Over the past few weeks, Robbie Goldstein has been making a new sort of rounds. He’s a physician and researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital, but recently he’s been visiting voters as well as Democratic Party leaders in communities within this state’s Eighth Congressional District as part of his bid to unseat Representative Stephen Lynch, a Democrat from South Boston.
The district consists of the following communities: Abington, Avon, Boston (Ward 3: Precincts 1–6; Ward 5: Precincts 3–5, 11; Ward 6, Ward 7: Precincts 1–9, Ward 11: Precincts 9 and 10, Ward 13: Precincts 3, 7 and 10, Ward 16: Precincts 2, 5, 7, 9, 10 and 12, Ward 19: Precincts 1–6, 8 and 9, and Ward 20: Precincts 1, 2, and 4–20), Braintree, Bridgewater, Brockton, Canton, Cohasset, Dedham, East Bridgewater, Hingham, Holbrook, Hull, Milton (Precincts 2,3,4,6,7,8,9), Norwood, Quincy, Randolph, Scituate, Stoughton, Walpole, West Bridgewater, Westwood, Weymouth, and Whitman.
On Saturday afternoon, February 22, Dr. Goldstein and this reporter met for about 25 minutes at Dedham Square Coffeehouse to discuss a range of topics such as health care, climate change and economic growth. Major portions of the interview appear below.
Dedham Times: (Referring to a press release from Congressman Lynch’s office appearing in the Feb. 21 Dedham Times about Rep. Lynch traveling to Germany in mid-Feb. as part of a congressional delegation to the Munich Security Conference): We get this kind of thing from time to time from Representative Lynch’s office. He’s been to various countries on these delegations. How does somebody like you, as a new member if you’re elected, serve this district better in foreign policy than somebody who’s been there 18 years?
Robbie Goldstein: Congressman Lynch has been in office for now almost 19 years. There’s certainly experience he’s had that he’s bringing to Washington and to his foreign trips and to this district that are based on that experience. What I’m going to bring is a completely different experience and a completely different perspective to this race. So the perspective I bring is someone who has worked in health care for the past ten years – longer than ten years – the perspective of somebody who has worked with and for people who have had limited access to care, people who have had barriers to getting into a hospital because of housing, transportation, because of the job that they may have. I’m going to bring those perspectives with me, in the same way that Representative Lynch brings his perspectives. I think that it’s time for a new perspective from this district to represent us in Washington, and I want to be that person that brings that new perspective. I think the skills that he has, those are skills that I’ve learned in the hospital every single day: the skills of negotiation, the skills of coalition-building, the skills of working with others to compromise, to understand when we can’t compromise and we need to stand on our values and push for our values to move forward. So I think we’re coming at this race from very different perspectives. It’s time, I believe, for my perspective, a new perspective, a fresh perspective to be the one that goes down to Washington.
DT: I’m sure you’re aware – you’re not the only challenger.
RG: I am not.
DT: I am aware of another challenger, from this town actually, Brianna Wu. What distinguishes you from any other person who might run this year?
RG: You’re right, there are multiple challengers in this race for the Eighth Congressional District. The things that really distinguish me from the other people that are running are my background in health care and the leadership experience that I’ve gained within the health care sector. 2020 is the year when we’re going to elect a Congress that will decide the future of health care. I would say, who better to be at that table, who better to be a part of that decision-making than someone who has lived in the health care setting for the past decade, understands when it works well and when it doesn’t work well.
DT: Have you ever held elected office?
