Democrat Paula Collins is challenging Elise Stefanik for the 21st Congressional District and says it’s time for change.

Collins faces an uphill battle against the incumbent who has defended her seat for the past four consecutive terms, but Collins said she felt compelled to run when she found out Stefanik was not facing a challenger.

“I’m a cannabis tax attorney, which means that since around 2021, I’ve spent a lot of my time traveling the state, talking with licensed applicants and entrepreneurs about starting their businesses in the state. regulated cannabis space in New York. ” she said.

Collins said even though she was from Downstate, she began to see through her clients’ eyes what some of the challenges were and what some of the joys of living outside the city were.

“I started to settle down and think, okay, I’d really like to build a life here, and I asked who would be my representative in Congress? And they told me, Elise Stefanik. And I said, “Well, who’s running against Elise?” So that I can support this candidate, and I was told this is it, Paula, no one is running against Elise. Stefanik,” she said.

Collins decided to change that. Collins says his views are very much in line with those of presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

Collins says she’s learned a lot, and even though she’s late for this race, she’s early for midterms.

“I believe that building a campaign is a bit like building a business. And I’ve built several different businesses in my life, and so I would be disappointed that I had gathered all this knowledge and set up these operations and these processes and built these networks of volunteers and staff members and then just let it falling on November 5 would be frustrating,” she said.

Collins says if she fails this time, she could try again, or through her knowledge, behind another Democrat.

“I think what’s really different about New York 21 is that we don’t have some of that institutional knowledge to pass from one candidate to the next, at least on the Democratic side.

At the border

In St. Lawrence County, illegal border crossings have raised concerns among some voters as the northern border has seen an exponential increase in apprehensions.

Although Republicans have blamed the Biden-Harris administration and Hochul’s Greenlight laws for the problem, Collins pointed the finger directly at Stefanik on the issue.

“It is clearly on Elise Stefanik’s shoulders that we did not pass the immigration bill that would have created more jobs for law enforcement agents at the border. This would have immediately put more judges in place at the border to process these applications, so that the five-year wait time could be reduced, and it would also have allowed people to enter to obtain temporary work visas and thus contribute. . What we know from the data is that immigrants who arrive and are able to find employment contribute to the tax base at a much higher rate than their citizen peers, and yet they are not eligible for social security. or some of the other benefits that a lot of us are trying to pay into a lot of these systems that we’re trying to pay into,” she said.

“My solution would be for us to look at this bipartisan bill and revisit it. Because you know what, it was a good bill. This gave us more border agents.

On health care

Many voters in St. Lawrence County say health care is a top concern for them. Insurance costs continue to rise, coverage continues to decline, and wait times for procedures continue to lengthen.

Collins says it’s clear things need to change, and she credits the Biden-Harris administration with big victories this year. She says renegotiating prescription drug prices was a good start and she hopes that trend continues.

“She also said that capping certain medications for Medicare patients is a step in the right direction.

She argues that the United States lags behind other modernized countries in health care coverage and that the country would benefit from expanding Medicare or adopting a single-payer option.

She said it’s time to dismantle big trusts and ensure more Americans can afford treatment for their mental and physical illnesses.

“I would love to see our nation move, you know, at the behest of Congress, to a single-payer system, ‘Medicare for All’ is something I’ve advocated for for decades,” she said.

“I would rather we think positively, be more consumer-friendly and say we have capped drug prices. Can’t we cap drug prices further? And can’t we extend this term to more families, rather than just these, rather than limiting it to Medicare patients.

On weapons

The debate over guns and Second Amendment issues has always played a crucial role in the 21st Congressional District, and it will likely be no different this year. This is despite the fact that New York State has some of the strictest gun laws in the country and is almost constantly in litigation over their constitutional legality.

Collins says his views on guns closely follow those of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

“Yes, take your gun. You can have your personal protection weapon. You can have your recreational weapon, but let’s protect the children,” she said.

She said anyone who has been a teacher or parent knows that active shooter drills have become the norm in schools, which she said highlights the problem.

“I think in New York we had to do them six times a year, the kids are traumatized just by the exercises. And yet, could we imagine not having drills when we are faced with this reality that school shootings are happening and the results are devastating, so I follow very closely their position on the wall, the position of Harris Walls, that we really need to find a responsible way. to combat assault rifles and semi-automatic weapons that cause such damage,” she said. “We wouldn’t put the keys in the hand of someone who we know is suffering from debilitating mental health issues, and yet somehow we see again and again that people have access to weapons or types of weapons. , when they really shouldn’t have been allowed to do it,” she said.

She said she thought New York’s more restrictive approach seemed to work, but that more studies were needed to see whether it was simply a correlation or causation.

On the right to abortion

A controversial Supreme Court decision has overturned Roe V Wade, a ruling that had long guaranteed women’s right to terminate their pregnancies. Stefanik says she thinks it was the right decision.

“I would like to see us fight against this abortion ban movement that is spreading from state to state. Republicans have made it clear that they would like to see this imposed at the federal level,” she said.

While New Yorkers have been largely sheltered from restrictive abortion laws, Collins said there is no guarantee that this will continue.

“Since abortion has been banned in some states like Texas, we have seen more women die because they were told they had to go out to the parking lot and bleed out, or go out to the parking lot until that abortion be prohibited. they are sick enough to receive medical treatment that is so distressing for a woman or any of the people around her,” she said. “Let’s also view women’s health care as a family issue.

Collins said those who call themselves pro-life only seem to care about birth, but not what happens afterward.

“Let’s also look at the fact that once a baby is born, there is no system in place to take care of child care nationally, or family leave nationally, or really education of a child at the national level. So it doesn’t seem so much pro-life as forcing someone to bring a child into the world when there is a medical situation or a social or financial problem that would cause that person to say no, that’s not something what we can do. »

She praised New York’s Proposition 1, which she said would help protect a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy.

I am entirely in favor of the first proposal. So I encourage all voters to remember to return their ballot and vote for the first proposition. It’s on the back of the ballot, so I hope that doesn’t get forgotten,” she said.

Cost of living

Even though wages have increased across the board in recent years, for many, they have failed to keep up with the high cost of everyday items like gasoline and groceries.

Collins says while Americans are feeling the effects, we’re not alone. She said the United States is recovering better than most countries from the economic devastation caused by the pandemic.

“The United States has fought inflation far more aggressively and far more quickly than our global peers, to the benefit of the consumer,” she said.

Collin says while it’s good news, it doesn’t do much to help those struggling to make ends meet.

“So now let’s look at the other determining factors. Don’t talk to me about inflation when we’re talking about record corporate profits, record pay levels and bonuses. So it’s very difficult for me to blame the President of the United States or the United States Congress for the price of gasoline at the pump when I look at the profits of oil and gas companies,” she said.

Collins said Kamala Harris is proposing legislation regarding price gouging, while her opponent has that task on her shoulders. So if you’re talking about Congress and what Congress could do, or what Congress should have done, that’s up to Elise,” she said.

Collins said a major problem she says adds to the North Country’s struggling economy is a lack of broadband access and lackluster cell service.

She said she’s been surprised in her travels to the North Country to see how many people are simply not connected. She said that puts people at a disadvantage when it comes to educational opportunities and makes telehealth, which is growing rapidly, inevitable for some of the people who could benefit the most.

She said if elected, she would make expanding services a priority.

Collins said Stefanik served five terms improving the lives of North Country residents and it was time to give someone else a chance.