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WEBVTT ADDRESS SOME KEY ISSUES THEY COULD FACE IN CONGRESS. ALL 11 DEMOCRATS ON STAGE, ASKED IF THEY CONSIDER THEMSELVES PROGRESSIVE. >> MISS SULLIVAN? >> PROGRESSIVE >> FDR LIBERAL. >> PROGRESSIVE. >> ALL RIGHT. JEAN: THEY MOVED QUICKLY THROUGH QUESTIONS LIKE HOW TO ADDRESS GUN SAFETY LAWS. >> I BELIEVE THAT VETERANS IN CONGRESS ARE GOING TO LEAD ON THIS. WE HAVE AN UNASSAILABLE CREDIBILITY WHEN IT COMES TO GUNS AND WE CAN SAY ON THE HOUSE FLOOR, WE USE THESE IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN, THEY DON’T ALONG IN MANCHESTER, HAMPTON, ANYWHERE IN THE COUNTRY. JEAN: UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE. >> WHEN MY WIFE GOT SICK, I FOUGHT THE INSURANCE COMPANY WHILE SHE FOUGHT FOR HER LIFE, AND NOBODY SHOULD HAVE TO GO THROUGH THAT. HOW DO WE AFFORD TO LIVE IN A COUNTRY WHERE WE DON’T HAVE MEDICARE FOR ALL? JEAN: FROM TROOPS IN AFGHANISTAN -- >> I THINK WE GOTTA BRING TROOPS HOME. I WAS THE FIRST CANDIDATE TO SAY, BRING THE TROOPS HOME FROM AFGHANISTAN. >> WE’VE BEEN CONSTANTLY AT WAR SINCE WORLD WAR II, BUT HAVEN’T HAD A DECLARATION OF WAR SINCE WORLD WAR II ENDED. IT IS TIME TO END THESE ENDLESS, UNDECLARED WARS. JEAN: TO NEGOTIATING WITH NORTH KOREA. >> I WOULD NOT WANT TO DECLARE A WAR WITHOUT AN ACT OF GENUINE AGRESSIO -- AGGRESSION. I DON’T THINK WE SHOULD CALL FOR BLOOD WITHOUT SEEING BLOOD FIRST. JEAN: THE DEMOCRATS WERE ASKED FOR THEIR APPROACH TO THE OPIOID CRISIS. >> ONE OUT OF TWO FOLKS RIGHT NOW IN NEW HAMPSHIRE ARE AFFECTED BY THE OPIOID CRISI WE NEED TO DO EVERYTHING POSSIBLE IN TERMS OF POURING IN MONEY, RESOURCES, TAKING ON THE PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES. >> FIND FUNDING FOR TREATMENT, PREVENTION, AND RECOVERY. I WILL BE A CHAMPION FOR THAT IN WASHINGTON. THERE IS NOT A ONE SIZE FITS ALL APPROACH. WE NEED A ALL HANDS ON DECK SOLUTION. >> IF WE CAN’T WORK ACROSS THE AISLE ON SOMETHING THAT TRUMP HIMSELF SAYS THAT IS -- WORRY ABOUT PROTECTING PROFITS, NOT PEOPLE, OF THIS COUNTRY. JEAN: TO WHETHER THEY WOULD TRY TO IMPEACH THE PRESIDENT. >> I DONT THINK THERE’S A QUESTION ABOUT SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE TO IMPEACH DONALD TRUMP, AND HE’S A THREAT TO AMERICA AND OUR DEMOCRACY. >> I WOULD SUPPORT IMPEACHMENT. IF ALL THE DATA WE SEE COMES IN, I’M A SCIENTIST, I LIKE TO SEE DATA, BUT I’M VERY CONCERNED ABOUT WHAT IS HAPPENING. JEAN: ALL 11 AGREED THEY WANT TO BE PART OF A NEW WAVE OF LEADERSHIP IN CONGRESS. >> I’M PROUD TO BE PART OF NEW GENERATION ACROSS CO TO TA -- STEPPING FORWARD ACROSS THIS COUNTRY TO TAKE BACK CONTROL FROM THE REPUBLICANS. JEAN: AND ADAM, WITH SO MANY DEMOCRATS IN THE DEBATE, AND LIMITED TIME TO GO AROUND, IT IS A GOOD TIME FOR VOTERS TO STUDY MORE IN-DEPTH BEFORE PRIMARY DAY NEXT WEE

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The 11 Democratic candidates for the 1st Congressional District tried to stand out from the field Wednesday in a debate less than a week before the primary.>> Voter guide: 1st Congressional DistrictThe field was the largest in the history of the Granite State Debates. Instead of standing at podiums, the candidates were arranged in a line of seats, and each had just 45 seconds for each answer. >> See candidates' reactions in the post-debate spin roomThe candidates were largely in agreement on many of the issues in the debate, which ranged from immigration and college debt to the opioid crisis and the cost of health care. But there were some areas of distinction as each candidate tried to show they had the best solutions to the country's problems.>> Meet the Democrats running in the 1st Congressional DistrictCandidate Maura Sullivan, a Marine who served in the administration of President Barack Obama, has faced criticism because she recently moved to New Hampshire. She was asked why the people of the 1st District should trust that she knows their concerns well enough to serve them. "Service is in my blood. I come from a family committed to service," she said. "The only thing more important to me than serving our country is my family. My fiance Mark and I decided that we wanted to raise our children in New Hampshire, and we are proud to be Granite Staters by choice, like most of us." >> Watch full video of debate | Debate videos by topicCandidate Chris Pappas, a member of the Executive Council and a business owner, was asked about whether he might be considered to much of an establishment candidate. He has won the endorsements of major New Hampshire Democratic figures, but after outsider candidates have won Democratic primary races in other states, Pappas was asked whether that could make him appear less independent. "One of the interesting takeaways from the elections that we've seen occurring here in New Hampshire and across the country is that people who know their districts best, that are in tune with the issues that are of concern to their neighbors are the ones who are winning," Pappas said. "I think it's going to take an effort of someone who has worked on these challenges in New Hampshire, who can give voice to the concerns of New Hampshire residents and take that fight down to Washington, D.C., and I'm looking to do that."On the issue of immigration, several of the candidates agreed that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement should be abolished and replaced with a new system. "We need to reconfigure ICE. It is essential," said candidate Levi Sanders, a legal services worker and senior adviser to the presidential campaign of his father, Bernie Sanders. "It is unacceptable that you have mothers and fathers having their babies ripped out of their