Wilmington physician challenges Leahy

(Host) A U.S. Navy physician from Wilmington intends to challenge Senator Patrick Leahy for the Democratic nomination next year.

VPR's Ross Sneyd has more.

(Sneyd) Daniel Freilich recently left active-duty service with the Navy as a captain and signed up for active duty in the Naval Reserves.

But what he really wants to be is a U.S. senator advocating for a more progressive tax system and a single-payer health plan.

(Freilich) "My opponent I believe has in general been on the right side of these issues, but I think the advocacy is absolutely insufficient on behalf of the American people on these issues."

(Sneyd) Freilich served two years in the Navy in the early 1990s and then worked at Fletcher Allen hospital in Burlington, Northwestern Medical Center in St. Albans and in private practice. In 1998 he returned to the Navy.

Freilich says he respects Senator Leahy's politics. But he says the political system is unfair to the average American and needs to be shaken up.

For VPR News, I'm Ross Sneyd