District 18 debate features sharp exchanges between candidates
The first debate in the 18th Congressional District’s special election aired Monday night on KDKATV, and Republican Rick Saccone and Democrat Conor Lamb tried to score points by linking each other to their party leaders.
Mr. Saccone repeatedly called out the 33-year-old Mr. Lamb’s lack of experience in elected office, portraying the race as a choice of “record over rhetoric.”
Mr. Lamb, a former federal prosecutor, tried to use his rival’s experience against him. He called Mr. Saccone “part of the same crowd in Harrisburg who have shut down the government there” — an apparent reference to budget standoffs between legislative Republicans and Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf that have roiled state government.
Mr. Saccone, who was first elected to the state House in 2010, said Mr. Lamb would vote in lockstep with Democrats like House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. He said his rival “surrounds himself [with] all of Nancy Pelosi’s sock puppets. … He’s never had to feel
the pressure, he’s never been in elected office.”
Mr. Lamb, who has said he would like Ms. Pelosi to step down as leader, decried TV ads, aired by national Republicans, that have targeted him throughout the campaign. He criticized the way “outside money and dark money floods into our campaigns here in Western Pennsylvania in support of people like my opponent. … They want to buy this election that way, and they try to get legislation that they can buy.”
Indeed, political TV ads, many of them negative, ran throughout the program, often amplifying debate talking points on both sides.
Some of the debate followed familiar partisan lines, with Mr. Saccone taking a strident position on issues such as raising the minimum wage, medical marijuana and abortion rights — he opposes all three. Mr. Lamb backed medical marijuana but took a more cautious approach on other issues. While he said he personally opposed abortion, “I don’t believe that my personal religious beliefs should dictate the religious rights of women,” and while a $15 “living wage” backed by activists “sounds high,” he suggested a $10 wage instead.
Mr. Lamb also groused about recently passed Republican tax cuts, whose benefits he said largely accrued to the wealthy, while adding over $1 trillion to the federal deficit. A more limited tax cut that focused solely on middle- and working-class voters wouldn’t add to the deficit, he said, but “this bill was written for corporate donors.”
He also repeatedly emphasized potential threats to social safety-net programs like Social Security and Medicaid under proposals by President Donald Trump and Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.
Mr. Saccone maintained that deficits could be reduced “depending on how fast the economy grows” as a result of the cuts, and said that the cuts were “so popular among people in the 18th District.” He said he would oppose any cuts to programs like Medicare except in the form of efficiencies to deliver services more economically.
Mr. Saccone stood by his earlier claim that he was “Trump before Trump was Trump.” On topics like deregulation and cutting taxes, he said, “I was for most of those issues in 2010 when I ran in the state House.”
Pressed on whether there was an issue where he and the president parted company, he merely joked that while Mr. Trump rooted for the Patriots, “I’m a Steelers fan all the way.”
A third candidate in the race, Libertarian Drew Miller, was not invited to the debate.
The race to replace Republican Congressman Tim Murphy, who stepped down last year after his admission of an extramarital affair and allegations of staff mistreatment, remains tight.
A poll out over the weekend by Gravis Marketing showed Mr. Saccone leading by 45.5 to 40 percent. In early January, the same pollster showed Mr. Saccone leading by over 12 percentage points. A recent Monmouth University survey showed Mr. Saccone leading between 3 and 7 percentage points, depending on turnout projections.
The special election will be held March 13. Another televised debate is slated for 7 p.m. March 3 on WTAETV.