arms. We cannot have children thrown in cages." Naomi Andrews, chief of staff for current 1st District U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, said she's committed to comprehensive immigration reform, and noted that that was an area where Shea-Porter's office was able to work across the political aisle. She said she has also been taken aback by reported abused by ICE. "I am horrified that we have become a nation where punishing innocent children was the policy," she said. "That we had a chief of staff in the White House who said that separating families was intentional, was meant to be punitive and a deterrent. That we had a president that said that those young children were not innocent. I have yet to meet a young child who is not innocent." William Martin, an accountant for a New Hampshire nonprofit, said that ICE should be reformed, rather than abolished. "We need immigration reform that once again welcomes people here, and we need to make sure that we have strong due process and protection of the law for everybody," he said. "It's not just enough that citizens have advocates in court. We need to make sure that immigrants also get advocates and are able to have the same level of respect and decency as we ourselves would expect under any circumstances."Several of the candidates said they were in favor of implementing a single-payer health care system or Medicare for all. They were asked how they would pay for a system that was recently estimated to cost about $30 trillion over the next 10 years. Candidate Paul Cardinal, a public sector technology evangelist, said health care already costs more than that. "The current health care system is estimated to cost the folks involved in it $33 trillion over the next 10 years," he said. "So right off the bat, we can look at a Medicare for all solution as a more fiscally responsible solution than the one we have today. And now, all that money is going to for-profit health care companies." Candidate Lincoln Soldati, a former prosecutor and defense attorney, agreed that a single-payer program would save money. "We don’t have a health care system in this country," he said. "We have a health insurance system in this country. And that's the fundamental problem. For-profit insurance is the reason that we are where we're at. Under a single-payer Medicare for all system, 95 percent of everyone will save money." Candidate Deaglan McEachern, who has worked at a technology startup and founded a nonprofit small business group, noted that people already pay for health care through deductibles and premiums. He said providing health care to all would support entrepreneurship and small businesses by easing the financial burden of health care, something he said is personal to him. "When my wife got sick, I fought insurance companies while she was fighting for her life," he said. "Nobody should have to go through that."Candidate Mindi Messmer, a state representative and environmental scientist, said she also supports single-payer, as did candidate Mark MacKenzie, a state representative and former president of the state AFL-CIO, and candidate Terence O'Rourke, a former Army officer and county attorney.Pappas, Sullivan and Andrews said they were in favor of expanding health care coverage but not ready to call for a single-payer plan yet. Pappas said he was proud to support expanded Medicaid in New Hampshire and fight White House attempts to sabotage the Affordable Care Act. He said achieving universal health care should be an eventual goal. Sullivan said she supports a public option to allow people to buy into Medicare. She said the government should also be able to negotiate lower prescription drug prices. Andrews said she supports allowing people of any age to opt in to Medicare and allowing that program to compete with private insurers.President Donald Trump was also discussed in the debate. Several of the candidates said they want special counselor Robert Mueller's investigation to be complete before considering whether the president should be impeached. "I would support impeachment, if all the data that we see comes in (supports it)," Messmer said. "I'm a scientist. I like to see the data before I make a decision, but I'm very concerned about what has been happening in the last few weeks." Soldati said there is already clear evidence to support impeaching the president, as did McEachern. "I'm looking at this through lens of history," McEachern said. "My daughter is going to be in high school someday, and she's going to look back at this moment, and she's going to wonder what side her father was on, and I want to make sure I'm on the right side of history when it comes to this president." The candidates were also asked about how they would deal with their own party's national leaders, and specifically whether they would support Nancy Pelosi as speaker of the House if the Democrats take a majority. Most said they wouldn't, although Pappas dismissed it as a Republican talking point. MacKenzie came to the defense of Pelosi. "Nancy Pelosi was the first woman speaker of the United States," he said. "She has a history of fighting for and defending working people in this country. I'm not going to throw somebody who has a history of this country under the bus."The 1st District stretches along most of New Hampshire's eastern border, from the Seacoast up through Hart's Location. It also reaches west into Campton, the Lakes Region and Sanbornton, as well as Manchester and surrounding towns, including Goffstown, Bedford and Merrimack.The district voted for Trump in 2016 but also returned Shea-Porter to office. Shea-Porter is not running for re-election.