Democratic gubernatorial candidate Diane Russell, a former Portland legislator, is one of seven Democrats hoping to secure her party’s nomination.
Russell served the maximum allowed four terms in the Maine House of Representatives, from 2008 to 2016. She then ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Maine Senate.
Russell works as a public relations consultant. She earned a bachelor’s at the University of Southern Maine.
Russell told Maine Public’s Patty Wight what sets her apart from the other candidates.
Wight: There are six other candidates in this race, many with similar ideas. What specific proposals do you have that make you different from your primary opponents?
Russell: The fact of the matter is no one else is talking about a state public bank, about getting our money out of Wall Street and putting it onto Main Street, so we can actually take our treasury and invest it better. No one’s talking about an economic security bill of rights, which is essentially a new New Deal. The right to a job — if the private sector is not providing you a job that pays $15 an hour with benefits, there are roads that could be paved, there are potholes everywhere that could be filled, and there’s trash that can be cleaned up. Let’s hire Maine people to do Maine work. We want to make sure that we have a public option retirement system to supplement Social Security. Maine is the oldest state in the country. Why wouldn’t we be building a supplemental retirement system for the next generation? Everybody’s talking about fixing today’s problems, but we need to be talking about the problems that are coming up, or planning ahead so that we don’t have those problems. And of course I strongly support ranked-choice voting. I have been leading that fight since 2007. And without equivocation I support Medicare for all, and I am delighted to hear that now, after many, many months, most of the candidates in the Democratic primary now support a single-payer health care system in Maine.
Wight: What do you think is the biggest challenge facing Maine, and what would you do as governor to respond?
Russell: I think there are three major challenges in Maine, I don’t think it’s just one. I think health care is a real challenge for Maine people. And with that, the opioid crisis, which is its own separate issue, and also the economy. Wages are not keeping pace with housing. And with that, also, is workforce development — making sure that we’re closing the skills gap. But also we need to make sure that students are graduating high school thinking that it’s a good thing to go to a two-year or four-year college, and I think there’s been a shift in the last five years because of student debt. So we need to be, still, teaching people to aspire but we have to address student loan debt.
Wight: Can you talk a little bit more about what you would do to improve Maine’s economy? Voters consistently in polls say that jobs are a top concern.
Russell: The better that workers do the better we all do. So that’s why it’s important to be able to have a $15 minimum wage, it’s why it’s important to have paid sick days and paid family leave, a retirement system that’s going to be there, a public option one. But there’s another piece to this: A lot of people are going to talk to you about how they could create jobs. Let’s talk about how I have created jobs. I’ve created an entire industry that was super controversial. In April 2011, I introduced legislation to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana in the state. I was the only state lawmaker in the country. And it wasn’t easy as a woman to do this, either. And, yet, I saw a vision of how we could be better utilizing our police force resources and investing in our economy. And the thing is that we now have millions and millions of dollars that are being invested right now in this state — very quietly, you don’t even see it — and thousands of jobs have been created in anticipation of the new market. That is how you create jobs. You have to open up sectors of the economy responsibly and show people that they’re welcome here, and that their investment is welcome here. And that’s something that we have not done over the last eight years, for sure, but, really, Maine has not done that for a long time.
Wight: As you know, Maine voters are going to be using ranked-choice voting for this primary election. So assuming that you would put yourself as your first choice, who would you choose as your second and third choice, and why?
Russell: You know, I think Maine people are smart enough to make their own decisions. I don’t like telling people how I’m going to vote because I don’t like the thinking that I’m going to influence their vote.
This interview has been edited for clarity. For a longer version of this interview, aired as part of a Public Affairs special program, click here. For more on Russell's stances on the issues, and other Democrats in Maine's gubernatorial race, click here. Visit our Your Vote 2018 page for more elections resources and information.