WATERTOWN – Green Party candidate Matthew Funiciello knows he may not necessarily win the 21st Congressional District race this year. But the goal is more about defeating a major party candidate in the general election. In his case, that’s Democratic candidate William “Mike” Derrick.

In a Times editorial board meeting Wednesday, Funiciello discussed the progress of his second campaign for the seat currently held by U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro. In the 2014 election, Funiciello lost to Stefanik, who pulled away with 53 percent of the vote. Then-Democratic candidate Aaron Woolf finished with 32 percent. Funiciello did, however, secure 11 percent of the vote.

In this election, riding on the heals of the movement spurred by former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, Funiciello said he could make even more progress.

“I think a lot of cracks are going to happen this election cycle as a result of Bernie running in the Democratic primaries,” he said. “One of them might see me elected, but I don’t really think that’s what’s going to happen. I think what’s going to happen is I’m going to beat the Democrat in this election cycle and I’m going to show that we really better talk together about doing something with the voters who are out there for the next election cycle.”

Funiciello will participate in a Monday debate with his two opponents hosted by Time Warner Cable. The debate will air at 7 p.m. on channel 200.

On the issues, Funiciello downplayed the importance of going after the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement between the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim nations. Derrick has strongly opposed the agreement throughout his campaign, having made it his signature issue against Stefanik. He has argued that the agreement will significantly hurt manufacturing jobs. But Funiciello said the district does not have a large enough manufacturing workforce for the TPP issue to play a major role in the race.

“I don’t have a knee-jerk negative reaction to us trading with other countries at all,” he said. “I think that’s absolutely necessary, and I think those relationships are very complex.”

Funiciello added that tourism and agri-business are becoming primary industries for the district, with workers in those industries not being paid enough to create a robust economy. He supports increasing the federal minimum wage, even indexing the wage to productivity.

Funiciello also continues to advocate for a national single-payer health care system as well as keeping American troops out of foreign conflicts by giving them jobs at home. He noted that a decreased U.S. military presence in the Middle East could lessen the threat of terrorism.

“Our experiences in the Middle East should tell us there is no right answer to anything we are going to do over there as long as it is being done with a gun,” he said.

On the presidential election front, Funiciello mirrored the opinion of his party’s presidential nominee, Jill Stein, in that Republican nominee Donald Trump may be the “lesser of two evils” because he will be constantly obstructed by Democrats and Republicans if elected, causing both parties to take a step back.