Wendy Norman is the Democratic candidate running to represent Congressional District 2. Her opponent, incumbent Republican Rep. Mike Simpson, declined Idaho Public Television’s invitation to debate.
This year we at Idaho Public Television, along with debate organizers nationwide, saw a number of candidates decline to participate in debates or fail to respond to our invitations in the first place. As Federal Election Commission rules say we cannot hold a debate with just one candidate, we’re allowing those who did qualify for the debates a chance to sit down with us for a one-on-one interview in which they can answer questions much like they would have received in a traditional debate setting.
Ruth Brown, Idaho Reports producer:
Let’s start with the basics. Why are you running for Congress?
Wendy Norman, Congressional District 2 candidate:
It’s kind of a long story, but a little confusing. I was invited to run several months ago. And at the time, I was really concerned about the man who had challenged Mike Simpson in the primary. I have a sister who passed away on Christmas Day three years ago. And before she went, she had been sick. My mom wanted her to go to the hospital, and she said, “I can’t afford it.” The man who was running against Mike Simpson has made his livelihood off of suing people for medical debt, and I could not stand the idea of him being our legislator. So, I jumped in. I said, “Yep, I will do it.” Thankfully, he did not win the primary, but I have some strong beliefs that Idaho deserves choices. We need choices. A one-party state is never a good thing. There are some things that Mike Simpson is doing, or not doing, that I think needs to change. We need to make things better for all Idahoans, not just the few.
IR:
Mike Simpson, the incumbent, is running for his 13th term in Congress after serving in the state legislature as well. You have no political experience. Why should voters trust you with this office?
Norman:
Because I am just a person. I have not made my life out to be with the people who are in charge. I have lived my life as a mom, as a teacher, as somebody who wants to make the world a better place in smaller ways. Now, as I have been just watching what’s gone on for the last several years, it’s really scary. We have controls coming into play that are damaging the livelihoods and opportunities for most Americans. We need real Americans to step up, and people won’t. It’s scary. There is cruelty, you know, the criticisms that you get. I don’t blame people for not running for office, but we need it. We need to have choices. It can’t just be always handed over to whoever has the funding from the corporations and special interests. So that’s me. I have a lot of people with small donations, and that’s why I’m here, because they believe in me. And so, I will do my best to represent them.
IR:
You mentioned livelihoods. On your campaign website, you talk about inflation as one of your top priorities. What would you do to address inflation if elected?
Norman:
I like a lot of what’s been going on already. We’re trying to build things in this country. We’re trying to – there’s just so many issues. I mean, climate change is such a real issue that’s going to cause such long-term damage. And yet, we depend so much on oil and gas. We’ve got to find a way to make it so that we can function without continuing that damage to our climate. I honestly think that Biden’s been on the right track for that. OPEC’s decision to cut back on gas and oil right now is going to hurt. It really is, but we have to continue on.
The majority of what’s causing our inflation right now is still supply chains. My husband’s employment situation is the same. There are still materials that they cannot get because of supply chain issues. Fixing that is essential. Bringing in people who can do the work that we need done – we’ve got so many jobs that are left unfilled. We need to make sure that people can come here and do the jobs that Americans need done, to be able to make sure our country can keep functioning.
IR:
Democrats do currently hold the majority in Congress. How would the situation be different if you were in office?
Norman:
We hold the majority, but we don’t hold a complete majority in the Senate because we have a couple of middle-of-the-road senators, and because of the filibuster, we can’t get a lot of things through that that Democrats have been trying to do.
The biggest thing I’m concerned about is if we get a Republican majority in the House of Representatives, all progress is going to be stopped, and that’s not a good thing either. I watch and see what Mike Simpson has suggested that he wants to do on these things, but he doesn’t. He doesn’t really have a plan. How is he going to address inflation? He doesn’t have a plan. He just says it’s Biden’s fault, “Bidenomics,” and the same thing with a lot of other issues. What is he doing – since he’s been there for so long – to solve these problems that have been there for a long time?
I was really discouraged about when we had the formula baby formula issues and rather than jumping in and trying to fix it, “Biden’s fault, Biden’s fault, Biden’s fault.” It may be – it wasn’t, you know, there was the whole story behind that – but we need legislators to work together, quit the blame game and make it a matter of national security – national opportunity – what the people need us to do. I’m not going to go down there and say, I’m only talking to the Democrats. We need to get so that we’re not just insulated from the other perspectives, and make sure that we’re getting the views of all Americans represented. I don’t like the idea of what’s been going on with the hatred. I’ve had somebody who said to me that they wanted to know where I teach, so that they can make sure their child couldn’t have me as a teacher. That’s not America. That’s not what America should be.
IR:
I’m going to stop you there. In Idaho and nationwide, extremism does continue to exist in the political atmosphere. What is your role if elected as a member of Congress working with people who may be more extreme than you are?
Norman:
That was one of the things that I was thinking on as well. When Richard Stallings was there – I was lucky to talk to him when I was making the decision about doing this – he said that right now, we have people on the left and people on the right and they stay in their areas. They’re not communicating with each other. One of the things that I have loved about campaigning is going out, meeting people and finding out what their perspectives are. We’re not as far apart as we think. We’ve got to talk to each other, and we’ve got to make sure that the information we’re getting isn’t so limited. That’s one of the things I’m deeply concerned about, you know, where we used to have the fairness doctrine, where journalism was intended to cover both sides of the story – you don’t have that now. We have media sources that are proud to say, “We are conservative,” or “We are liberal,” and that’s not good for America to have people on the left and on the right believing a completely different reality. That’s a problem.
