(upbeat music) - Hello, and welcome to Maine Public's Your Vote 2018 Second District Congressional Democratic Primary debate.

I'm Jennifer Rooks, and for the next hour, we'll hear from the three candidates vying for the nomination to challenge incumbent Republican Bruce Poliquin this November.

First lets let's meet them.

In alphabetical order: Jared Golden is currently serving his second term in the Maine House of Representatives, where he is now the assistant majority leader.

Golden is a military veteran who served for four years in the U.S.

Marines with deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He earned a bachelors degree from Bates College.

Craig Olson runs an Islesboro bookstore and manages the Islesboro Transfer Station.

He served for three years on the town Board of Selectmen, chairing the panel for a year.

He was the CEO of Kelmscott Rare Breeds Foundation in Lincolnville, a working farm and educational center.

Olson holds a bachelors degree from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and a master's degree from the State University of New York at Oneonta and the New York State Historical Association.

Lucas St.

Clair is executive director of Elliotsville Plantation Incorporated, a land conservation organization.

He also serves on the board of the Quimby Family Foundation, formed by his mother, Roxanne Quimby, in 2004.

The Quimby family donated the land that became the Kathadin Woods and Waters National Monument in 2016, it was an effort St.

Clair spearheaded.

He graduated from Gould Academy.

We'll start off again in alphabetical order with our first question, but in the interest of fairness we will reshuffle that order over the next 60 minutes.

In this opening segment, we'll tackle some front-burner issues.

Each candidate has 90 seconds to respond.

Alright Jared, the first question to you first.

Although unemployment rates are falling statewide, Washington and Hancock counties, which are in the 2nd district, still have a higher than average unemployment rate.

What could you do as a U.S.

Congressman to bring more and better paying jobs to the 2nd district?

- Thanks Jenifer.

First thing I want to note is just 'cause unemployment is low, doesn't mean that our economy is healthy and doing great.

I think a lot of the jobs that have replaced those that were lost have resulted in lower paying jobs, lower wages, less healthcare benefits, less benefits in general.

We should be looking to push for those jobs that come with those good benefits and higher pay to replace the manufacturing jobs and others that were lost.

In terms of places like Washington county, Hancock county, I think Maine needs to play to our strengths.

We have to look ahead to the future and ask ourselves, "What do have here in Maine "that we can advance into the 21st century?"

I think that's talking about our natural resources still.

We don't have to move away from what we've been doing for many years, we just have to make sure that we're moving forward into the future.

So making investments in things like research and development for the marine resources, for forest products industry, so that we're ready to make new products that can be competitive in the 21st century.

- Alright, same question to you Craig Olson.

What could you do as a U.S.

Congressman to bring more and better paying jobs to the second district?

- I think it's really a question of not only infrastructure but of regional economy.

I think of the things Maine is so good at is that we have these regional economies and along the coast with fishing and tourism and also with just the agricultural base that we have in down East Maine.

I think it's important to do more through the USDA and not only for actual growing of material but also for funding for things like rural broadband.

That's one of the places where funding can come from the federal government to help these businesses to compete at a global level but also to help people who would like to live in Maine and live in a wonderful place like Washington or Hancock country or anywhere in Maine and have access to high-speed broadband so they can do their work from anywhere.

Also have access to transportation, infrastructure, not only roads and bridges but rail and improving the rail system that we have.

I think there are a number of things that can come from Washington through the next congressman that would really help Maine's economy throughout the second district.

- Alright, same question to you Lucas St.

Clair.

What could you do as a U.S.

Congressman to bring more and better paying jobs to the second district?

- Well thank you for having me Jennifer and thanks for Craig and Jared for joining me in and Domain Public for sponsoring the event.

I agree entirely with Craig.

You know we live in a really, in the second most rural district in the United States.

That means people living in towns of populations 2000 or less.

In order to connect those communities broadband is so incredibly important.

Not only connecting those communities but connecting on a marketplace around the world.

Maine has got an incredibly fantastic high-quality of life.

People want to live here.

They can telecommute and they can work virtually if there's high-speed internet.

There's also the Small Business Administration.

The SBA has made tremendous investments in New England and in Maine but under the leadership of Bruce Poliquin over the last three years, Maine's second district received the smallest amount of SBA funding of any one of the 21 house districts in New England.

That puts us at a competitive disadvantage.

When people are opening up breweries, or restaurants or making investments in new forest products equipment or fishing equipment, the SBA's is an incredibly helpful tool to help small business get to the next step.

That's what Maine really is about.

It's about a network of small businesses and we need to create a venue for them to really flourish.

- Alright, the second question will go to you first Craig.

Maine is a graying state, and the second district is aging even faster than the first district.

Do you support any specific changes to Medicare or Social Security?

- I do.

Really I think number one we have to make sure that nobody's tapping into social security and it's not being seen as an entitlement.

The same thing with Medicare.

These are things that people have the right to, that they paid into.

What I really think needs to happen is that we need to be looking at a universal system of care.

One step towards that universal care system is taking the Medicare eligibility level of 65 and starting by rolling it back to 55.

I think there are a lot of people out there who are in jobs that are hard physical jobs that wouldn't mind retiring maybe a little bit earlier, if they had proper healthcare and health insurance.

