Plymouth State Rep Contenders Badger and Brown at Odds Over Key Issues

Affordability, immigration dominate discussion as in 1st Plymouth District forum at WATD

MARSHFIELD, MA - The two candidates vying for the 1st Plymouth State Representative seat squared off in a candidates forum at WATD, revealing sharp disagreements on several key issues facing the district.

Democrat Michelle Badger and Republican Jesse Brown presented contrasting approaches to addressing affordability concerns, immigration, and environmental challenges during the forum hosted by WATD radio.

Both candidates identified affordability as the top issue facing Plymouth residents, but differed on solutions. Badger emphasized the need for creative housing initiatives, including municipal property acquisition for affordable housing development.

"We need to look at those municipal property places that municipality owns in Plymouth and say, if there are places that we could purchase it as a State, do a combine with public private partnership and make it so that we have homes that are affordable for our young people, that are affordable for our seniors," Badger said.

Brown, however, focused on tax reduction as the primary means to improve affordability.

"We definitely need to reduce taxes. We have plenty of them that we can reduce," Brown said. "Number one is the sales tax from 6.25 percent to 5 percent. We definitely have to do we have a gas tax that's all at in the 20 cents range that that can be reduced."

The candidates also clashed on approaches to immigration. Brown characterized it as a "migrant crisis" and emphasized public safety concerns.

"What we're not talking about with the migrant crisis is the migrant crime that comes from that," Brown said, citing several examples of crimes allegedly committed by immigrants.

Badger took a more humanitarian stance, stating, "I think it's really important that we remember that we're all human beings and we could all be in a situation like we find our migrant population, our immigrant population, right?"

On environmental issues, both candidates expressed concern about water quality in Plymouth, but offered different perspectives on addressing challenges like sand mining.

Brown suggested limiting sand extraction: "I think we need to limit a part of the sand mining, because, again, when there's other options to go at where we have one right now going down in Cedarville, which is very simple is you just have to keep up. Just keep hills there."

Badger emphasized the need for a global approach, touching on the importance of sand filtering out pollutants, the prevalence of PFAS, and protecting water in the aquifer.

The candidates also diverged on education policy, with Brown supporting the continuation of MCAS standardized testing and Badger advocating for its elimination as a graduation requirement.

"I don't agree with the eliminating the MCAS," Brown said. "There has to be a standard that's put out there for children to aspire to be."

Badger countered: "I'm all for eliminating MCAS. I think we need we need to continue keeping our high standards, which nowhere in this that in this ballot measure does it say that we would eliminate our high standard."

On the issue of the decommissioned Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, both candidates expressed concerns about the potential discharge of radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay, but differed on emphasis.

Badger called for more research and independent sampling, while Brown highlighted past discharges and the need for long-term solutions for stored nuclear waste.

The forum, which also touched on topics such as transportation and economic development, highlighted the distinct approaches of the two candidates seeking to represent the 1st Plymouth district.

Voters will have the opportunity to choose between Badger and Brown on Nov. 5, with early voting and mail-in options also available.

*editors note: this is part of a series of articles based on recent Candidate Forums hosted by WATD. Early in-person voting began in every town October 19.