Pingree and Russell hold steady in first and only CD1 debate

Just days before the midterm elections, candidates for Maine’s 1st Congressional District met for their first and only televised debate.

Incumbent Democrat U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree faced off against Republican Ron Russell Thursday night, in a debate hosted jointly by Maine Public, the Portland Press Herald and NewsCenter Maine. 

Compared to the fiery clashes in Maine’s other federal debates, the 1st District event was relatively even-keeled — an accurate representation of how the race has been outshined by other, more competitive, contests. 

The CD1 race was not among those that party leaders were watching closely to determine the balance of power in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Cook Political Report had rated the district solidly Democratic in the lead-up to the election.

Pingree has represented the district since 2009, and is currently the ranking Democratic member on the subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies under the Committee on Appropriations. She also served in the Maine Senate from 1992-2000, and was majority leader in her final four years in the state Legislature. 

She faced off against Russell in her last reelection campaign in 2024, and solidly defeated him. 

Russell, 72, grew up in Fort Fairfield, and is a retired Army colonel. He served for just over 30 years as an airborne ranger Green Beret, and was in combat in Panama, Somalia, Afghanistan and other crisis response operations. 

After retiring, he founded the North Carolina-based defense contractor Far Ridgeline Engagements, and returned to Maine in 2021. Russell said he knows he’s a repeat candidate for voters, but hopes it will work in his favor. 

Ultimately, neither candidate offered any surprising stances or statements Thursday, instead reiterating what they’ve said on the campaign trail this year and in 2024. 

Bipartisanship, Trump and Iran

Both candidates were quick to make clear their positions on President Donald Trump’s agenda — and it was no surprise that Pingree is staunchly opposed to the president’s actions while Russell is a strong supporter. 

“I don’t know that there’s anything that I disagree with,” Russell said. “I disagree with how he goes about conducting business, but I don’t disagree with the policies that he has implemented, and I think they are significant in terms of helping out the American people.”

Pingree attributed many of the current affordability issues to Trump’s agenda, and said she hopes Democrats reach a majority in Congress to undo funding cuts and policy changes. 

Pingree said many Republicans “have just been sitting on their hands and unwilling to fight back,” something she has seen up close from her position on the House Appropriations Committee. 

In Maine’s 1st District, Pingree and Russell square off again

“I have watched bill after bill go through our committee, where the Republicans refuse to fight the repurposing of money, the stealing of money from accounts from this administration,” Pingree said. “We can bring that back to a sensible level and restore the funding to a lot of areas where we really need it to make sure people are whole.”

In opposition, Russell said he hopes Republicans get a strong majority after the election to prevent things from going back to the way they were under the Biden administration, and raised further concerns about the Democratic Party priorities. 

“The Democrat socialists are rearing their ugly heads here and gaining a significant amount of traction in the Democrat Party, and I think that’s worrisome there to me,” Russell said. 

Both candidates agreed on the importance of working across the aisle.

“Any legislation passed in Washington, D.C. that is not a function of both parties working together is bad legislation, because if it’s a partisan piece of legislation, 50% of the nation is being ignored,” Russell said. 

Pingree noted that she broke with Democrats in September to vote in favor of a bill to shield lobstermen from new regulations to protect North Atlantic right whales until 2035.

Russell pointed to Maine’s U.S. Senate race, where Democrats have criticized incumbent Sen. Susan Collins for voting with Trump too often, and said Pingree votes with Democrats most of the time. 

But Pingree countered that in recent years, that’s only because Republican leadership will only bring a few bills to an actual vote, most of which are coming directly from Trump. 

“And as I said, I work with my Republican colleagues as much as I possibly can,” Pingree said. “We don’t vote on a lot in a very dysfunctional Congress, but I’m not taking responsibility for that. That’s the speaker of the House and President Trump, who refuses to work with Democrats.”

Pingree was also asked about impeaching Trump, and she said if the Democrats don’t have a majority in the Senate to successfully impeach him, then “it will be yet another exercise in just reminding the American public, who already knows all the things that he has done.” 

