Incumbent state Sen. Everett “Brownie” Carson, D-Harpswell, is being challenged by Brunswick Republican Diana Garcia in Senate District 24.

Carson is seeking his second term representing the district, which includes Brunswick, Freeport, Harpswell, North Yarmouth and Pownal.

First-time candidate Garcia is president and CEO of Maine Solutions Federal Credit Union in South Portland.

Carson said two issues of primary importance to him are instituting a “much more robust and accessible” pre-Kindergarten system and creating a more comprehensive state health care system by containing costs and designing a system that is all-inclusive.

Carson said he thinks the most important thing he did in his first term was help pass a bill to restore the state’s public health nursing service, which was enacted over Gov. Paul LePage’s veto. He also sued the Maine Department of Health and Human Services for a failure to hire public health nurses.

Garcia said she is not running a traditional campaign, but decided to run to give voters a choice.

She said there is a need for “attention and improvement” statewide on how child abuse and neglect cases are handled.

Garcia said she does not support expanding Medicaid, but is also not an advocate of “leaving things the same as they are” right now. She said there needs to be more competition to lower drug prices and medical care costs.

Carson is a publicly funded candidate under the Maine Clean Elections act and has raised $55,670, according to the Maine Ethics Commission. Garcia has raised no money.

Elizabeth Clemente can be contacted at 781-3661 ext. 100 or at:

eclemente@theforecaster.net

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