I think that that's important but also what's important is our rural health services and being able to have more rural health centers that can deal with 90% of the health issues that most elderly people have that really can be handled through a PA or a nurse practitioner.

If we can strengthen that rural health system in such a way so people aren't having to travel to Bangor or travel to Ellsworth for routine check-ups and things along those lines.

But they can actually have that done in a rural health center and I really think there needs to be more funding coming in at that level but also more funding for the medical services professionals that are out there that we're also losing.

I read a statistic lately that in 10 years half of the nurses that we have in Maine second district will be retiring and so we're gonna have this large gap of medical services personnel that we need to start building so that we can serve the people as they age in our state.

- Alright, Lucas St.

Clair, do you support any specific changes to Medicare or Social Security?

- I do but first and foremost, I think these bedrock programs that been around for a long time in our country we need to be very forthcoming that they're good programs and they need to stay in place.

We can't jeopardize them for any reason, but beyond that I think with social security specifically we could increase the salary in which people pay into it.

If people that were earning more than $128,000 were paying into Social Security above that $128,000 cap, we could take care of some of the challenges that Social Security has.

For example, when women leave the workforce for raising children, they're not eligible for Social Security that they missed during that time.

If they were able to get that when they retired, or if they became widowed, that would be a really important thing for women as they get older in age.

Also, with the government pension program.

When teachers go into the workforce they are not eligible for Social Security, even if they have paid into that program before.

That is something that is a real shortcoming in my feeling for Social Security.

Again, I agree with Craig with Medicare.

An expansion of Medicare so more people are eligible to it and we can cover a broader segment of our population with a solid healthcare system, makes so much sense and would save Mainers so much money.

I think that would be a great start, and then allow Medicare to negotiate for prescription drug costs.

That's a real liability with Medicare as it stands now.

- Alright, same question to you Jared.

Do you support any specific changes to Medicare or Social Security?

- Well I think we agree a lot on these issues.

I don't support any privatization of any of these programs for starters.

I want to be very clear about that.

When I think about Social Security, number one thing that comes to mind is that the benefit has been outpaced by the rising cost of living.

The people that depend on Social Security are struggling on fixed incomes.

That's largely because of the loss of things like pensions in the workplace and therefore more and more people are relying on Social Security for retirement.

What we need to change is the benefit itself and increase the monthly reimbursement to people.

After years of hard work, like Lucas said we can do that by lifting the cap on payment into Social Security.

Working middle-class people pay on every dollar they make into that program and frankly I think people that make over $128,000 a year should gladly pay more into that.

That's how we can reform that program.

When it comes to Medicare, what we should be doing is moving towards Medicare for all.

That's about the only change I would support.

I'm never gonna vote to restrict eligibility for Medicare, Medicaid.

More healthcare is what we need.

Things that I would support.

You know part of the VA healthcare system, they actually do negotiate for lower prescription drug prices and so that's a model that we know the government is capable of doing.

We should let Medicare do that as well.

Maybe we need to look into a reimbursement by patient instead of fee for service kind of Medicare program.

There's certainly some ways we can go after, and it's usually provider ways rather than individual fraud or things of that nature.

- Alright, the third question will go to you first Lucas.

Congress is considering a number of gun violence related measures.

Where do you stand on the following proposals?

Raising the age to purchase a rifle to 21.

Banning the sales of semi-automatic weapons or banning the sale of large ammunition magazines?

- This is a great question, thank you for asking.

It comes up often as you can imagine in these times.

I support the increase in age to 21 to buy weapons.

I support a limit on high-capacity magazines but I don't support a generic ban on semi-automatic weapons.

Semi-automatic weapons, if we put a ban on them we limit many shotguns, and rifles that we use for hunting and Maine has got a very strong heritage of sportsman.

When I was young I took a hunting safety course and I had to pass a test at the end of that.

Then I had to get a license and then when I use a shotgun when I'm hunting I'm limited to how many shells are used in my shotgun at any given time.

I think we can apply those very similar rules to all guns and make it much more safe for people in this country.

We should not be able... We should not be concerned whether we sit in a movie theater or at a concert whether our lives are in danger from a stranger shooting us.

When I watch my young children walk down the driveway in the morning to get on the school bus I haven't had a morning were I haven't thought about them a and their safety in school from gun violence.

We've got an issue in this country that doesn't exist in any other country, but we have to create the space in order for all of us to get together and have honest conversations about it.

It shouldn't be something that divides us.

This should be a problem that brings us together and were we can really focus on solutions instead of name-calling and the polarization.

- Jared, I'll repeat the question.

Congress is considering a number of gun violence related measures.

Where do you stand on each of the following proposals.

Raising the age to purchase a rifle to 21.

Banning the sales of semi-automatic weapons.

Banning the sale of large ammunition magazines.

- Well I don't support raising the age to 21.

I joined the Marines when I was 20 years old.

We let 18 year olds join the military.

We let people start hunting at a much younger age than that, so I think there's plenty evidence that with proper training and support, people can be responsible gun owners and hunters and even serve our country in the military as young as 18.

