Sparks fly during Senate debate
WASHINGTON — Throughout an often fiery debate that touched on everything from the coronavirus to the Supreme Court and systemic racism, Republican Sen. John Cornyn and Democratic challenger MJ Hegar remained on the offensive Friday, seeking to define each other to voters who’ll soon begin heading to the polls.
Cornyn, one of the top Republicans in the Senate, sought to brand Hegar as too liberal for Texas, repeatedly referencing Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Sen. Elizabeth Warren as he made the case that she would fall in line with Democrats in Washington.
Hegar, a decorated combat veteran and political newcomer, was quick to shoot back, saying
Cornyn hasn’t kept his promises in 18 years in the Senate because he’s beholden to corporate backers.
“This election presents a clear choice between the people who have recruited and are support
ing MJ’s campaign who want to make Texas more like California and New York,” Cornyn said. “I want to make the rest of the country more like Texas.”
At one point Hegar turned to Cornyn and introduced herself, saying: “I’m the person you’re running against, as inconvenient as that is for you. It’s my ideas and my support in this state you’re going to have to face in this election.”
The debate comes at a crucial moment for the candidates and offered a preview as both campaigns are dumping millions into political ads over the final stretch. Early voting begins Tuesday.
It was an important opportunity for Hegar to introduce herself to voters, many of whom still are unfamiliar even after more than a year on the campaign trail.
Hegar appears to be gaining momentum, outraising Cornyn with a $13.5 million haul in the three months since she won the Democratic nomination — an amount Cornyn said this week essentially wiped out his long-held financial advantage.
Hegar’s campaign outspent Cornyn’s by a 2-to-1 margin over the last couple of weeks, and though she was statistically tied with Cornyn in one poll released this week, most recent polls have shown Cornyn holding a larger lead of as many as 10 percentage points.
The debate also came as Cornyn has offered some rare criticism of President Donald Trump, including telling Hearst Newspapers this week that Trump “let his guard down” on the coronavirus.
He has complained in private that Trump’s polling numbers are holding back other Republicans, the New York Times reported Friday.
But Trump largely was absent from the arguments Friday as each candidate kept their sights on one another.
Cornyn leaned on his record, touting votes for the trillions of dollars in coronavirus relief Congress has passed this year, as well as legislation that tightened requirements for states and federal agencies to report criminal history data to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
“I don’t worry about personal popularity, I worry about solving problems,” he said.
But he also took opportunities to tie Hegar to left-wing stances on issues Republicans believe will help keep Texas red, including reallocating police funding, banning fracking and pushing a carbon tax.
Hegar denied support for all three, saying “he can’t win against my actual positions, he has to misattribute that to me.”
Hegar repeatedly referenced her military experience and cast herself as an outsider who can bring a fresh perspective to the nation’s capital
“We are facing serious challenges tonight, and we need to elect someone with the right experience,” Hegar said. “Not experience of 18 years of selling us out and not being able to come up with solutions, but people who have experience like I have — of actually facing the challenges of regular Americans like you and of making life and death decisions under pressure.”
Despite the frequent volleys, much of the debate centered on issues, with perhaps the meatiest exchanges coming on the coronavirus and systemic racism.
Cornyn said he wouldn’t support another lockdown, saying the lockdowns that happened earlier this year caused economic harm.
Hegar expressed an openness to locking down again — if scientists and public health officials said it was necessary.
Cornyn said he opposed a federal mask mandate, arguing it isn’t needed in less dense areas like West Texas. Hegar mostly agreed, saying she’s for a “national strategy” on the virus.
Later in the debate, both candidates were asked whether they believe there is systemic racism in the country.
Hegar said she does, pointing to disparities in health care and the economy.
“It’s not because there is one racist person twisting their mustache,” she said. “It is a system that is built against them, that they don’t have the networks and the relationships built with accountants and attorneys and access to business capital.”
Cornyn said he believes in “personal responsibility.”
“When they suggest somehow this isn’t a matter of individual responsibility, but somehow it’s systemic, — that just doesn’t ring true to me,” he said.