Delgado, Van De Water debate shows positions
GOP contender wants end of Affordable Care
U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado, D - Rhinebeck, and his challenger Republican Kyle Van De Water faced off Thursday at WMHT studios./
In the first debate between U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado, D-rhinebeck, and his challenger Republican Kyle Van De Water on Thursday night, Van De Water repeatedly painted his opponent as a member of the "far left" - even when Delgado, a moderate Democrat on many issues, took stances that divided him from the liberal wing of his party.
As the U.S. Senate moves to confirm a conservative justice to the Supreme Court weeks before the election, Delgado announced that he opposed expanding the number of justices on the court above the normal nine judges, something that Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D -N.Y., and some other Democrats have said should be an option left on the table.
"It is important that we all here collectively step back and think about how we can reintroduce our democratic norms, norms like restraint," Delgado said. "I think it is wrong to both decide to pack the court and to rush [the confirmation]."
Van De Water said he opposed so-called 'court packing' and supported President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans' decision to move ahead with the confirmation of nominee Amy Coney Barrett.
The debate was broadcast Thursday by WMHT/PBS and was produced in partnership with the Times Union and WAMC.
The debate was the first face-to-face public exchange between the two candidates in a race in which Delgado appears far ahead of Van De Water. Fundraising receipts published by the Federal Election Commission during the debate showed Delgado raised $1.3 million in the third quarter of 2020, and $5.6 million this election cycle. Van De Water has raised a total of $54, 144 during the entire cycle, FEC filings show.
Wrapping up his first-term representing New York's 19th District, Delgado appealed to voters for two more years to continue to work on issues like improving rural broadband accessibility, providing pandemic relief to small businesses and rural communities and promoting green jobs, he said. He highlighted work on bipartisan issues and his legislation that has become law.
"I'm one of only three House members in 2019 to get two or more bills signed into law, the whole House," Delgado said.
Van De Water, an attorney and veteran, is challenging Delgado in his first run for elected office. He portrayed himself as a local man — a hunter, fisher and father of four, he said — while claiming Delgado was a tool of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D -Calif., and the far left. Van De Water grew up in Poughkeepsie and lives in Millbrook. Delgado is from Schenectady, and lived and worked in New York and Los Angeles before settling in Rhinebeck. When asked about his policy ideas on issues from climate change to health care to rural broadband, Van De Water's responses were generally less specific.
Both candidates supported another federal COVID -19 stimulus bill. Van De Water
opposed a national mask mandate, saying local communities should set coronavirus health ordinances and people should be "fearless." Delgado spoke in favor of a "uniform" national strategy to tackling the virus, rebutting "it's okay to be fearless, but you can't be careless."
On health care, Delgado said he supported having a public health insurance option that all people can buy into if they want.
"The vision I have is to no longer be the only developed country in the world without some type of universal care," he said.
Van De Water said he supported phasing out the Affordable Care Act — a Republican-led lawsuit to overturn the Obama health care law will go before the Supreme Court in November — and he opposed creating a more widely available public option.
"It leads to full government control over your health care and when they do that, they own you," Van De Water said. "And that's what their goal is."
On prescription drugs, Delgado said to lower costs he would allow Medicare to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies and try to increase competition for brand name drug companies. Van De Water said he would support individuals being allowed to buy drugs from other countries where they may be cheaper.
On taxes, Delgado argued against the 2017 Republican tax law, which he said gave overwhelming benefits to the wealthiest Americans and corporations. He said he supported tax cuts for small businesses and middle Americans and he supported the repeal of the cap on state and local tax deductions. Van De Water claimed Delgado was really in favor of raising taxes and New York should change its tax code to reduce taxes instead of the federal government eliminating the SALT cap.