Sometimes 17 with a waiver, so I don't think that moving to 21 is necessarily gonna solve the problem.

Let's see thinking about high-capacity magazines, as a Democratic leader I actually voted to move debate on that this year in 2018.

Not sure where I would have come down on it.

I want to hear how effective those types of laws could be in actually making a difference.

Certainly 30 rounds in a magazine is a lot.

That's what I carry with me in combat.

When we were training what we did was 10 rounds.

That's three groupings of three plus the final grouping having four rounds.

So certainly if you're looking to train, if you're looking to hunt, 10 rounds is probably sufficient, but again I'd really want to get into the weeds of policy and see how it would be effective or perhaps not.

What is the...?

Semi-automatic weapons.

- Yes.

- You know that is almost every gun under the sun.

So I would have to say no to that.

Almost all weapons are semi-automatic weapons.

- Alright, Craig would you like to me repeat the question?

- [Craig] I've got it.

- Okay.

(laughing) Go ahead.

- No.

For me I think 18 is okay for purchasing weapons.

Again, if you're gonna drive a car, if you're gonna be able to go into the military, if you're gonna be able to vote and if you go through proper training, through hunter safety and then are certified to shoot, then I think you should be able to buy a weapon.

High-capacity magazines, I really don't see a need to have over 10 shells in a clip.

I grew up hunting with a Ruger 22 and it was a 10 shot clip.

That was fine and sufficient.

I do think however things like bump stocks, we just can't have them.

There's no reason to have a bump stock.

Again, with the semi-automatic weapons, it's a very fuzzy area because so many guns are semi-automatic.

I think you have to look at these assault style weapons that are semi-automatic are really the issue and with the addition of bump stock they become an automatic weapon.

That's what concerns me.

The other thing that concerns me is the use and being to purchase silencers.

I really don't think that's something that a common hunter is going to want to purchase and they need to be regulated as well.

As well as this whole concealed carry having a reciprocity in other states.

I don't think it's needed.

I think if a state has rules that are more restrictive than the state in which you live, you should not be allowed to take your rule and your gun into that state if they do not allow concealed carry and you have a concealed carry permit in Maine.

- Alright.

Now on some questions that have been designed for each candidate specifically.

These have been crafted by our news staff.

You'll each have one minute to respond.

And we're gonna start with Craig Olson.

Craig, you have no experience in legislating, which is what a member of Congress principally does.

How will you overcome that lack of experience should you be elected to Congress?

- Well I'm a quick learner.

I have served as a member of the board of selectmen and establishing ordinances, and working with town government.

I also served in city government, were on a number of occasions we would go to Washington and work and lobby with our congressmen and senators.

So I've had that experience.

I have not been the person on the floor, putting the bill in but I've had a lot experience with reading bills, working with congressional staff, talking about bills and how these things get put through Congress.

So I do have that experience.

Again, you're on the ground.

You're learning.

It is a process and I'm sure that anybody who goes to serve in Congress, it's a completely different ballgame than what they expected when they were first elected to go to Washington.

- Lucas St.

Clair, you have called for more transparency in campaigns and denounced so-called dark money in politics yet you are benefiting from ads paid for by a group that has not disclosed its donors.

Do you support legislation that would require all donors to any group influencing the outcome of a campaign to be disclosed?

- I do and I think, you know, campaign finance reform is so desperately needed in our country.

The fact that money is playing such over sourced role in campaigns really is wearing away at the very fabric of our democracy.

I think that all donors to any campaign should be disclosed.

I support the disclose act, which would create more transparency in our system of elections.

I also think that we need to set up a system like Maine has to fund elections.

If we had a clean election program on a federal level, that would solve a lot of these things.

There's a tremendous amount of apathy that's created from the amount of money that's spent on politics.

- Jared Golden, in your campaign you've talked about your legislative experience, including serving in leadership.

But the legislature has just adjourned without addressing more than a hundred bills left that were left unresolved.

How can voters be confident that you would get things done in Congress?

- Well I think that's about leading by example.

So you referenced this last session, of course the appropriations committee was back in yesterday and did advance a couple of important bills relevant to direct care worker reimbursement and dealing with our county jail funding issues.

So some progress and I think the lesson there is you stay at the table.

So if you go back and look at the last day when we had a vote on whether or not to adjourn or extend session and stay at the negotiating table, then what you'll see is me as floor leader standing in the corner talking about the need to get our job done, to continue doing our work and to stay at the table and negotiating in good faith.

I wasn't attacking the other side, I was just talking about what our commitment to the people of Maine.

What we needed to do.

I can't change the fact that the House Republican caucus voted not to extend session, but I did lead by example and leave the door open for I think the ongoing negotiations that we have right now.

Hopefully by July 1 we're gonna get in and we're gonna finish the work.

Not every bill can pass.

That's what happens in every legislature, but we're gonna go after the ones that matter the most this year.

- Alright, well thanks Jared.

We're gonna take a quick break.

When we come back we'll have our interactive questions.

Please stay with us.

Welcome back to the Your Vote 2018 Democratic Second District Congressional Primary Debate.

I'm Jennifer Rooks.

Now we offer the chance for the candidates to ask questions of each other.