RG: I haven’t. This is the first time that I’ve thrown my hat into the political ring. But as I was mentioning before, I’ve had leadership experience, and I think that’s what matters the most in this race. To give you a little bit of a story of where I’ve come from over the past ten years, a lot of my work in the hospital has been as a primary care doctor caring for people who are living with HIV, who are in the LGBTQ community, who are affected by substance use. It’s really pushed me and inspired me to work harder for those communities and to become a leader within the hospital system. So when I’m talking about a hospital system I’m talking about Mass. General Hospital has 25,000 employees, sees millions of patient visits every single year. The work I’ve done has been to change the culture, to shift the way that people think about folks who are LGBTQ, and in particular the transgender and nonbinary communities. I’ve become a leader in that space. I established and now direct the Transgender Health Program at Mass General, I’ve become a spokesperson for the hospital and for the health care system on best practices and providing care for this very vulnerable population. Those leadership skills are just as important as 19 years in elected office. Really what we want are people who can lead with their values, who can build coalitions, who can bring people together to push things forward.
DT: Switching gears a little bit – I am reading a book about Greenland. It’s fascinating stuff, I think. One of its conclusions is that we are abandoning the Paris climate accord and we do that at our peril. You’ve mentioned a Green New Deal (on your campaign website). What is your approach on those issues?
RG: Fundamentally the approach I take is that this is a crisis that we must deal with now – not in five or ten years, not in two or three decades but something that we must address now. With the next election we’re going to elect folks who are going to have to address it, right? What we need to focus on are things like energy efficiency and how we can make our system more efficient. What we need to talk about is the impact of coastal erosion and rising seas on many areas of this country, but in particular the Eighth District which has a lot of communities and towns along the coast that are affected by climate change and rising tides. My husband and I live in Fort Point (a neighborhood of Boston). In times of inclement weather when there’s a bad storm and the tide is high, the basement fills with water. That is becoming more and more frequent as we see worse and worse storms. So this is a climate crisis, and something we have to address now. My opponent has called this a political issue. I call this really a crisis and an existential threat to our nation.
DT: What is the reality of getting a Green New Deal passed with a Republican Senate?
RG: The reality is that we need to convince people, or we need to share with people the facts. We need to talk about what is actually happening and make sure that we’re all on the same page. Climate change, just like so many other issues, is one of those concepts where the right thing to do is really the smart thing to do in this setting. By that I mean, it is the right thing to address climate change, to come up with more energy efficient policies, to have an affordable housing program and an investment in housing that takes into account climate change, to think about how we address transportation, to increase the amount of public transportation we have and energy efficient vehicles that get on the road. All of those decisions are also financially the right things to do. They’re the things that are going to build our economy. They’re the things that are going to make this society, make this state and this district more profitable, more successful, because we’re going to be leading on these issues. So I think when we take that perspective, when we take that argument that not only is it the right thing to do, it’s also the smart financial thing to do, folks on the other side of the aisle can’t disagree with facts and numbers.
DT: Fair enough. Getting back to Congressman Lynch, are there particular votes that he’s taken that you disagree with?
RG: We could spend the whole day talking about his votes. I’ll name three that I think are really important to my life and to the work that I do. One is a vote against the Affordable Care Act, to limit the expansion of health care, which could have had devastating impacts on the care that we’re able to provide. The second is his position and his votes against reproductive rights. I think third – this was a vote in the State House (when he was a state legislator) but I think also a mentality and the way that he held himself in Washington – a vote against marriage equality and a vote against LGBTQ rights, which I see as a personal attack on my own marriage and my own relationship. What’s more important than those votes is how he’s led over the 19 years. I think what we need to recognize is that he hasn’t been the person who has been advancing legislation that would promote the type of growth and the type of investment that we want here in the Eighth District. That’s how I would be different when I’m in Washington.
DT: Have you been a registered Democrat as long as you’ve been voting?
RG: I have, since September 20 when I turned 18.
DT: All right, I’m just curious. I know in the presidential race there are several Democrats who have not been in the party. So it’s part of the picture. Have you been politically active before this cycle?
RG: I have voted in every election that I have been eligible to vote in since the age of 18. That includes municipal elections, statewide elections, federal elections, primary campaigns, general elections – you name it. It is a really sacred day for me to go into that booth and fill in a bubble for somebody and to place that vote. That’s part of the democratic process, and it’s something that I have really valued since I was 18. I’m also someone who, it really matters to me that we elect the right people. I’ve been supportive of the people that I think we need to get into office, we need to push forward with the right ideas. Two years ago almost now, Ballot Question 3 was incredibly important to the work I did in the hospital and who I am as an individual. I found myself doing as much as I could to support the Yes on 3 campaign.
