Establish a global minimum corporate tax and enhanced labor and environment protections.
Source: 2024 Maine Senate campaign website CostelloForSenate.com
Jul 24, 2023
On Abortion:
Support efforts to protect the reproductive rights of women
David will help in expanding our nation's civil, civic, and human rights by supporting efforts to:- Protect the reproductive rights of women.
- Approve the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).
- Enact the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.
Source: 2024 Maine Senate campaign website CostelloForSenate.com
Feb 27, 2024
On Crime:
Focus increased prosecutorial resources on violent offenses
David will help in enhancing public safety by supporting efforts to:- Increase funding for community policing, substance abuse, and mental health services.
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Focus increased investigative and prosecutorial resources on violent offenses.
- Enhance police training and accountability.
- Build on recent common-sense gun safety laws and regulations.
Source: 2024 Maine Senate campaign website CostelloForSenate.com
Feb 27, 2024
On Education:
Provide universal pre-kindergarten and aftercare
- Provide universal pre-kindergarten and aftercare.
- Expand workforce training and apprenticeships.
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Increase performance-aligned resources for our schools, colleges, students, and teachers.
Source: 2024 Maine Senate campaign website CostelloForSenate.com
Feb 27, 2024
On Energy & Oil:
Reallocate fossil fuel subsidies to clean energy initiatives
- Boost investments in transportation, energy, and communications infrastructure.
- Spur scientific research and development (R&D).
- Reallocate large agri-business and fossil fuel subsidies to rural economic development and clean energy initiatives.
Source: 2024 Maine Senate campaign website CostelloForSenate.com
Feb 27, 2024
On Energy & Oil:
Funding to mitigate the growing impacts of climate change
Develop and implement an aggressive national, science-based climate action plan that includes, among other components: strict greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caps; ambitious GHG sequestration and "draw down" goals and actions; expanded
clean energy, clean transportation, and energy efficiency initiatives; smarter development and land use regulations; greener appliance and building construction standards; and increased funding to mitigate the growing impacts of climate change.
Source: 2024 Maine Senate campaign website CostelloForSenate.com
Feb 27, 2024
On Environment:
Enact more stringent air and water quality regulations
David will help in further protecting our environment by supporting efforts to:- Enact more stringent air and water quality standards and regulations.
- Preserve more places of natural beauty and ecological importance.
- Enact smarter, more
sustainable development laws and regulations.
- Develop and implement a national Zero Waste plan to reduce, reuse, or eliminate hazardous and solid waste in the U.S.
- Enact stricter land and water conservation laws and regulations
Source: 2024 Maine Senate campaign website CostelloForSenate.com
Feb 27, 2024
On Foreign Policy:
Engage more fully and responsibly in world affairs
David will help in bolstering national security by supporting efforts to:- Maintain military and intelligence gathering superiority over all potential rivals, especially China and Russia.
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Expand military and intelligence gathering alliances.
- Become more fully, intelligently, and responsibly engaged in world affairs.
Source: 2024 Maine Senate campaign website CostelloForSenate.com
Feb 27, 2024
On Free Trade:
Strengthen trade and foreign policy agencies and agreements
David will support efforts to:- Strengthen trade and foreign policy agencies and agreements.
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Boost our nation's overall global economic competitiveness.
Source: 2024 Maine Senate campaign website CostelloForSenate.com
Feb 27, 2024
On Government Reform:
Automatic voter registration; abolish Electoral College
Passage of the Freedom to Vote Act and other elections-related legislation to improve elections security, increase voter participation, and reinforce the legitimacy of elections results, by:- modernizing nationwide voting infrastructure.
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mandating automatic voter registration, early voting, and no-excuse voting by mail.
- banning unreasonable voter purges, deceptive politicking, and partisan gerrymandering.
- reducing the inordinate, unfair influence of excessive funding, including "dark money".
Abolish the Electoral College and establish a system of directly electing presidents and include ranked choice voting
(RCV) when there are more than two candidates. Common sense and fairness dictate that the candidate receiving the greatest amount of voter support in a presidential election should be determined to be the winner. ?
Source: 2024 Maine Senate campaign website CostelloForSenate.com
Feb 27, 2024
On Civil Rights:
Protect reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights and freedoms
We need to enact long overdue legislative and constitutional reforms that will not only aid in strengthening our democracy and government, but also help in better protecting our rights and freedoms, including reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights and freedoms,
and assist in addressing such pressing problems as climate change, escalating gun violence, unaffordable housing and health care, economic inequality, shoddy infrastructure, underperforming schools and insufficient retirement security.
Source: Portland Press Herald OpEd on 2024 Maine Senate race
Jan 17, 2024
On Gun Control:
Strengthen our nation's gun safety laws and regulations
While I would never support denying responsible, law-abiding citizens their right to own a gun, I do support markedly strengthening our nation's gun safety laws and regulations. Everything that can be done--from expanded mental health services, stricter
gun crime sentencing, and increased community policing to waiting periods, universal background checks, and assault weapons bans -- should be done to reduce gun-related deaths, injuries, and crime in the United States.