Candidates will have one minute to respond, and a chance to follow up if they want to.

We'll start Jared Golden, what's your question for Craig Olsen?

- Craig, I guess I'm just shooting on the fly here so I'll ask you, you come from an island community.

Can you tell people and talk to people about some of the challenges and how you might go down to Congress with that perspective to help the people in Maine that live offshore?

- I can.

The thing about an island community like many small communities in Maine and many small communities in this district is that political differences seem to go away when places are in crisis.

Or when they're issues going on that affect everyone.

I have good friends who I don't agree with politically.

But I know that at three o'clock in the morning I can call them up and they'll be there to help.

So I guess the one thing about an island community I think that is given me some of that training that would so effective in Washington is being able to talk with all people about a variety of factors.

When you sit down and actually talk to people, you understand that you have very similar wants and needs.

That when they're not colored by politics and that you love your kids, you want your community to do well and you want to have work that's meaningful.

I have found that throughout the district as I've traveled around and I used to think it was unique to Islesboro and where I live but it really is throughout the state of Maine.

- Alright, Craig Olsen you have a chance to ask a question of Lucas St.

Clair.

- Lucas I'm interested in you've done so much work with the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, and that was a big project for you.

But other than that and other than running for Congress, what was one of the biggest challenges you faced personally?

- Well there's been a handful.

As a small business owner for many years on the coast of Maine, getting up every morning and calling in orders and setting schedules and making payroll.

The onslaught of the pace of running a small business was a great challenge.

But certainly the National Monument was the biggest.

That was one the most controversial big ideas that Maine has seen in a long, long time.

To bring such opposing sides together to turn that into a reality was a huge challenge, and to negotiate both in the region but also in Washington D.C., and have to wear those different hats was a challenging thing but certainly a great enjoyment.

- Lucas St.

Clair you can asked Jared Golden a question.

- Great, so the question I have is Democrats have divided each other often.

Certainly we saw that in the last presidential race.

This state went for Bernie Sanders and the challenges and apathy was created after that campaign was a very frustrating one.

You've got a great story to tell.

A story of service and my question is over the last few weeks rather than telling your story, you and some of your surrogates have spent time attacking me.

Do you think that is an effective way to bring civility, and to consolidate power and consolidate Democrats in order to beat Bruce Poliquin in November?

- Thank you.

Well, you know I think we're out there telling my story and that's important.

I also think that the end of the day campaigns have to be about issues.

Even more so than people's background and bios and stories.

I don't want people to vote for me just because of my service in the military or in the legislature.

I want it to be about issues.

Talking about campaign finance reform I think is critically important.

I think something that I've learned through my time in the legislature and in particular I think watching the direction of the party and the ways in which people may feel like the party has gotten away from representing working middle-class issues.

Is that we have to hold our own party accountable first.

Hold each other accountable first before we can speak I think with authority and credibility about these issues.

Particularly getting money out of politics at the national level and going after Bruce Poliquin or the GOP.

If we want to change Citizens United, then we have to talk about the issues.

I think that starts by establishing credibility to hold ourselves accountable.

That's why I will continue to support having that discussion.

- Jared Golden, your opportunity to ask Lucas St.

Clair a question.

- I guess I would just maybe ask the question right back just a little bit different.

I mean I think you probably agree and understand that what we have to do is to shine a light on these types of practices and condemn it.

There been those that have said, Jared you know you're gonna tie your hand behind your back if you reject organizations that don't play you know by the same rules that candidates do.

This is just the rules of the game but the rules of the game are rigged.

So I think the question is don't you agree that this is how we take control of this issue and take the high, moral ground going against Republicans.

Is by saying no we're not gonna play by those rules.

- Absolutely I agree and have done as much consistently.

You know I have no control over outside group's quote unquote "dark money" being spent against me and legally I cannot do anything to engage with them but said publicly that they should stop doing what they're doing.

But I also think what's most important is creating civility in this debate and making sure there is unity and that we're focused on beating Bruce Poliquin.

And making people's lives better here in Maine.

By doing that I'm consistently stay true to the issues and talking about healthcare and talking about Social Security, the protection of our natural resources.

I think that's really what's most important in this moment.

- Alright, Craig Olsen you can ask Jared Golden a question.

- Jared, you've a lot packed into your life.

You're a young man, especially speaking in the second congressional district.

You've done a lot with your military service and with your service in the legislature.

If you don't win the congressional primary, if you don't win the congressional seat what type of service, what's the future look like for you and the service that you might look into after politics?

- Thank you.

I appreciate the question.

I think that's something I'll be figuring out on June 13th if I'm not the nominee or come November if I don't go on to beat Bruce Poliquin.

Things that I've been interested in the past Greg, I wanted to be a high school history teacher.

Ultimately I left the University of Maine Farmington back in 2002 to join the Marines.

That got me into military service.

I've also gone back as a volunteer school teacher in Afghanistan.

I studied international affairs while I was at Bates College and was very interested in work overseas and particularly in trying to bring peace and stability to countries like Afghanistan and Iraq.

I worked over there for a short time in the freight forwarding industry doing a lot of contracts with the State Department.

Those are some of the things I've done and been interested in.

