Congressional candidates’ debate spills over to the next day.
Candidates’ clash over the presidential and U.S. Senate races and legalizing pot spills over to next day.
The candidates for California’s 25th Congressional District clashed in a debate. And then they continued the fight the next day.
Republican Rep. Steve Knight and Democrat Bryan Caforio met Thursday evening in Palmdale for an hour-long forum that touched on foreign and domestic policy issues, from water to weed. They also weighed in on items they will share the ballot with on Nov. 8, starting with the presidential race.
Knight (R-Palmdale) said Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are their parties’ nominees and that voters will have to choose. He reiterated his stance from the week before after news broke concerning comments Trump made in 2005 about touching women without their consent. He said he was “deeply disturbed” by the comments and that he does not plan to vote for either Trump or Clinton.
On Friday, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee came out swinging against the Republican congressman, saying he had announced during the debate he would support Trump. But that’s not what Knight said.
“It’s probably the most difficult race in all of our lives, but in the end we will have to make a choice,” Knight said. “I’ve come out just recently and said I don’t support either one. But I will be voting.”
Caforio, who is supporting Clinton, seized on Knight’s words.
“The choice is very simple to me, when Donald Trump is the candidate who is running on the opposite side it should not be hard,” Caforio said.
Both Caforio and the DCCC issued misleading news releases Friday morning saying Knight’s answer means he’s voting for Trump.
“Knight reiterated what we know — this is a binary election — and promised to vote. To be clear, that means he promised he’ll vote for Trump, despite his politically cowardly statement condemning Trump for bragging about sexual assault just one week ago,” the DCCC release stated.
At the debate hosted by the Palmdale Chamber of Commerce and co-moderated by a Los Angeles Times journalist, the candidates also sparred on California’s U.S. Senate race.
Knight said he won’t pick either of the two Democrats on the ballot, Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris and Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Orange). Instead, the congressman said, he plans to write in the name of a local veteran: John Pelletier.
In July, Knight presented medals to Pelletier related to his service during the Korean War. Pelletier, who could not be reached for comment, does not appear to have a campaign website.
But as Caforio pointed out at the debate, write-ins are not allowed for this contest. A spokeswoman for the California secretary of state’s office said write-ins are permitted only in the presidential race.
For his part, Caforio said he has not endorsed between Harris and Sanchez in the race to replace retiring Sen. Barbara Boxer. But he plans to vote for Harris.
“I think she’s done a great job as attorney general, really going after corporate greed, private colleges,” Caforio said. “You know seeing these corporations and big banks prey on people is outrageous, and she has taken a stand against that, as I will in Congress.”
Knight said he expects Harris to win, and he’s not happy about it.
“She has shown to be a very extreme attorney general,” he said.
The congressman Knight replaced, former Republican Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon of Santa Clarita, has endorsed Sanchez. McKeon retired in 2014 after more than two decades in Congress.
The candidates also squared off on the legalization of marijuana for recreational use, with the debate revealing a stark difference between them over Proposition 64, which will appear on the ballot along with their congressional contest.
Knight said he opposes the ballot measure and called for action at the federal level. He said he believes that marijuana should not be a Schedule 1 drug because it has medicinal value. He said it should be reclassified as a Schedule 3 drug.
The freshman congressman said the government should “leave it up to the states.” He also noted that marijuana use would still be illegal at the federal level if Proposition 64 passes.
Caforio, an attorney, said he would vote in favor of the measure because “the system we have right now isn’t working, and we need a change.”
He said he favors regulating and taxing marijuana, and putting those funds into drug treatment programs. He said he would rather police focus on violent crime instead of petty drug crimes.
Asked by a moderator from the Los Angeles Times if they had ever used marijuana, and specifically if they inhaled, the candidates again were on opposite sides.
Knight, who served as a Los Angeles police officer for 18 years, said he has not.
“I have never tried marijuana. I know that nobody would ever believe that, but I have never tried marijuana,” he said.
As for Caforio, the answer was short and to the point: “I have, and I did.”