Where the Senate Candidates Stand on Ballot Questions


Elizabeth Warren weighed in on the medical marijuana ballot question this week and captured the headlines in the process. The stances of our Senate candidates on the state ballot questions aren’t exactly their most important positions—we’re electing them to national office and these are state laws—but they speak to a candidate’s general political philosophy.

Medical marijuana and physician-assisted suicide are fairly sensitive issues, and politicians have been shy about giving opinions, so it’s interesting to see them speaking up more as the election draws near. Neither, as far as we can tell, has weighed in much on Question 1, a proposal about auto part availability that enjoys broad support statewide. On the other two questions though, the candidates are just starting to express themselves.

On medical marijuana, Warren said her inclination to support it comes from watching her father’s bout with cancer. She said Monday:

“You know, I held my father’s hand while he died of cancer, and it’s really painful when you do something like that up close and personal. My mother was already gone, and I was very, very close to my father. And it puts me in a position of saying, if there’s something a physician can prescribe that can help someone who’s suffering, I’m in favor of that. Now, I want to make sure they’ve got the right restrictions. It should be like any other prescription drug — that there’s careful control over it.”

Brown, meanwhile, said he’s sympathetic to people’s suffering but thinks the proposed law is too broad, according to the AP.

On assisted suicide, The AP reports that Warren said she “leans toward giving dying patients more autonomy is making life-ending decisions.” Brown said “he wants to learn more before making a decision,” writes the AP.

You can read up on the ballot questions at the Secretary of State’s website.