Certainly if I am not the nominee on June 13th, as the assistant majority leader gonna go out and make sure that we're electing a house Democratic majority in the Maine state legislature.

Finish up my term as a state rep and take it from there.

I suspect I'll be doing a little bit of work at the family business until I figure out the next steps.

- Alright, and Lucas St.

Clare your turn to ask a question of Craig Olsen.

- Great.

So Craig when I was working on the Kathadin Woods and Water National Monument I found that if I was close enough to someone for them to poke a finger in my chest I was close enough to them to have a conversation.

I know you know this very well as a selectman and a moderator of town meetings, when you have politics on the local level like that it's impossible to hide from.

But how does that translate to Congress, when things are defined in soundbites and attack ads and there isn't that closeness of neighborhood.

How do you make that transition?

- I think you have to make the long concerted effort to change that dynamic.

The first think I think Congress and of course being a congressman at 434 in seniority will be very difficult to do, but I really do think that you need to go in and really press for a Congress that works Monday thru Friday.

Not a Congress that comes in Tuesday, takes a few votes, leaves Thursday night.

You have to get to know the people across the aisle.

You have to get to know them as human beings.

Just like you do in a small community.

Just like you do when you're either in an elected official position, whether you're waiting in a ferry line or whether you're at a campground somewhere.

You get to know people as people.

I think that is the key to helping this dialogue to improve.

And it's changed in the last 20 years.

That's unfortunate.

It's become very much us versus them and not that we're working towards a common good.

I really think that having that experience at the local level, knowing that people are gonna get in your face if they don't like how you voted on something, that you have to be able to stand up and do that and you have to be accessible to your people through town hall meetings and through public events on an ongoing basis.

- [Lucas] Alright, thanks.

- Alright, well now we're gonna go back to some bigger policy issues.

The candidates will have 90 seconds to respond.

Question one will go to Craig Olsen first.

Maine is among the top ten states as far as opioid-related overdose deaths, losing more than a person each day last year.

What can be at the congressional level to address this public health crisis?

- Well I think there are a couple of things.

First, we decriminalize opioids in such a way that people are able to get help and assistance rather than being just thrown in jail and charged with crimes.

Number two, we need to be able to provide housing for people.

Many times people who are opioid abusers have come to that abuse because they've been injured, things have spiraled.

They're now on opioids.

They maybe don't have housing.

If you don't have housing it's a terrible way to try to get somebody clean from a drug.

The third thing is really decriminalizing marijuana and making marijuana and cannabis based products universally available throughout the US, so that we can use cannabis and other types of material as a pain management and using it for pain management.

I've not heard of one person who has died from marijuana use.

I've heard of people dying on more than one a day or close to a little bit than a day on opioids abuse.

I really think we need to be treating it as public health crisis.

Treating it as something that needs to be managed and not something that continues to be criminalized.

- Alright, Lucas St.

Clare.

What can be done that the congressional level to address the opioid epidemic?

- I think we need to treat and fund three sides of what's happening.

First and foremost we need to treat addiction as an illness.

Try to erode away at the stigma that's built around addiction because opioids and heroin and fentanyl are illegal, there is a stigma that is attached to addiction that makes it much harder for people to approach recovery.

If we can tamp down that stigma and then focus on recovery, treatment, and prevention and fund all of those things and treat them collectively, we will make people's lives better.

We need to make sure people don't get hooked in the first place, and keep prevention of addiction as low as we possibly can.

We should make sure that when people have become addicted that we're giving them the treatment that they need.

Then we need to recognize that the path of recovery is not a linear one.

It is circuitous path that has lots of challenges and we need to recognize that and we need to make sure that people are in safe environments to go through that process of recovery.

- Alright, Jared Golden same question to you.

What can be done at the congressional level to address the opioid epidemic?

- Well here in Maine, something that we did was we passed laws to try and prevent the overprescribing of opioid medications.

That's certainly something that I think you can do at a federal level as well and would be important.

We got to stop the flow of these type of prescription drugs out into society for starters.

Focusing on, there's just so many little things we can do.

Increasing drug take back opportunities and programs.

Making it easier for people to return medications that are unwanted or unnecessary to again try and stem the flow.

I think about something I learned about in the legislature, which is lead poisoning.

What we have found is examples where the company actually had research that showed that lead was harmful to people and to young children yet put out advertisements saying that it was safe for clean water, and many other things.

So really lying to people.

I think that we gotta go after pharmaceutical companies and research agencies that may have marketed this as a way to stop people's pain without addicting them.

Cause I think they clearly knew it was addictive and dangerous.

You got to hold corporations like that accountable to prevent others from doing things like that in the future.

So that's one thing.

Certainly we got to put more federal money into anything we can to save lives right now.

That's making things accessible, like Narcan and then like Lucas and Craig both said, we need the treatment and counseling resources out there for people and then the long-run prevention.

- Alright.

Lucas St.

Clare how would you use your position in Congress to address and plan for the effects of climate change?

- Well there is a lot of things that we need to do on that front.

I think certainly accepting, understanding, listening to and acting on what science is telling us is the most important thing.

I think treating carbon dioxide as a pollutant is incredibly important.