“But I do think that you know the question regarding impeaching Secretary (Pete) Hegseth was about to face the Congress,” Pingree continued. “It will face us when we get back, and I think he has not done a very good job.”

When given the chance to question Russell directly, Pingree asked what advice the veteran would give to Hegseth, and if Russell would vote to impeach the secretary. 

Russell said he would not vote to impeach Hegseth, and he feels Hegseth “hasn’t done anything wrong.”

“From my perspective, he should listen to war fighters if he’s interested in war fighting to get their advice about who to release and who to keep on board,” Russell continued.

Similarly, Russell said he supported the Iran War and felt there was an “imminent threat” that required the president to act.

“I don’t think it’s feasible to brief the American people or all of Congress because the cat’s going to get out of the bag when that happens,” Russell said. “And how many examples of that do we have in our past history there? So no, I don’t think that that’s a good idea.”

Pingree called the conflict “a war of choice” and reiterated her support for ending military action.

“It’s been all bad, by all accounts that any of us can read,” Pingree said. “Almost no one advised the president to move forward on this. He didn’t take a lot of advice. He certainly didn’t come to Congress. He didn’t even go to the American people to make his case for doing this.”

Social Security, healthcare and student loans 

The candidates were also asked about changes to Social Security, as the agency faces a looming budget crisis. 

Russell said he would increase the cap on Social Security contributions, but would also seek to make larger changes. 

“I also think we need to look at a different system other than Social Security to privatize that and get away from a government-run system,” Russell said. 

He compared it to retirement savings accounts for members of the military, and the youth savings accounts started by Trump. But Russell said any changes would have to be slowly rolled out, to not affect people already on Social Security.

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“I would not impact the people who are relying on Social Security in any way, shape, or form here currently,” Russell said. “They have earned what it is that they are getting here now, and I don’t think we need to degrade that what it is that they are earning already.”

Pingree said she agreed that the cap on contributions should be increased or eliminated, and the problem needs to be addressed quickly.

“We need to give young people a sense of security that not just retirees now are going to be safe, but their money will be safe going into the future,” Pingree said. 

But she disagreed with Russell on privatizing the program, and said it would be too risky for too many people.

“I would be very worried about privatizing Social Security, and I’ve never seen anyone put forward a plan that didn’t raise a lot of concerns on the ideas of the risk that you would be taking with the American public’s money,” Pingree said. 

The two also disagreed on how to lower healthcare costs. Russell said he thinks increasing competition will help, and so will the “Make America Healthy Again” movement as people focus on preventative care. 

“I think, from a healthcare perspective, emphasizing primary care and relying on primary care is a decent way to go,” Russell said. “You need to be in touch with your primary care physician and get the regular checkups so you can detect problems before they become major problems.”

Pingree supports universal healthcare, and said rising insurance costs have left many people with no insurance and “nowhere to turn.”

“Whether you want to call this socialism or some other name, people want affordable health care,” Pingree said. “People want to go to a primary care physician, but so many of them don’t have any healthcare coverage. They can’t do it.”

Russell said he opposes Medicare for all, explaining that he evaluates the proposal like he would in the military, based on suitability, feasibility and acceptability.

“From a suitability perspective, healthcare for all is a wonderful idea, and from acceptability, it’s also a wonderful idea,” Russell said. “But from a feasibility perspective, it’s not feasible.”

Pingree and Russell did agree on the need for student loan relief, although they have different approaches to education more broadly.

Both said they would like to see federal student loans offered with no interest, to reduce how much borrowers pay back. 

Pingree said the student loan debt is often “crippling” for students, and that is “no way to run a healthy economy.”

“It’s not a place where we should be thinking about how to make money,” Pingree said. “It’s a place where we should be thinking about the excessive costs of going to college today.”

Russell said his approach would be to emphasize the trades for more young people. 

“We certainly need to get back to vocational education there and at a much higher level than where we are at here right now, because we know that we are hurting in terms of individuals with trades,” Russell said.

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