The veteran Democrat faces a challenge in November from Republican Ron Russell and independent Ethan Alcorn.
PORTLAND, Maine — Cherie Pingree is now as familiar a face in Congress as she is at home on North Haven Island. Mr. Pingree took office in 2009 and is running for his ninth term in the House of Representatives.
Although her re-election bid was hardly competitive, Pingree insists she won’t speculate.
“You can’t take any race for granted,” she said in an interview with Maine News Center earlier this month.
Facing challenges from Republican Ron Russell and independent Ethan Alcorn, Pingree is running as a center-left Democrat with a focus on agricultural and environmental policy, as always.
“I think a lot of people know me because I’m passionate about rural issues,” Pingree said.
In her most recent term in Congress, she introduced legislation to improve data collection on organic dairy farms in hopes of understanding the costs they must incur. Earlier this month, she also introduced legislation that would provide tax credits for active waterfront hazard mitigation projects.
But in districts at the heart of the state’s affordable housing crisis, lowering housing costs has taken up the most airtime in this election campaign.
Opponents Mr. Russell supports building smaller homes to reduce costs, and Mr. Alcorn wants the government to step back and let the free market solve the problem, while Mr. Pingree wants the federal government to , specifically seeking further investment from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. , build low-income housing, and generally improve the housing stock.
“Maine has done a pretty good job of increasing investment in housing, but we really need federal funding to get back here,” Pingree explained. “It’s really important to be there to fight for those kinds of funds that go directly back to the state of Maine.”
At a time when some Republicans have criticized the use of state and federal tax dollars to house asylum seekers, Pingree has sought to shorten the amount of time this group of immigrants must wait before receiving work permits, and the theory He proposed a bill that would allow them to pay their living expenses. Find your own home quickly.
“Most people who come to our country just say, ‘Let me work,'” Pingree said of the bill.
Pingree’s stance on many of the other issues swaying voters this year is not surprising for someone who represents a district bordered by deep blue Portland and the Midcoast.
When it comes to abortion, the eight-term incumbent wants to codify Roe V. Wade’s protections into federal law. When it comes to guns, he supports banning assault weapons and strengthening red flag laws.
Pingree is a strong supporter of investing in renewable energy and is wary of Vice President Kamala Harris’ strong support for domestic oil drilling.
“No one in politics, even the closest people in your own party, agree completely,” she explained.
But Pingree used domestic oil drilling as a basis for defending the Biden administration’s energy policies in a debate with Russell and Alcorn this month.
“We are a net energy producer. We are picking up the slack when people don’t want to buy from Russia,” Pingree said.
In a state dominated by moderates and independents, Mr. Pingree stands out in Maine’s congressional delegation as a staunch rank-and-file Democrat. This puts her at odds with her moderate Democratic colleague, Rep. Jared Golden. This summer, Golden wrote an op-ed for the Bangor Daily News titled “Donald Trump Will Win the Election and Democracy Will Be OK.”
“I didn’t agree with him,” explained Pingree, who supported Vice President Harris. “I completely understand that everyone in public office is entitled to their own opinions (and) their own strategies on how best to represent the residents of their district. But , you can never say it’s okay with Donald Trump.”
Regardless of who is in the White House in January, Pingree insists he has no intention of ending his long career in Congress.
“There’s some value in doing the job and knowing the job and doing it well,” she says.
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