DT: Remind me what that was.
RG: Ballot Question 3 was a question about public accommodations for transgender individuals, and whether or not discrimination would be allowed in the state. It was the first time the voters were able to have a referendum on that fundamental right for trans and nonbinary folks. The state of Massachusetts came out strong in support of Yes on 3, with the overwhelming majority that supported that ballot initiative.
DT: Let’s talk a bit about health care. You say you are in favor of single-payer. Break that down for me.
RG: Fundamentally what I’m fighting for and what I believe is right is health care for all individuals in this country. We need to figure out, how do we get from where we are now to 100 percent coverage. In my experience working in the hospital, the only way that will work is with a single-payer health care system that can guarantee health care as a human right, and not just a benefit for people who can pay for the care that they may need. But I think it’s actually way more important for us to have a conversation beyond getting an insurance card in everyone’s pocket, and instead, about how do we deliver the care that people need, and what is included in that care. That includes visits to the hospital and to doctors and to nurse practitioners, but it also includes housing and transportation, it includes food security and education, because all of those are equally as important to health care and health care outcomes as having the insurance card that says whatever the name of the health care plan is at the top.
DT: It sounds like you have some proposals that I can see resonating with a Democratic electorate. How would you pay for these?
RG: So income inequality in this country has really limited our ability to pay for goods and services our society must deliver. That includes a better transportation system. It obviously includes a better health care system that covers everyone. That includes a better housing and education system. The only way to address that is to recognize that everyone must pay their fair share in this system. Those at the top have to recognize that they got there with the support of so many people below them – the workers, the educators, the people who were able to support them so that they could succeed. It’s time for them to pay back. That starts by rolling back the tax cuts that were given to those in the top one percent by the Trump administration and conservatives in Congress. It also includes new taxation that will bring in more money to the system so that we can provide health care for everyone and transportation for everyone, we can ensure that everyone can have a college education at an affordable cost, and that student loan debt isn’t dragging people down and limiting their ability to succeed in the future.
DT: What kind of new taxation do you mean?
RG: It’s a taxation on those that are the most wealthy in this country, an understanding that those people that are in the top one percent need to increase their overall tax rates. Some of that is going to come through closing some loopholes, some of that is going to come through changing the capital gains tax, and some of that is going to be a new tax on people – the most wealthy in this country – who, as part of their social contract, need to give back into society to make sure that we can all benefit.
DT: Congressman Lynch is widely known in this district. How can you actually prevail in the primary and then in November?
RG: The goal of this campaign every single day is to get up and to meet as many voters across the Eighth District as possible. I am out there every day pounding the pavement, meeting people, talking to folks about what challenges they’re facing and what solutions they see. That is the way that we’re going to win this race – we’re going to one by one shake hands and meet people and hear stories, build a campaign for change across the district. I’m not afraid to work hard. If being in medicine has taught me anything, it’s how to work incredibly hard every single day, to work as many hours as I need to work, so that we can provide the greatest good for the greatest number of people.
DT: Thank you very much. Best of luck.
RG: Thank you.
[Editor’.s Note: The Democratic ballot for the September 1 state primary is not yet finalized. According to the Massachusetts Secretary of State’s office, party candidates for federal office have until May 5 to return nominating papers to Registrars of Voters for certification of signatures.
According to the website Ballotpedia, as of March 5 the challengers to Rep. Stephen Lynch were Brianna Wu and Robbie Goldstein, both Democrats, with no Republican or third-party candidate having announced a bid. To learn more about Dr. Goldstein’s campaign, please visit www.robbieforchange.com.]
Pictured: Dr. Robbie Goldstein
Photo contributed to The Dedham Times