Hayes, Logan trade barbs in final debate

NEW BRITAIN — In their second debate of the week, Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Jahana

Hayes and Republican challenger George Logan traded barbs and visions for the 5th Congressional District in an hourlong, back-and-forth over their individual legislative records and hardball partisan politics.

Hayes says she has earned a third two-year term in Washington because she has succeeded in supporting families and businesses through the pandemic and a flurry of legislative successes this year including $5 billion for infrastructure improvements in Connecticut over the next five years; temporary child tax credits that kept families out of poverty; the first bipartisan attempt at national gun-safety legislation in decades; and $35 a month limits on the cost of insulin for senior citizens that Republicans refused to expand to include children.

She charged that Logan's record in the state Senate from 2017 to 2021 included voting against raising the minimum wage, paid family and medical leave and the safe storage of firearms in motor vehicles.

Logan, using Republican talking points leveled nationally against the administration of President Joe Biden, countered that Hayes and the Democrats have approved a spiral of “wasteful spending” that has raised the cost of living. “Everything that the Biden administration has touched has gone sideways, has gotten worse. Just about everyone in the 5th Congressional

District is worse off than when my opponent took office. One-party rule is not working for the people of the 5th Congressional District. We need a change.”

Hayes replied that Logan's legislative experience totals two two-year terms in the General Assembly. “You don't hear him talking about anything he did in the state Senate because he did nothing,” Hayes said.

Logan recalled that his election in 2016 resulted in an 18-18 tie in the Senate and a shared power structure. That led to a revamped state budget structure, with caps on borrowing and spending, which set the stage for large budget surpluses over the last two years. Hayes noted that when Gov. Ned Lamont was elected in 2018, the state faced a multibillion-dollar deficit.

The race for the 5th District seat is closely watched across the nation because it represents the Republicans' best hope of picking up a seat in New England with Logan, one of a small wave of Black and Latino Republicans vying for Congress. Federal campaign PACs on both sides are spending heavly in the race.

The debate, sponsored by Connecticut Public and the League of Women Voters and broadcast live from the campus of Central Connecticut State University, started off with stark differences on social issues, with Hayes fully supporting abortion as an issue between women and their physicians. With the two candidates given a set amount of time over the hour, rather than one-minute answers to questions, there was more of a chance for them to extend exchanges that were cut off during their Tuesday debate in Waterbury.

Logan describes himself as pro-choice in the abortion debate. He favors letting states decide for themselves while Hayes supports a federal law putting the former Roe v. Wade protections back on the books.

“There is no room for government intervention,” Hayes told an audience of about 200 people. “My job in the Congress is to make federal law and from the federal government standpoint there is no place in women's reproductive choice.”

She and fellow Democrats including Biden said they will adopt the pro-choice protections if they keep the majority of both chambers of Congress in next month's midterm elections.

“I would not vote in favor of codified Roe v. Wade at any time,” said Logan, adding that he would work to make sure Connecticut's abortion rights law stays in effect. “The overturning of Roe versus Wade did not change anything in Connecticut,” he said.

“I don't think Mr. Logan understands what choice means,” Hayes said. “It doesn't mean that the federal government or the state government can decide. It means that the individual decides. So the idea that he would not vote to support codifying Roe versus Wade, means that he thinks individual states should make the decision for the woman.”

Logan portrayed Hayes as a lawmaker who believes in abortion “with no restrictions” and who opposes parental notifications for young teens, which is not

required in Connecticut although it has been supported by GOP candidates including Bob Stefanowski, the Republican running for governor. “I would do everything in my power to make sure there's nothing on the federal level that infringes upon Connecticut state law,” he said.

Hayes, a former National Teacher of the Year who has been portrayed in attack ads as a supporter of so-called late-term abortions, stressed the importance of what a doctor and patient decide. As for young teens and the issue of parental consent, she recalled that she was once a pregnant 17-year-old. “At the point where a 15, 16, 17-year-old finds themselves in that position, something at home is most likely already disrupted and they need to be able to seek help,” Hayes said. “This idea that you have to get someone at home to sign off for allowing you to get help presupposes that you come from a twoparent, supported household.”

In answer to another question, Logan opposes current state regulations that allow for transgender athletes to compete in high school athletics. “I certainly support the rights of the LGBT community and those transgender as well,” he said. “I do not believe that males should compete against females in sports, particularly in grades K through 12. We have girls, high schoolers, competing for scholarships, competing with other girls. And to allow biological males to compete with girls, particularly K through 12, it's unfair.”

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