Gubernatorial debate: Some takeaways

Incumbent Republican Gov. Doug Ducey and Democratic challenger David Garcia squared off in their first public debate Monday night, a highly anticipated forum that grew contentious within minutes — and never cooled off.

Interruptions, challenges and insults filled the hour-long debate, broadcast on Arizona PBS in partnership with the Citizens Clean Elections Commission. Green Party candidate Angel Torres also participated. By the end, a handful of key themes emerged.

From education and border security to job growth and attack ads, these are the major takeaways:

1. Education dominates discussion

Ducey and Garcia spent more than half the forum arguing about the future of Arizona’s public-education system.

Garcia used the massive #RedForEd teacher walkout this spring, as well as the contentious decision to remove the #InvestinEd income-tax measure from the November ballot, to criticize the governor for the state’s ongoing “education crisis.”

“At the end of Doug Ducey’s administration, 75,000 teachers walked out because we are still one of the last in the country in education,” he said. “They were demanding more, and they did not get what they were demanding.”

Ducey promoted the 20x2020 teacher-raise plan he pushed through this spring, saying “there’s more left to do but ... I was in a straitjacket four years ago.”

School-finance data from the Arizona Department of Education showed some schools gave their teachers pay bumps averaging as high as $9,000 under Ducey’s plan, but the raises varied widely among the state’s district and charter schools.

Ducey throughout the forum demanded an education-funding proposal from Garcia, who said he would “challenge the Legislature and invite those 75,000 teachers who were out there to join me and put another initiative on the ballot” if elected.

Garcia provided no further details during the debate but told reporters afterward that increasing education funding would likely require both tax increases Go to for a report on the candidates’ Tuesday debate in Tucson.

and spending cuts.

To fund his own teacher-raise plan this year, the governor is relying on optimistic financial projections that show the state generating $196 million more in revenue than the state previously anticipated.

The Legislature also passed, and Ducey approved, a vehicle-registration fee increase of about $18 per year for motorists to help fund the raises. Where he would find the money for the remainder of the promised raises, and other funding for schools, likely would be revealed with his budget plan in January, if he is re-elected.

The candidates jousted over charter schools next, with Garcia calling Ducey a “follower” rather than a leader for only recently joining the call for reforms in the system. They also debated the need for an expanded Empowerment Scholarship Account program.

Garcia said ESAs “take money out of public schools and put them into private schools.” Ducey argued that ESAs are necessary for students with disabilities, highlighting the case of a student who is blind and uses ESA money to buy Braille books.

“We have 1,100,000 children in the state of Arizona. I care about every one of them,” Ducey said. “I want them to have access to an affordable and accessible and excellent education.”

As of Aug. 6, there were about 5,040 students with ESA accounts, nearly 3,000 of whom had disabilities, according to state Department of Education data.

2. Ducey comes out swinging

The governor described Garcia dishonest throughout the forum.

“You’re going to see David Garcia be very deceiving on a number of issues tonight,” he said. “Like I said, he talks about public education, but he’s really much more of a politician.”

He urged viewers to visit a “fact check” website on Garcia created by his campaign, at one point even charging Garcia with trying to “rig an election” via the #InvestinEd ballot measure.

“The (Arizona) Supreme Court caught David Garcia trying to … mislead as voters and deceive them,” he said.

The Supreme Court did remove the Invest In Ed initiative from the ballot, contending the language describing the tax increase was misleading. But the governor’s “rigged election” claim misses the target: Though Garcia supported the ballot measure, he did not lead the #InvestinEd movement.

3. Garcia pushes back

Garcia established a consistent line of attack as well, saying again and again that the governor had left behind “a series of half-measures and broken promises.”

As Ducey attacked Garcia for a lack of political experience — the Democrat unsuccessfully ran for superintendent of public instruction in 2014 — Garcia argued Ducey had failed to follow through on his own campaign promises.

“You’re going to see a theme here tonight,” Garcia said. “We had a crisis when Doug Ducey walked into office, and we have a crisis when he’s leaving office.”

He pointed to education funding, charter-school reform and 24-hour highway patrols as major areas where Ducey had fallen short as governor.

4. Economic assessments differ

Ducey said he “worked very hard to bring business principles to Arizona state government” and that “our economy is booming.”

“We’ve got more jobs available in the state of Arizona than we’ve got people to fill them, and paychecks are growing in the state of Arizona as well,” he said.

Garcia disputed Ducey’s rosy economic picture, saying those at the top are thriving while the state leaves everyday Arizonans behind.

“Arizona’s job growth rate, while it looks impressive, is actually behind every single one of our other western neighbors,” he said. “The Number 1 reason why: lack of investment in K-12 public education and a lack of investment in a highly trained workforce.”

Based on the most recent job figures, this statement is false. According to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers, Arizona trails only Utah in job growth, not all of its regional neighbors.

But Garcia's campaign said he was basing it on the figures that compared yearly growth from 2016 to 2017. Under that measure, compiled by Governing magazine, he is correct.

5. Controversial attack ads

Garcia asked Ducey to address ads put out by the Republican Governors Association, which is slamming Garcia on border security as it backs the effort to get Ducey re-elected.

One of the more controversial ads starts with photographs of a white family with two young daughters, then the images turn to pictures of human trafficking and drug smuggling.

The mother in the family says that, “as a mom with two daughters, nothing is more important than keeping them safe — that’s why I’m worried about David Garcia.”

Garcia supporters have blasted the ads as racist in recent weeks. Ducey has remained silent.

Toward the end of the debate, Garcia asked Ducey whether he agreed with the “content and tone of those ads.”

“(The ads) darken my face and scare families,” Garcia said. “This is a common narrative, when politicians get in trouble they start to pit people against each other along the idea of race and class.”

Ducey called the spots “public service announcements,” a response that left Garcia incredulous.

“People need to know stand,” Ducey said. where

6. There’s a third candidate

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Green Party candidate Angel Torres, a union steward and longtime airlineindustry worker, said he joined the race “to bring the perspective of working people to electoral politics.”

“It’s a point of view, a perspective we rarely hear,” he said.

Torres’ priorities include increasing union involvement, fully funding the state’s K-12 public education system through a more equitable tax system and adopting a “Medicare for all” health care model, he said.

He challenged Ducey on labor issues, saying the state’s economy is working only for the “top 1 percent.”