Here & Now

McGrath on 3rd Congressional District Run

Frederica Freyberg:

Turning to western Wisconsin and the race to replace retiring U.S. Representative Ron Kind. In our continuing series of interviews, we sit down now with Democratic candidate Deb McGrath. She is the daughter of former U.S. Representative Al Baldus who represented the 3rd Congressional District in the 1970s. She is a former officer in the Army, who also worked in the CIA. Deb McGrath joins us now from Menomonie and thanks very much for being here.

Deb McGrath:

It’s nice to be with you.

Frederica Freyberg:

Why do you want to represent the people of the 3rd District in Washington?

Deb McGrath:

Frederica, the stakes of this race are so high. After 25 years of working both in the Army and in the CIA, I know how to work with people to solve problems. And as a wife and mother, I understand the challenges that families are facing across western and central Wisconsin. I grew up here in Menomonie and it’s a place I’ve always called home. And my father, Al Baldus, was a champion for people, listening to them and fighting self-interest. So I will be a champion for those people in western Wisconsin.

Frederica Freyberg:

Describe for us how your past experience readies you for a role in Congress.

Deb McGrath:

Well, Frederica, this is — one of the best things about working for our country is that we put our country above politics and we work together and shoulder to shoulder to get jobs done. And you have to listen hard to everybody’s ideas so that you can get to the best outcome. I think that’s the best attribute that my service has brought to me.

Frederica Freyberg:

You said that the stakes are high in this race. What are the most important issues you’d like to address in your district?

Deb McGrath:

Frederica, there are real threats right now to our democracy, to our nation, to our economy and our families. When I look at the things that we can work on, we can work on the child care. We can work on pre-K. We can work on making sure we get better accessibility to health care for folks in rural areas. I think the broadband is going to be — it’s so important for kids to be able to do homework in their homes instead of parking lots and of course for farmers to be able to get their — to get their product to market. So I think that there is so many issues facing us, Frederica.

Frederica Freyberg:

The Trump-endorsed Republican in this race is himself a former Navy SEAL. He too took an oath to our country, something you speak about. How are you different?

Deb McGrath:

I work with a handshake instead of a fist. I know how to work with people and listen to them to solve problems. When I look at this great country, I know that when we work together, we will accomplish great things. I am no stranger to being the first in any challenge. For instance, I was the first woman, was the only woman in my airborne training class and the sergeants would have loved to have made me quit. Instead, I led by example. I never gave up. And I was the first one out of the plane. That is the attitude that I bring to this race.

Frederica Freyberg:

What in your belief will most help the people of the 3rd Congressional District?

Deb McGrath:

I believe when we’re looking at the measures that are being faced in Washington right now, I do believe we need to go back to strong families, strong economy and smart and strong nation. When I look at child care, that will help get people to work. I myself had to give up my job in the Army because, my career, because we couldn’t afford child care. And we budgeted for preschool. When I look at families being able to — when we look at Medicare expansion for seniors, to be able to get — to have a dignified life, with better vision and dental. So I think the things that we really need to worry about are making families strong, our economy strong and then a smart defense of our nation.

Frederica Freyberg:

What do you think needs to be done around making sure families have that needed child care?

Deb McGrath:

I believe we need to — well, there’s a couple things that I think would be really wonderful for us. First, incentivize people who do the work for child care. I think that if we could help people decide to go into those lines of work so that they get good-paying — those are decent-paying jobs for them. And I think it’s the same thing with seniors is that we could also incentivize people who care for seniors. So I think those are two sides of it that we could really look at trying to help people go into those careers.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. Deb McGrath, we leave it there. Thanks very much.

Deb McGrath:

Thank you.