I would reengage and push for congressional reengagement into the Paris Climate Accord, so we're working with our global partners to understand and mitigate and adapt to what's happening on a planetary level.

I would fully fund the Land and Water Conversation Fund, which is a fund that receives revenue from the oil and gas industry when they lease offshore oil and gas drilling areas.

That land goes directly to conversation and conservation in our country is incredibly important.

The more land that we conserve the better off we are to protect flora and fauna and ourselves and making sure that we invest in green infrastructure for clean water, water treatment.

There's a lot of things that we can do on the local level and then we really need to take subsidies away from the oil and gas industry and start focusing on renewable energy.

If we put local renewable energy projects in place here in Maine we'd made dramatic strides.

Not only would it be helpful for the climate but it would be a reduction in cost as well.

- Alright, same question to you Jared Golden.

How would you use your position in Congress to address and plan for effect of climate change?

- Well I think that the federal government has to put money into researching it and that begins with acknowledging the science and putting our trust in scientists who are working on this issue.

Not trying to cast doubt about whether or not the facts are the facts.

Then putting the money into research.

When I think about things going on in Maine like warming waters, we need to get ahead of this and do the research to know what is the impact gonna be on our waters, on our fisheries.

What is the fishery of the future gonna look like with warmer gulf of Maine?

Really we can't give up on trying I think to take every measure we can to stop climate change and prevent it.

So again investing in renewable energies.

Doing everything we can to make those sources of energy more competitive and ultimately rise up above oil and natural gas, I think is really important.

- Alright, and same question to you Craig Olsen.

How would you use your position in Congress to address and plan for the effects of climate change?

- I think really the key, the first thing that we really need to start doing is begin that process of weaning ourselves off of this high dependence on fossil fuels.

It's not only fossil fuels for fueling our homes and our cars but it's also the other petroleum based products that we use in a daily basis.

Plastic bags, styrofoam chips, and we have to look at science.

We have to promote science.

We have to have a baseline that we're working from, were we know where we are.

We're not gonna turn the clock back, but hopefully we can slow the clock down.

I talk to a lot lobstermen on the island everyday.

They're fishing deeper and deeper and their concern is in five or 10 years there will be no lobster fishing around our island and that would be devastating to the community that we live in.

At the federal level we have to have funding coming in for that climate change research.

We need to be looking at alternative energies that are not only solar and wind but also tidal.

Sun always shines, the wind always blows.

We need to be capturing that.

The final thing we need to do is be looking at manufacturing technologies like cross-laminated timber that uses these cellulose fibers, uses our tree fiber to build infrastructure that can go up to 10 stories at least with skyscrapers plus we're actually sequestering carbon by growing more trees.

And it's a renewable resource in Maine and we have millions of acres.

Those are the ways that I would be looking at it through the USDA, through the Forest Service, as well as through NOAA and all these agencies that are looking at climate change.

The third question will go first to you Jared Golden.

What's the proper role of the US in the world diplomatically and militarily?

Have we been too involved in hotspots across the globe?

- Yes, we have.

The proper role is to protect our country and be a responsible leader in the world.

Hopefully to bring about peace and stability.

Not I think to be the police of the world.

One thing that I actually agreed with President Trump about was when he talked about the need to ensure that our allies are picking their fair share of the responsibility of their own defense, rather than depending upon the United States and US taxpayers.

To pay for that for themselves.

Cause we want to see that investment come back home but I think we have a responsibility to promote peace and democracy at the end of the day.

Sometimes trying to push forward on democratic reforms in the midst of conflict, like in Afghanistan and Iraq, is not the best way to go about it.

So certainly we need to invest in our Foreign Service and the State Department and led by example.

- Alright, same question to you Craig Olsen.

What is the proper role of the US in the world, diplomatically and militarily?

And have we been too involved in hotspots around the globe?

- I think we need to be more diplomats and less policemen.

We have done so much to put our thumb on things and try and create situations that we recognize in communities and in societies that are so very different from us.

That are tribal and not as structured in the same way as our US society is.

We need to be back at the table.

We need to be adults sitting in a table working this out and talking about things.

We need to be reducing some of that military spending that we're putting out there and increasing spending for the VA and for all these veterans who have come back wounded, both physically and mentally and for the families of veterans who did not come back.

That I think is the greatest failure of our policy is that we just have not stepped up to really help the people who we have put in harms way.

That by being diplomatic, by getting out there and actually being at the table.

I agree, we do need to sit down with North Korea.

We need to have a dialogue.

Do I agree with how we're going about it right now?

Not necessarily, but I do agree we need to be out there talking with everyone that we can.

Being involved and being an adult in the room.

- Alright, Lucas St.

Clare the question to you.

What is the proper role of the US in the world, diplomatically and militarily?

And have we been too involved in hotspots far away?

- Jennifer, I believe that over the course of our history we have played an outsized role in military engagement places that were not appropriate.

There are also times were it was very appropriate.

I think that our Congress needs to be playing a role in the decisions and how we engage in conflicts around the country and around the world rather.

To Craig and Jared's point diplomacy is a very powerful tool.

We need to lead by example.

