Building care infrastructure and economic equity
What do you see as the biggest barriers and challenges facing the care work industry and care workers?
“I've put out a plan to have 100% childcare [coverage] for people that are making 125% of the median income, and for anyone paying over 7% of their income [for childcare], and I feel very strongly about that… I worked incredibly hard for direct care workers, and across nursing home facilities, and places that were taking care of disabled people. We need to do a lot more there. I mean, we've lost 40% of our nursing homes, and we'll probably lose more with what Trump just did. We need these facilities across Maine, and a major part of my campaign is to help both ends of the spectrum - childcare and elder care.”
"A major part of my campaign is to help both ends of the spectrum - childcare and elder care.”
Ensuring reproductive and gender-specific healthcare
Over the last decade, we've seen the closure of more than 10 labor and delivery units, and just 4 of those in the last year alone, the majority of those are in rural areas. What do you see as the biggest barriers and challenges facing access to consistent, quality perinatal care?
“I walked the picket line at Fort Kent, Houlton and MDI [hospitals]. Part of this is about private equity not giving a damn about keeping these places open. I mean, it's about the bottom line, and so I feel very strongly that the state needs to be able to step in. And hold the line on a lot of these hospitals, and tell them that, you know, we're not gonna allow some of these closures.”
“Part of this is about private equity not giving a damn about keeping these places open.”
Ending gender-based and carceral violence
What do you see as the key policy interventions to support sexual assault and domestic violence survivors, and to protect access to these services?
“I don't want to be a top-down administration, and I'm not going to be. So I'm going to be someone that's gonna be a partner, and I'm gonna look for people to come in and tell me things and explain things to me so I can better understand. I mean, I have a pretty good understanding of this issue, but obviously, I have not lived it the way people have that have gone through it, and I'm not gonna pretend to. But obviously, having more funding, you know, the funding that's sustainable is gonna be key to this.”
“I have a pretty good understanding of this issue, but obviously, I have not lived it the way people have that have gone through it, and I'm not gonna pretend to.”
Developing equitable & accessible government systems
How do you think the tax structure or state budget can be used to create more gender equity and reduce disparities?
“I'm gonna do everything in my power to raise state workers up. The pay gap is a real thing that Democrats have done as much to as Republicans, and I'm gonna change that. I'm gonna make sure that they're getting paid equitably to their counterparts in the private sector. And on the tax structure, we're gonna make sure that wealthy people pay their fair share, and low-income people get a break. And I'm gonna use tax incentives to help lower-income, middle-income people in this state get a break, get rental assistance, get things that, you know, they should have been doing. We have all kinds of tax incentives for corporations, companies, you know, things like that, that we don't even track, if it's being a benefit to us - but we're not willing to give, you know, everyday people any assistance.”
“And on the tax structure, we're gonna make sure that wealthy people pay their fair share, and low-income people get a break.”
If elected as governor, how would you stay connected to and accessible to the people you represent?
“Well, I don't think it's very hard for me, because I'm not a blue blood, you know, I am working class, so I'm gonna be pretty connected as it is. I'm pretty adamant about doing this, that I'm, like, two weekends a month. You know, one day, I want to go around and, you know, and maybe they won't come, I don't know, but at least we'll give them the opportunity to hear from them, about issues that are affecting them.”