Interview with Democrat Gregory Whitten

The Democratic candidate for Congressional District 8, Gregory Whitten, joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss important issues for the district.

Republican candidate Abe Hamadeh declined to join the show for a debate.

Whitten is a Democrat running in a heavily Republican district, and, as he described, Whitten is running “because I want to serve the constituents.” Whitten said he is not conservative even though the majority of the 8th Congressional District is.

“I am a moderate. I’m middle of the road. I am a third generation Arizonan. My grandfather came here caring for orange groves and was good friends with Barry Goldwater and John McCain. So I want to get back to that moderate sense in Congress, and I want to work across the aisle to make sure that I deliver what the constituents need,” Whitten said.

When it comes to the economy, Whitten said he wants to focus on “creating good jobs, giving the ability to put food on their table for people that need it. What I would say is that we need to be able to work across the aisle to bring them those jobs,” Whitten said.

When asked what he would do to ensure health care for the people in the Congressional District 8, Whitten said he wants to “continue the negotiations of the top ten drugs.” He claimed he will “also increase the medicare tax 2% so that we can have these programs.”

”I go in that district every day, and I sit across from senior citizens every single day, and they’re making decisions between their pharmaceuticals and their groceries, and honestly those programs need to be funded,” Whitten said.