We need to show that we honor our citizens and that we are willing to take care of them and protect them but sending in military strikes unilaterally is not a way to show the world that we're a reliable ally and that we're making decisions through our system of democracy.

We also need to fulfill the agreements that we've made.

Regardless of who's president.

The Paris Climate Accord for one, the Iran nuclear deal.

Leading up to the transfer of the embassy to Jerusalem.

Avoiding any negotiation between the two-state solution and moving our embassy is a dangerous, dangerous move and it goes against years of diplomacy from our country.

We need to honor the agreements and arrangements that have been made throughout history.

- Alright, Craig Olsen how do we stop other nations from interfering with our elections?

- That's a good question.

I think we monitor.

I think we have the technology.

We have the people.

If you can pull your phone out, book a car, book a flight, book a hotel, I think we can do a lot more with monitoring what's incoming in US data stream.

When we find instances we have to comeback with sanctions.

We can't just say, oh it was an anomaly, oh maybe it didn't happen.

We have to have teeth going back into these things and we have a society, this country has an intellectual property level that created so much of what we're using as far as technology that I really don't see why we're not putting that same type of push into how we monitor what those infractions are, who's coming in, why are they doing it and importantly who really is behind it.

Because you can go through multiple servers, through multiple countries.

But it can be traced in such ways and I really think that what has to come with that though is sanctions.

We have to have some bite that goes with the bark.

- Lucas St.

Clare, how do we stop other nations from interfering with our elections?

- I think one precaution that we should certainly take right now is paper ballots.

It seems as if what's happening is a distrust in our system by Americans themselves.

That creates apathy and that's a dangerous position to be in 'cause the core of our democracy gets rattled that way and without people fully participating our democracy doesn't work as well as it could.

I think that the FBI and Homeland Security should be working together to monitor who is tampering with our systems.

We should make sure that through all platforms of social media there is, the FEC is playing a role in who gets to advertise and when and where that money is coming from.

There needs to be a lot more transparency and disclosure of funding for various types of campaigning.

Whether it's social media, ads or otherwise.

Our branches of national security really have to work closely.

To Craig's point, if people are tampering or foreign agents are tampering in our election, we absolutely have to hold them accountable.

Sanctions is a great way to do it.

It is so damaging to not know or to know whether or not the Russians have been influencing our elections.

It's a really scary thing to think that the outcome of our presidential race could have been decided by a foreign agent.

- And to you Jared, how do we stop other nations from interfering with our elections?

- Well this is a defense question again, and one thing I want to make clear is I'm strongly in support of protecting ourselves.

Of having a strong national defense and it's okay to respond to protect ourselves when we're attacked, like we did on 9/11.

The problem is when we have mission creep and all of a sudden it becomes something altogether different.

In this case cyber security is part of the future.

It's a real danger and a real threat.

So Congress needs to address cyber security issues and make sure that we're working proactively, I think to get a handle on this.

That means working with corporations and requiring that they be responsible actors of our own protections and defense in this country.

We have to regulate things like Facebook.

Other online business that have kind of monopolies on these things, and say how can you help, be a part of the solution?

Because you were part of the problem, or at least your industry was anyways.

I think we need to be strong with Russia or any country that meddles in our elections and say we're not gonna put up with that.

Strong fines and lean forward and make sure that we're protecting ourselves, but we have to look inward for solutions as well.

In terms of how we protect ourselves.

- Alright.

Well thank you.

Now to our lightning round.

In this segment we're gonna ask questions for brief, very brief answers.

Usually one word answers.

We'll start Lucas on your end.

Is healthcare a right?

- Yes.

- [Jennifer] Craig?

- Yes.

- Jared?

- Absolutely.

- Jared do you support exploratory oil drilling off the East coast?

- No.

- Never.

- Craig?

- I do not, no.

- Okay, Lucas do you support CMP's proposed transmission line project to bring hydropower from Canada to Massachusetts through Maine?

- As the way it's designed now, I do not, no.

- [Jennifer] Craig?

- I do not.

- [Jennifer] Jared?

- Need to see what the benefit to Maine repairs and Maine workers would be before I could answer that one.

- Okay, Jared should the US engage in direct talks with North Korea?

- [Jared] Absolutely.

- [Jennifer] Craig?

- Yes.

- [Jennifer] Lucas?

- Yes, I think so.

- [Jennifer] Lucas, should marijuana be legal at the federal level?

- I think it should.

- [Jennifer] Craig?

- Yes.

- [Jennifer] Jared?

- No, I think we're handling it state by state.

Maine's done that and we should just protect that.

Make sure the federal government doesn't interfere.

- Jared do you support US tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum from the European Union, Canada, and Mexico?

- I think when they're targeted at people that are abusing the market, yes and when there's a clear benefit that will help American steelworkers.

- Craig do you support US tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum from the EU, Canada and Mexico?

- No.

- Lucas?

- Not from the EU, Canada and Mexico, no.

- Lucas do you support the net neutrality bill that's working it's way through the Senate?

- Yes.

- Craig.

- Absolutely.

- [Jennifer] And Jared?

- Yup, that's an important one.

- Jared do you support term limits in Congress?

- [Jared] Yes.

- [Jennifer] Craig?

- No.

- [Jennifer] And Lucas?

