in a place like Maine, and some people out there making millions per year. If we would just have them paying in the same that they do on that first 168,000 we could eliminate like 75% of that trust fund shortfall right there, and I think that's the biggest piece of the pie, and that's the best starting point for conversations about how to fix the budget problems with social security.

I know you've asked this before, but I have to ask for our listeners, will you vote for Kamala Harris for President?

You've got to know I'm not going to answer that question at this point. I've been very consistent all along, and I think my message is very clear. In this district, which is very competitive with a lot of split ticket voting, I want my constituents to know that I respect their choices. If Donald Trump wins the election, I will respect that outcome. If Kamala Harris wins the election, I'm going to respect that outcome, but I want my voters to know that when it comes to their vote, I am 100% fixated on representing them, and I want their vote, and I don't care who they're voting for for President.

This is interesting, because many people on both sides believe that the 2024 presidential election is the most important in their lifetime. And you you are going against the grain. You've got a hot take Congressman golden. You don't think so. Why not?

People said that the 2016 election was the most important. They said the 2020 was the most important. Now, the 2024 is the most important. They're all important. They're all important. And so my feeling is that there is a almost kind of weariness, tiredness out there amongst the people having these elections be so partisan, always told that this is high stakes, everything is going to fail if our people don't win and get elected, if the other side wins, democracy will fail. I just don't believe that's true, because I have such faith in the American people and that they're going to do right by our freedoms and that they want democracy. And so I think that they are the ultimate deciders, but also the ultimate stopgap against any efforts to take away our democracy and our freedoms.

As you well know, unfortunately, we're approaching the one year anniversary of the horrific shooting in Lewiston, your hometown. After the Lewiston tragedy, you changed your position on assault weapons. How has that affected your reelection campaign? What are you hearing when you go and talk to voters?

I think we're going to find out on the poll that matters most, which is election day. I don't know you'd have to go talk to to voters after the shooting in Lewiston, I heard from people who had almost every reaction under the sun. You know, we need more regulation, we don't need any new regulation, we need to focus on mental health. I've heard people's thoughts and advice from almost every direction. In this regard, I did what I thought was right in that moment. And I think through 10 years in office, six at the federal level, and four in the state house that I've always been very nuanced and understood that when it comes to the Second Amendment, it's very important. I am strongly in support of the Second Amendment, but you got to find a balance between protecting the individual right and the duty of providing for public safety, and it's a very delicate balance. And actually, my voting record through 10 years reflects my pragmatic effort to find the right balance.

We just marked another anniversary, which is, of course, the one year mark since the coordinated Hamas attack. The last time you joined us on Maine Calling you expressed your unequivocal support for Israel. That was a few months ago, given the escalation of the conflicts and what's happened now in Lebanon, are you concerned about a widening war? And what do you believe the U.S. ought to be doing?

I think that the United States should continue to support Israel. I am concerned about a widening of the war, but I don't blame Israel for that. Hezbollah is a terrorist organization that is also targets American citizens in the United States of America, they are essentially funded and backed by Iran, who is also hostile to United States interests in the region and around the world. Hezbollah has been setting up hundreds of thousands of rockets on the southern border of Lebanon on the northern border of Israel for many, many years now, always intending to attack Israel, waiting for the moment, and apparently they feel that that moment is now. So I think we got to be strong in supporting our ally Israel.

I'm sure you've heard from many, many voters that they're tired of the hyper partisanship right now in the country, and I'm wondering where you see opportunities for bipartisan solutions if you go back to Congress? What issues can we as voters hope to see some bipartisan solutions for? What big issues?

This gets back a little bit at the presidential race. Jennifer, from my perspective, I think people want their local issues, their local opinions to inform what their representatives do at the federal level, and want the debate to be centered on those issues, rather than the national conversation kind of coming in and enforcing itself upon local voters and the people who are going to be making choices. I started thinking that actually in 2020 because I, you know, at that time, we had the presidential election, a very expensive U.S. Senate race, and then my race. And I heard a lot of people, it's anecdotal, but they were saying things to me, like all of these hundreds of millions of dollars of advertisements, and somehow it leaves us feeling invisible. None of it is talking about us, and I really took that to heart. And I think people obviously are tired of the partisanship on working together. Actually, this Congress has been quite bipartisan. It's the first time that I can think of where the House of Representatives is often known as a body that is majority rule, and yet we have a Republican majority where most of the major work that has been done, because it had to be done, funding the government, aid to Ukraine and Israel, most of that work has been a minority of the majority in a majority of the minority voting together in a bipartisan way to govern. So despite the attention that gets given to the kind of loudest, most partisan voices, we're actually operating in a very bipartisan way in this current congress.

All right, well, we're almost out of time, so I'll ask you a question I know you'll probably answer very quickly. Would you support what Kamala Harris has proposed, which is codifying the rights that women had under Roe legislation?

Yes, certainly. I hope that we have the votes to do that.

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Jonathan was born in Monsey, New York. A field trip to Washington, DC when he was in 7th grade started him on his circuitous path to a career in public radio. The trip inspired a love of politics and led to his desire to one day call DC home. After graduating from Grinnell College, he worked on a couple of campaigns in Iowa (presidential and congressional) and moved to Washington, DC.