IR:
Time to focus on policy a little bit. You have run on a platform focusing on affordable health care, among other issues. If elected as a member of Congress, what would you do to address Idahoans’ concerns around affordable health care, or even affordable prescription medications?
Peterson:
I remember when the Affordable Care Act went through, and there were people who were terrified of the idea of death panels. People were honestly told things that weren’t true. That’s always a problem, so getting the information out is always important, communicating with people. But the biggest thing about health care is we have people making millions and millions of dollars off of health care, that never do anything to help with health care. We have an entire corporation of multimillionaires, CEOs for the insurance companies, and that much money is literally taken out of our health care money.
20% of our economy almost is health care costs. Is that sustainable? Is that sensible? Are people sick 20% of their lives? They’re not. So, we’ve got to find a way to bring that into greater balance of what people really need. Honestly, I don’t want government owned health care. I don’t think that is as safe. But I do think a single payer system is the way to meet the needs of all Americans. I don’t think anyone should have to wake up on Christmas morning and find their mom not alive anymore because she couldn’t afford to go to the doctor. That shouldn’t happen in America, not in this country.
IR:
I’m going to switch course again, although I do sincerely appreciate you sharing the story of your loved one with me. In your campaign, you have discussed the threats to voting rights. There are people in CD2 who that believe perhaps the 2020 election was fraudulent or not fairly recorded. How would you improve voter access and improve voter rights the way you want to, while also recognizing and addressing some of the concerns of constituents who maybe are apprehensive about the election process? How do you balance the two?
Peterson:
It is a big issue, obviously. I believe it was 60-something percent nationwide that believe that the election was fraudulent, that Biden isn’t out actual president. Big concern, and you see that in the total disrespect that you see everywhere. We have got to get information out in a way that people can trust. We’ve always had representatives at the polls from the left and the right. We need to make that more visible for people, so people can say, “I want to see this happening.”
We know very well what the “red mirage” was in the 2020 election, where a lot of the Democrats voted early but the states didn’t count [absentee ballots] until after the day of the election, or the day of the election, which led it made it look like Republicans are winning, Republicans are winning, and all of a sudden here come in the Democrats. It felt like to a lot of people that they have to be dumping these votes. So, I think having them counted at the same time would be a better choice there as well. But they need to see what’s going on. Having some video surveillance system that people can check into whenever they want to. Having responsible people who can say, “I am a poll worker, I’m your neighbor, and I saw what happened here, and it was fine. This is that sequence of what happened. We didn’t have suitcases under the tables. Those were the boxes that we kept ballots in.” It’s challenging when you have people trying to intentionally get a view across that isn’t true and correct.
IR:
How should Congress handle elections, or is that something that should be left to the states and local governments? You tell me.
IR:
As much as we can, local certainly needs to have the majority control of what’s going on. The problem we have is that historically, we know what happened with individual states that did not give all their citizens a right to vote, that they did everything they could to restrict certain groups of people from being able to vote. I think we do have to have an umbrella policy from the federal government protecting the rights of all Americans to vote. The Voting Rights Act was supposed to do that, and little by little, it’s been chipped away. We’ll probably find out this summer if there’s anything left because of the changes from what the Supreme Court has been deciding. I think we need to bring it back. We need to get back in there and say, “Let’s fix this again. This really is what we mean.” We didn’t just mean anybody. We really did mean we want to stop the racism, and we want to deal with people in poverty and give them the opportunities to vote as much as anyone else.
I am worried about educating voters, getting people so they’re really, truly, actively aware of what’s going on. I don’t like the idea of anyone ever saying, “Oh, I always vote Republican,” or “I always vote Democrat.” Why? How about if we look at these issues. Democrats and Republicans aren’t always the same. What are they really standing for, and how do they fit with your true beliefs about what the world should be like, what the nation should be like?
IR:
You mentioned Democrats and Republicans not being the same. That is a common topic of discussion when it comes to the four Lower Snake River dams. As you likely know, Rep. Mike Simpson does have a proposal for how to address the dams. What is your approach to handling the dams and the salmon population?
Norman:
I have liked a lot of the things that Mike Simpson has done in the past. I’m disappointed that he seems to not be a great part of things right now, but that is one of the issues that is going to have to have more buy in from the people who are impacted by it. But honestly, we’ve got to save the salmon, too. We need to take into account the needs of all constituents in Idaho. I don’t think he’s on the wrong path. I really don’t. How do we, though, make up for the electrical that’s lost from that, because that’s a clean energy source that we need for our climate change issues. If you take that out, what are we replacing with? And then irrigation? What are the needs of the farmers? We’ve got to get the farmers on the page as well. They’ve got to start seeing they’re a part of the decision making – rather than having inflicted on them – and right now, I think they feel like it’s inflicted on them.
IR:
What is your approach if elected to Congress to manage that and to take action?
Peterson:
Bringing them in. Talking to them. I am not one to ever say, “This is how it’s going to be. This is my way or the highway.” I strongly believe in consensus as much as possible. Congress isn’t going to work that way, I know that, because there’s too much partisanship right now. But in our state, every Idahoan who has a significant concern about the issue, they deserve to be a part of solving that issue. I know that we’ve had groups getting together to try to say, “How do we solve this problem?” and they came up with some solutions that can move us a little towards it, but it’s not going to do the job. So, I do think that’s the route we’re going to have to take.
IR:
Wendy Norman, I appreciate your time. Thank you so much.
Norman:
You bet. Thanks for having me.