- I do not, no.

- [Jennifer] Okay Lucas name an issue on which you agree with President Trump.

- The effort to negotiate with North Korea.

- Craig?

- The issue to rebuild infrastructure in the US.

- [Jennifer] And Jared?

- I've already named one earlier but I'll give you a different one.

I think renegotiating trade deals that have been bad to America.

- Okay.

Jared, would you support a single-payer health system?

- Yes.

- Craig?

- Yes.

- [Jennifer] And Lucas?

- Yes.

- Lucas, should the government go deeper into debt to help the needy?

- No, not deeper into debt, but they certainly should reallocate to help the needy.

- [Jennifer] Craig?

- No, but with reallocation.

- [Jennifer] And Jared?

- I think it's actually tax cuts and give aways to multinational corporations and the very wealthy that are putting us into debt right now.

- Jared, should the United States increase the number of refugees it allows from Syria?

- Absolutely within reason.

As best as we can.

- [Jennifer] Craig?

- Yes.

- And Lucas.

- Yeah, yes.

- Lucas, should the National Flood Insurance program be continued in the face of climate change?

- It should, yes.

- Yes.

- Craig?

And Jared, we're gonna see if we have time for a couple more.

The next time President Trump wants a military style strike against Syria, should he seek authorization from Congress first?

- I think that you have to have flexibility to protect the country, but boots on the ground should always come with congressional authorization.

- [Jennifer] Craig?

- I think he needs congressional authorization.

- Congressional authorization, yes.

- Lucas do you think American's need to cut back on their consumption to prevent environmental problems?

- I think that's one effort that would help.

- Yes, yes.

- Craig?

- Yes, we all have a shared responsibility.

- Okay, here's an easy one.

Jared what's your favorite food from Maine?

- Favorite food from Maine.

Wow, that's a good one.

I'm gonna go with blueberries.

- Okay, Craig?

- Lobster rolls.

- (chuckling) Lucas?

- I'm gonna stick with maple syrup.

- Okay, good answer.

You guys differed on that.

I like it.

That's the end of the lightning round.

Now we're gonna move onto our closing statements.

Each candidate has one minute.

The order was determined earlier by random drawing.

First is Lucas St.

Clair.

- Thanks Jennifer.

I got into this race to run for Congress cause I was outraged that Bruce Poliquin would take away health insurance for 100,000 Mainers and millions of Americans.

But I have a plan to fix the mistakes that he's helped create.

First, to make sure that when people are sick they can afford to see a doctor.

That we protect social security and our natural resources.

That we make the investments in our people and our state.

I know what it takes to create and take on a big project.

When I started working on Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument people told me it was impossible.

That special interests were opposed and were to hard to overcome.

But when I got to work I started having conversations with people on the ground, I started bringing opposing people and ideas together and collectively we were able to turn this into a reality.

Despite the fact that we were being opposed by governor LePage, congressman Poliquin, and President Trump.

I want to earn your support on June 12th and I will wake up everyday, if I do earn your support and make sure that you get a fair shake and that we make Maine and Maine's people a priority.

Thank you very much.

- Craig Olsen you're second.

- I want to thank you for your time in watching this debate.

I got into this race because I became concerned with how policies that affect real Mainers were being argued in Washington.

I was also concerned about the fact that the average net worth of a congressman in Washington is over a million dollars.

When they're debating things like healthcare and they're looking at people's health and their wellness as things on a spreadsheet, things that they don't really relate to, that got me fired up to really get involved in this campaign.

As I go out and talk to people throughout the state, those are the same concerns that they have.

That they're being seen as numbers on a spreadsheet and not as people.

Now I had some issues with skin cancer that really forced me to get into this race because I saw that attempt to remove the ACA and to take people off of good health insurance.

For me that was something that I wouldn't wish on anyone.

Laying awake at night, wondering if they can pay their bills.

So for me this is something that I want to do to help all people in Maine, just as I was helped in mycommunity by the folks that I know and to really work everyday as hard as I can for the people of Maine.

- And Jared Golden, go ahead.

- Thank you.

Well at the end of the day, being an elected official, being a good representative is really at it's heart about leadership.

That's something that I know and have experienced in the Marines and also in the Maine state legislature.

What we did in the Marines is when it was time to eat, we put the lowest ranking person, individual, first in line to eat and highest ranking person would go last.

What that thought me was that good leaders, real leaders, put the people that they lead first.

They don't cut in line.

They take care of people that they're charged with leading first, before they ever think of themselves.

That's my approach to being a state representative for the city of Lewiston.

That's gonna be my promise to the people of the second congressional district.

I'm focused on helping working middle-class people with issues like higher pay.

Like healthcare, and better retirement benefits.

At the end of the day down in Congress you can know that I'm a leader that will have your back.

- Alright, well thank you to all three of you and that was the final word.

Thank you for joining us for this Your Vote 2018 Second Congressional District Democratic Primary Debate.

If you missed any part of this program, you can see it in its entirety on demand at MainePublic.org/Your Vote.

You can also find our easy-to-use issues grid, which breaks down all the candidates' positions on the major issues.

I'm Jennifer Rooks, for all of us here, thank you for Joining Us.