Sen. Martha McSally, R-Arizona, and challenger Mark Kelly, went head to head during their debate Tuesday discussing issues ranging from healthcare to relations with China.
The two met for the debate in downtown Phoenix, Arizona, at Arizona’s PBS station in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism. Throughout the night, the duo discussed other topics, including their former careers, undocumented immigrants and Amy Coney Barrett.
ASU’s Downtown Undergraduate Student Government held a watch party for the debate over Zoom. Vice President of Policy Renuka Vemuri said even with the variety of topics, most of the students watching did not feel that the candidates talked about things that younger people care about.
“There were a few students (who) mentioned things like social welfare programs, things relating to police accountability and things like that, that they didn’t feel like either candidate really represented how they felt on things like that,” she said. “Students expressed that the candidates were focused on attacking each other rather than giving us enough information to understand their platform.”
Health care was one of the star discussions of the debate. While the U.S. carried on during the global coronavirus pandemic crisis, both republican and democratic leaders agreed that healthcare is at the top of every Arizonian’s mind right now, Arizonans are living through a pandemic and need healthcare to get by.
“People need to pay their rent, they need to buy groceries, school supplies and giving them the option to have this health plan subsidized by the government is a way that working class Arizonans can get by and afford health care,” said Maricopa County Democratic Committee Communications Director Edder Díaz-Martínez.
Díaz-Martínez also said one of the take-aways from the debate is the fact that there is a clear contrast between McSally and Kelly.
“McSally has lied about the healthcare record. She’s voted against the Affordable Health Care Act, trying to make sure that people don’t have health care in the middle of a pandemic,” he said. “She has lied about her stance on DACA, stating that she supports dreamers, but then voting to get rid of the program.”
As a DACA recipient, Díaz-Martínez feels that Mark Kelly is “focused on what Arizonans need right now, health care, making sure that the working class is able to maintain a good quality of life.”
ASU’s College of Republican’s President Joe Pitts, on the other hand, said that despite the criticism surrounding her, McSally’s approach to health care is more cautious about government intervention.
“She’s dedicated herself despite what they’ll say to protecting pre-existing conditions. I sure as hell don’t want bureaucrats running my health care system,” he said. “ I think that’s where the disagreement is.”
Pitts also said the biggest takeaway from McSally is that “we know or McSally stands.”
“We know that she’s fighting for Arizona. We don’t know where Kelly stands,” he said.
Other debate topics McSally and Kelly also discussed were the filibuster surrounding the confirmation vote of the Supreme Court Justice nominee Amy Coney Barrett and Kelly’s business with China.
In addition, Pitts said Kelly danced around answering questions on China, but John Adamson, ASU’s Young Democrats social chair, said McSally did a “really good job of avoiding answers herself,” especially when it came to the question of whether or not she supported Trump.
“She really is the Trump Republican. Even if she’s not willing to say that upfront about him, personally supporting him, I think that’s a very contentious key,” he said. “That is an issue that it’s probably going to define this election… One of the big things about this election is getting rid of him (Trump) and that’s not just at the presidential level, but in the senatorial level.”
Arizonans will vote on the U.S Senate seat Nov. 3, 2020. Vemuri said that a main takeaway from the upcoming election is that partisan politics should bring people together to help everyone.
“It should be about every person coming together to solve issues that affect everyone rather than making the divide in America bigger,” she said.
Contact the reporter at pmuse@asu.edu