Source: 2024 Maine Senate press release: "2023: Gun Violence"
Jun 26, 2023
On Health Care:
Offer Medicare, including dental/vision, to all who want it
David will help in guaranteeing adequate and affordable health care by supporting efforts to:- Offer Medicare, including dental and vision care, to all who want it.
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Improve existing Affordable Care Act and other federal healthcare provisions for those who choose not to enroll in Medicare.
Source: 2024 Maine Senate campaign website CostelloForSenate.com
Feb 27, 2024
On Immigration:
Facilitate legal immigration, resolve worker shortages
David will help in addressing our nation's immigration challenges by supporting efforts to pass comprehensive
immigration reforms that facilitate legal immigration and aid in resolving our nation's growing worker shortages.
Source: 2024 Maine Senate campaign website CostelloForSenate.com
Feb 27, 2024
On Jobs:
Increase federal Child and Earned Income Tax Credits
- Raise the federal minimum wage and increase federal Child and Earned Income Tax Credits.
- Expand sustainable community and affordable housing development assistance.
- Increase personal investment and savings incentives -- retirement and non-retirement.
Source: 2024 Maine Senate campaign website CostelloForSenate.com
Feb 27, 2024
On Social Security:
Raise payroll tax cap; increase benefits for low-income
David will help in strengthening Social Security and overall retirement security by supporting efforts to:- Raise the FICA payroll tax cap.
- Provide increased benefits to low-income retirees.
- Establish a sovereign wealth fund to help in
funding Social Security and Medicare.
- Back the expansion of government incentivized retirement savings and investment accounts for working- and middle-class Americans to supplement Social Security.
Source: 2024 Maine Senate campaign website CostelloForSenate.com
Feb 27, 2024
On Tax Reform:
Establish a global minimum corporate tax
- Raise adequate revenue and ensure tax fairness via the enactment of progressive tax reforms.
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Establish a global minimum corporate tax and enhanced labor and environment protections.
Source: 2024 Maine Senate campaign website CostelloForSenate.com
Feb 27, 2024
On Technology:
Require social media to adhere to strict privacy rules
?Enactment of public interest social media rules and requirements that oblige social media platforms to adhere to strict privacy and anti-violence incitement rules and
to provide space for important, fact-based public interest information.
Source: 2024 Maine Senate campaign website CostelloForSenate.com
Feb 27, 2024
On Government Reform:
U.S. Senate is obscenely undemocratic
Costello wants to promote what he calls a reform agenda that would modernize the country's government. "Our governing infrastructure is as outdated as many of our roads, ports and bridges," he said. "Partisan gridlock, government dysfunction, and
political disinformation abound, and our imperfect democracy is in danger of becoming even more flawed."His reform agenda, outlined on his website, includes a call to end the filibuster in the Senate, increase national service programs for young
adults, abolish the Electoral College, give presidents line-item veto power, adopt mandatory retirement for judges at age 80, increase the size of the U.S. House and much more. "I view the Senate as obscenely undemocratic," Costello said, and in need of
an overhaul.
Costello said his focus is on constitutional and legal reforms that would tackle some of the archaic systems that are holding back the country. "It's not about changing the politician. It's about changing the system," Costello said.
Source: Sun-Journal on 2024 Maine Senate race
Apr 12, 2023
On Government Reform:
Substantial reforms to overcome partisan gridlock
Partisan gridlock abounds and our imperfect democracy is in danger of becoming even more flawed. To fix it, we need to do more than simply change who we elect every two to six years. We need to substantially reform our governing practices and
institutions, and we need to eliminate the excessive and corrupting influence that money, wealth, and disinformation have over our politics and government.I am running for the United States Senate because I want to advance long-overdue reforms that
will not only help end gridlock in Washington but also help in protecting our rights and freedoms and assist in addressing such pressing problems as climate change, uneven economic prosperity, inadequate health care, shoddy infrastructure, under
performing schools, increasing gun violence, and insufficient retirement security. I am also running because I want to help in ensuring that all Mainers are provided with the education, job skills, and other life-enriching opportunities to thrive.
Source: Ballotpedia Candidate Connection: 2024 Maine Senate race
Nov 1, 2023
On Government Reform:
24-year term limits for Congress; retirement age for judges
As Senator, I will back efforts to: enact pro-democracy campaign finance reforms; impose term limits and retirement age requirements on federal judges, including
Supreme Court justices; create an independent Government Accountability and Performance Commission; abolish the Electoral College; end gerrymandering and the Senate filibuster; overhaul of the
U.S. House and Senate to ensure greater accountability and more equal representation; impose 24-year term limits on members of the U.S. House and Senate; and streamline our
Constitution's amendment process so that it is no longer virtually impossible to update our national charter.
Source: Ballotpedia Candidate Connection: 2024 Maine Senate race
Nov 1, 2023
Page last updated: Sep 02, 2024