PORTLAND, Maine — In the race to unseat Independent Sen. Angus King, Republican challenger Dr. Demi Kouzounas— an Army veteran, dentist, and daughter of Greek immigrants — is presenting herself as a moderate in line with Sen. Susan Collins, King's colleague who Kouzounas says urged her to run.
"She said, 'You know what I think you should do, I think you should run for U.S. Senate," Kouzounas said of Collins. "She was the number one factor for me deciding to run."
In a wide-ranging interview with NEWS CENTER Maine Friday, Kouzounas laid out her 2024 platform.
Perhaps the most striking area of difference between Kouzounas and King is on the Russia-Ukraine war. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, King has been an outspoken supporter of war efforts. He has visited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv while wearing a sweatshirt with the face of Maine Civil War hero Joshua Chamberlain. King has also delivered impassioned speeches in the Senate, pushing for more aid.
Kouzounas, on the other hand, is calling for a swift end to the conflict through a peace agreement, doubting Ukraine’s battlefield effectiveness in the face of Russia's advance.
"Ukraine is not going to win this war," Kouzounas said Friday.
When asked if she would back a peace deal that cedes land to Russia within the pre-war borders of Ukraine, Kouzounas did not definitively rule it out.
"I think there’s a lot of strategies," Kouzounas said. "I would love for Ukraine to have its original border. What I don’t love is the death and destruction that is happening in any conflict throughout the world."
On the issue of abortion, Kouzounas carves a path more conservative than King, but more moderate than others in her party.
"I am not for a ban, I am for choice," Kouzounas said.
However, she expressed support for the Supreme Court’s overruling of Roe v. Wade, which ended the federal right to an abortion almost two years ago.
"We need to have it come back to the states so we can look at it again," Kouzounas said.
King, on the other hand, called the Supreme Court decision "deeply infuriating."
As the GOP pick to unseat King, Kouzounas is attempting to balance the competing factions within her party, especially as it relates to former President Donald Trump.
When asked if she considered herself a "Trump ally," Kouzounas replied, "I support his candidacy to be president, I support his agenda."
Indeed, shortly after President Joe Biden won the 2020 election, Kouzounas was outspoken in her opposition to the results. In a statement she released in November 2020 when she was chair of the Maine GOP, she questioned the integrity of the election:
"Like many Americans, we are deeply concerned with the anomalies in these states and the possibility of election fraud, and will continue to full-heartedly support our President until all counting and litigation concludes. As far as we are concerned, President Trump is still our President until proven otherwise," the 2020 statement reads.
Years later, as she attempts to beat an incumbent Independent who caucuses with the Democrats, Kouzounas is quick to affirm Biden’s victory.
"Once the appeals were done and President Biden won the election, there was no returning," she said.
Now, as Trump leads the Republican Party once again, Kouzounas is critical of Trump’s pugilistic brand. When asked if she thinks the way he acts in the public sphere is helpful to American democracy, Kouzounas replied, "No, no I do not. I'm not a boisterous aggressive person."
Kouzounas will take on King in a four-way Senate race in November.
Watch the full interview below: