Personal/biographical information pertinent to the role
Fifth-generation Mainer from Caribou, raised on food stamps. Put myself through Husson working four jobs. As a birth control company CEO, I kept working through chemo for breast cancer.
Top three priorities
Lower costs, protect our freedoms and rebuild Maine’s economy. I’ll fight to make housing, healthcare, energy and groceries more affordable; defend reproductive freedom, democracy and the rule of law; and create good-paying union jobs by investing in Maine’s infrastructure, small businesses, fisheries, farms and clean energy.
Why are you running?
I’m running because too many Mainers work harder every year but struggle to get ahead. Washington has become too responsive to wealthy interests and not responsive enough to working people. Maine deserves a senator who answers to voters, not special interests, and who will fight every day to lower costs and restore trust in government.
Our recent poll showed that more than half of Maine’s likely voters want Democrats to control Congress, and electability has already been a major issue in this race. Why are you more electable in November than the other candidates?
Collins’s greatest weakness is Roe, and I am the candidate built to prosecute that case. I’ve spent my career as a women’s health advocate, fighting for reproductive freedom and taking on Big Pharma to make care affordable. A fifth-generation Mainer from Caribou, raised on food stamps, I can’t be caricatured as a coastal elite. I reject corporate PAC money, can compete in every corner of Maine, and will win the independent women who decide this race.
What are the highlights of your plan to lower the cost of living for Mainers?
I’ll lower everyday costs by building more affordable housing, reducing prescription drug prices, enforcing antitrust laws, cutting utility bills through affordable energy, protecting Social Security and Medicare, expanding access to childcare and rural healthcare, supporting unions and small businesses and cracking down on corporate price gouging.
Would you support term limits for members of Congress? Why or why not?
Yes. Public service should not become a lifetime career, and Susan Collins is the case study: three decades in Washington and the entrenched power that comes with it. I support reasonable term limits that preserve voters’ choices. And I’ll back them with reforms that matter even more: banning congressional stock trading, closing the revolving door, strengthening ethics laws and reducing the influence of big money in politics.
Would you support Medicare for All — expanding the current social program to all Americans? Why or why not?
Yes. Every American should have guaranteed healthcare regardless of income or employment. I’ve spent my career taking on Big Pharma, insurance monopolies and the FDA to make prescription drugs affordable, and I’ve seen how this system puts profits over patients. Medicare for All can lower costs and cut waste. I support a responsible transition that protects patients, strengthens rural hospitals and treats healthcare workers fairly.
Would you support eliminating the filibuster? Why or why not?
I support reforming the filibuster so it can never again be abused to block legislation with broad public support. Senators should debate, vote and be accountable. That means a talking filibuster and carveouts where fundamental rights are at stake. No procedural rule should permanently prevent action on reproductive freedom, voting rights or lowering costs. If the filibuster stands in the way of restoring Roe, it cannot stand.
Graham Platner ran on getting money out of politics. If you share this priority, what is your plan to do so?
I will reject corporate PAC money and fight for full transparency, tougher ethics rules, public financing options, limits on dark money and a ban on congressional stock trading. Congress should work for the people who elect it, not the people who can afford the biggest campaign checks.
Do you support an end to U.S. military aid in Israel? Is Israel committing a genocide in Gaza? Why or why not?
I support conditioning U.S. military aid on compliance with U.S. and international law, and I will vote to cut it off if those conditions are violated. Israel has a right to exist and defend itself, but the suffering in Gaza is intolerable, and American weapons are implicated in it. Hostages must be freed and humanitarian aid must reach those in need. I support an independent international investigation and an immediate path to a lasting peace and a two-state solution.
Should ICE exist in its current form? If so, explain your answer. If not, what should exist instead?
No. We saw the consequences on the streets of Biddeford, where Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 26-year-old father, was shot and killed by ICE when they came to arrest someone else. ICE should be fundamentally restructured. Enforcement should focus on genuine public safety threats, trafficking and organized crime, not families contributing to their communities, and it must operate with transparency, due process, judicial oversight and respect for human rights.
Give Susan Collins a performance grade. What, if anything, has she done well?
Senator Collins has secured important federal funding for Maine and has occasionally worked across party lines. But when the biggest moments came, she failed to provide the independent leadership she promised. Her votes helped reshape the Supreme Court and enabled Donald Trump when Maine needed her to stand firm.
Collins is running on her seniority in the Senate, including her position as chair of the appropriations committee. How do you plan to refute her argument that Maine benefits from her experience?
Experience matters only if it is used wisely. Bringing federal dollars home is important, but it cannot excuse votes that hurt Maine families or weaken our democracy. I will fight just as hard for Maine’s share of federal investment while putting working people, reproductive freedom and honest government ahead of party politics.