The race for U.S. Senate is heating up in the Pine Tree State, and one candidate is ensuring he gets as much support as possible by visiting all 16 counties.
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“When we launched this campaign in April, one of the first promises I made to voters was that we’d have a town hall in every county and that as Senator I’d continue to have a town hall in every county, every year,” shared U.S. Senate candidate Jordan Wood.
Thursday night in Belfast, that campaign goal was met. Wood, a Lewiston native, made sure his campaign trail hit every county in Maine, and he says he’s learned a lot from voters along the way.
“I would say affordability is the most important issue, I mean, the housing crisis, the lack of affordable housing is something that is a problem in Aroostook County and in York County,” Wood stated. “Affordable childcare access is something I hear about everywhere. Half of Maine is in a childcare desert.”
At the Belfast town hall, voters made their voices heard on the issues they’re taking with them to the ballot box next year. SNAP cuts and food access are among the issues top of mind for voters, according to Wood.
“I’ve been in contact with executive directors of food banks across the state since the campaign and they told me that they have experienced a 20 to 30 percent increase in demand at these food banks…and that’s before these snap benefits are being reduced, so we started a program called ‘Dirigo: We Lead, We Feed’,” Wood said of the food drive he started with his campaign.
Something Wood says sets him apart from his opponents is his young age, but also his lived experience. “I graduated college, I had nearly $100,000 in student loan debt. I think if we had more senators who had graduated college with that amount of debt, we would’ve solved something like the student loan crisis. I think if we had more senators whose mom had to leave the workforce to provide childcare, like my mom did for my twin brother and I, we would have a more robust federal response to the childcare crisis,” he shared.
Waldo County voters say they echo that statement, wanting to make way for a new generation and new voices in politics.
“I always have concerns about a brand new, young — young is great, by the way — person walking into the job, needing fellow people to work with them, like, ‘how is that going to go?’ But I thought he was very well informed,” shared Belfast resident Kim Relick.