GARDNER NEWS: Former U.S. ambassador running for representative

Former U.S. ambassador running for representative

By Stephen Landry

The Gardner News

February 12, 2018

 

GARDNER  The race for the state’s 3rd Congressional House district is on, and Rufus Gifford, 43, has announced that he is a candidate for the Demo­cratic nomination to succeed U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas in Congress and stopped into Gardner on Saturday, Feb. 10, to drum up support.

Rep. Tsongas an­nounced last year that she would not seek re-election to the seat she has held since 2013. In addition to Gardner, communities in the 3rd District include Ashburnham, Westminster, and Fitchburg, and many other towns stretching out to Lowell.

Gifford came to Gardner to attend the city’s Democratic caucus at American Legion Post 129, said he was compelled to run for political office for the first time after the election of President Donald Trump, a development that he said left him devastated.

“I never really dreamed I’d be putting my name on a ballot,” he said. “But I’ve been working too hard to promote the values of the country that I believe in with all my heart, so it was important for me to throw my hat into the ring.”

Gifford, who grew up on the North Shore and currently lives in Concord, has been at the forefront of Democratic politics for several years.

He worked in various capacities for President Barack Obama, including as an adviser in 2008 and as national finance director of Obama’s re-election campaign in 2012.

“I met (Obama) in 2007 and was really inspired by his story, his candidacy, (and) his ability to bring people into the system. I thought he was the kind of transformational figure that the country can and should elect,” he said, adding that while serving as the finance director for the Democratic National Committee, he was motivated to help pass President Obama’s agenda. “I helped try to do things like help implement Obamacare, pass the stimulus package, overturn ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ – those kinds of initiatives.”

And then on Nov. 30, 2012 – a date Gifford said he would never forget – President Obama asked Gifford to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Denmark.

“I was a 38-year-old staffer from Massachusetts and the idea that I would ever be asked by the president to be an ambassador to the United States was something I never dreamed I could possibly do,” Gifford said. He served as ambassador for four years, during which time he said he focused on a wide range of global issues through youth engagement and institution building. Gifford said he would visit schools in Denmark and discuss issues such as climate change and health care with thousands of Danish students. Gifford’s experience in Denmark was the subject of the award-winning 2014 documentary series “I Am The Ambassador.”

Gifford said the communities that make up the 3rd Congressional District feature a wide range of diverse demographics. “We have some urban areas, we have some wealthy suburban areas, we have some more middle-class suburban areas, and we have some rural areas,” Gifford explained, adding that he intends to be a congressman for every person in the district. “I don’t want to be just a congressperson for Lowell or for Concord or for Gardner, so my real intent for this early stage in the campaign is to travel from city to city and try to get a sense of what people really care about.”

He said that although the issues vary somewhat from community to community, the people he’s talked to care overwhelmingly about health care, transportation and infrastructure, education, manufacturing jobs, immigration, and climate change. “(But) you don’t want to generalize because every community has their own specific interests and concerns,” he added.

Gifford, who holds a bachelor’s degree from Brown University, said he was a big proponent of green energy as a way to boost employment in the state. “I believe that if we want to get good, well-paid, even union jobs back to this part of the district, that green jobs (are) going to be a huge part of that,” he said.

Although Gifford is a strong proponent of progressive causes, he stressed that he would be able to work with those on the other side of the political aisle.

“I will always stay true to my values and what I believe, (but) that being said, I believe that, even with the most conservative Republican, I’ll bet we can agree on something,” he explained. “We can agree that we need to make our roads and bridges better, we can see the economic potential of green jobs. I believe I can convince them of that.”

Gifford said that although there is a wide range of political diversity across the district, “there is so much more that we have in common than what sets us apart.” Gifford, who announced his candidacy just before Thanksgiving last year,  got his start in politics working on John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign. He then began his own consulting business and advised several Democratic officials and advocated for Democratic causes across the country.

Gifford joins a crowded field for the 3rd Congressional District seat; there are currently 13 candidates – 11 Democrats and two Republicans – seeking the nomination of their parties. The primary election will be held on Sept. 4, and the general election on Nov. 6.

 

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