Election Closeup: Candidates in 9 Pivotal Races Address the Issues

Get their take on Social Security, Medicare, the economy and more

Deirdre Shesgreen,

AARP

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En español

Published October 04, 2024

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AARP (Source: Getty Images (2))

As voters begin to cast their ballots in the competitive November election, AARP talked to Democratic and Republican candidates in eight high-profile Senate contests and one of the nation’s most closely watched governor’s races.

The AARP Bulletin asked the candidates to address issues that are particularly relevant to voters 50-plus, such as support for family caregivers, the future of Social Security and Medicare benefits and age discrimination in the workplace.

Khelan Bhatia, AARP’s director of voter engagement, says older voters care most about “kitchen table issues — issues that really affect their pocketbooks, affect their retirement, affect their ability to take care of their loved ones.”

Though the presidential race has soaked up most of the attention this fall, control of Congress is also at stake — hinging on contests in key states from Maryland to Michigan.

“This election is going to be very close,” Bhatia adds. “And we want to make sure that candidates are addressing these issues.”

Read the Candidate Interviews

For the Senate races, AARP interviewed candidates in Arizona, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas. In New Hampshire, we spoke with the Democratic and Republican nominees for governor. AARP is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization and does not endorse candidates or make political donations.

The Q&As help to shed light on how opposing candidates in the battleground states would tackle, for example, the solvency of Social Security, which is projected to face a shortfall by 2035. If Congress doesn’t act before then, it would mean benefit cuts for tens of millions of workers and retirees who have paid into the program for years.

In Nevada, Pennsylvania and elsewhere, the Senate contenders in both parties said that Social Security benefits must be protected, although they differed on how to shore up the program. When asked how they would help the nation’s 48 million family caregivers, several of the candidates spoke about their own experiences taking care of an aging parent and said those experiences made them acutely aware of the challenges involved.

Older voters are poised to have an outsize influence on the outcome of this election — from the presidential race to control of Congress and key gubernatorial contests — because they turn out in larger numbers than younger age groups. In the 2020 election, for example, nearly 72 percent of Americans 65-plus said they cast a ballot, according to Census Bureau surveys. By comparison, 48 percent of those 18 to 24 said they voted that year.

AARP polls, conducted in swing states around the country this election, show the same is likely to be true this year, with older voters saying they are more motivated to turn out than their younger counterparts.

No matter which party wins control of the House and Senate, AARP will push the next Congress to strengthen support for caregivers, many of whom are unpaid and are juggling their own jobs, families and other responsibilities. AARP supports federal legislation that would provide a nonrefundable tax credit of up to $5,000 for working caregivers who dip into their own savings to pay for home modifications, adult day services, transportation and other related expenses.

Read our Q&As to learn where candidates stand on these issues and more.

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Deirdre Shesgreen is an editor for state news at the AARP Bulletin. She previously worked as a reporter and editor at USA TODAY, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other publications.

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