The second group of candidates in tonight’s Maine Senate debate kicked off the hour with their opening statements.
Former Maryland environmental official David Costello began with a pledge “to help in ending the Trump administration’s reckless assault on our democracy, environment, and economy.”
Robert F. Bukaty / AP
“To fix Washington, we need to nominate the candidate for the United States Senate, whose background, knowledge and experience most most sharply contrasts out with Senator Collins,” Costello said. “Having grown up in a working-class family in Old Town and having served for more than 27 years in senior-level government positions, I believe that I’m that candidate.”
Former state legislator Elizabeth Dickerson focused her statement on her commitment to fighting climate change, saying, “I did this because I’m very interested in climate, and President Trump has done about everything he can do to strip away any protections that we have on climate.”
She also called for “food security for all, health care for all, housing for all, to abolish ICE, and to reverse climate change and end the war.”
Dan Kleban, co-founder of the Maine Beer Co., said while he is not a career politician, he will “unify the party” as a “new generation of leadership.”
“When I looked down at Washington D.C., Susan Collins is not doing what’s right,” Kleban said. “We need someone who’s going to stand up for Mainers, and Graham Platner was right. The system’s rigged, and Susan Collins has been a part of that system for 30 years.”
Transgender activist Ashley Webb said “the biggest thing I’d like to get across is that we need unity.”
Webb said the current immigration enforcement tactics are “not acceptable,” and that transgender people in the U.S. “are being dehumanized.”
