State Sen. Rebecca Millett, a two-term incumbent Democrat, is being challenged in the Nov. 8 election by Martha “Molly” MacAuslan, an unenrolled candidate, in the race for the District 29 Senate seat, representing South Portland, Cape Elizabeth and part of Scarborough.

Both residents of Cape Elizabeth, the candidates differ on major issues such as tax reform, background checks for private gun sales, marijuana legalization and a minimum-wage increase. They agree that more must be done to address Maine’s drug addiction and overdose crisis.

MacAuslan, 57, is a real estate consultant and the current chairwoman of the Cape Elizabeth Town Council. She received $22,000 in state funding via the Maine Clean Election Act and had spent $10,000 through Sept. 20, covering costs including signs, mailers, pens and political consulting services from Whistlestop Strategies in Scarborough, according to campaign finance reports.

Millett, 54, is a consultant to nonprofit organizations. She is a member and former chairwoman of the Legislature’s Education Committee, and a former member and chairwoman of the Cape Elizabeth School Board. She also received $22,000 in Clean Election funding, and had spent $3,086 through the same period, including website costs, paid Facebook posts and political consulting services from Baldacci Communications of Portland.

MacAuslan said she’s running because she’s tired of partisan politics in Augusta, according to answers submitted for a Portland Press Herald survey.

“I think we can do better, and I think we deserve better,” MacAuslan said. “We have real problems. We all worry about budgets and taxes of course, but these are the numbers that affect real live people. Our kids and schools, our seniors, families trying to make ends meet, small business people looking to make payroll.”

MacAuslan said she has made a 30-year career of problem solving and she’d like to work across the aisle to build coalitions and find common ground.

Millett said she’s seeking re-election because she finds meaning and purpose in improving people’s lives through public service, according to the survey.

“I have worked passionately to make my community and state a healthier, happier, more prosperous place to live,” Millett said. “I am a determined advocate for children, hard-working Mainers, and our elderly. Every day I strive to improve the lives of Maine citizens.”

On tax reform, Millett said she opposes Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s proposal to lower and eventually eliminate the state income tax while increasing sales taxes, because she said it would benefit the wealthy and unfairly burden middle-income families. MacAuslan said she supports lowering the income tax and increasing the sales tax on high-end goods and services so it wouldn’t affect low-income earners unfairly.

While Millett said she supports background checks for private gun sales, MacAuslan said she’s “not opposed to background checks for privately sold firearms, but I’m always concerned about infringement of rights and the ability to enforce laws that aren’t well thought out.”

Millett said she supports the November ballot initiative to raise the state’s minimum wage from $7.50 to $12 an hour by 2020. MacAuslan, meanwhile, said she supports a minimum wage increase, “but this is too steep and will have a negative effect on the overall economy.” She’d prefer a tiered approach, she said, possibly incorporating a lower minimum wage for entry-level workers.

“Do we really want folks to aspire to minimum wage jobs?” MacAuslan asked. “Wouldn’t our energy be better spent on encouraging better job opportunities?”

Millett opposes legalized recreational marijuana use, saying “I am uncomfortable legalizing a substance for which I have not seen conclusive evidence on how marijuana may or may not impact people’s health.” MacAuslan described herself as a half-hearted supporter of the initiative “not because I think it’s a good thing for our society, but because I generally favor less governmental regulation and greater individual responsibility.”

Both candidates said Maine needs to do more to address its opiate and heroin crisis. Millett noted that the Legislature passed bipartisan bills to fund a detox center, hire 10 additional drug enforcement agents and allow pharmacists to furnish Narcan, an overdose antidote, overriding a governor’s veto. But lawmakers failed to increase access to methadone or increase Medicaid reimbursement rates for addiction treatment, something she hopes the Legislature will do in its next session.

MacAuslan said “there isn’t a simple fix to (the drug) problem, but we need to be committed to addressing it.” She said she would consider increasing regulation of prescription pain medications, limiting heroin-like drug imports and enlisting school, religious and cultural groups to join the fight.