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Candidates for New York 18th Congressional district spar during debate

New York 18th Congressional District debate on Spectrum News
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New York 18th Congressional District debate on Spectrum News

Candidates for New York’s 18th Congressional District sparred Tuesday night during the race’s only scheduled televised debate before the midterms.

Democrat Pat Ryan has been in Congress for barely a month but is already running again – this time against Republican state Assemblyman Colin Schmitt in the new 18th District.

Ryan won a special election in August against Republican Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro to fill the 19th District seat left opened after Governor Kathy Hochul tapped fellow Democrat Antonio Delgado to be her lieutenant governor. After redistricting, Ryan is now running in the highly competitive 18th district.

The two candidates sparred about abortion rights, housing and immigration in the debate hosted by Spectrum News at Marist College in Poughkeepsie. Schmitt was first elected to the state Assembly from the 99th district in 2018. Before that, he served as chief of staff to former New Windsor Town Supervisor George Green.

“I currently serve as a sergeant in New York Army National Guard. I'm based not too far away from here at Camp Smith, in Northern Westchester was activated for the federal COVID-19 Relief mission.”

Ryan responded by touting his own military background.

“I want to talk about a specific day - June 22, 2008. That day I was halfway through a 15-month combat deployment in Iraq, my second to that country after graduating from West Point. That same day, my opponent was launching his political career, organizing a press conference for himself, telling people (and) local reporters that one day he would be President of the United States and even bragging about the bottle of champagne that he was waiting to celebrate with.”

Public polls show inflation is one of top issues this election cycle. Schmitt blamed it on what he says are the failures of the Biden administration.

“(With) the New House Republican majority, we will stop the out of control spending, which is the main driver of this inflation crisis. We will restore American energy independence with an all-of-the-above approach and we're going to restore an all-American supply chain and remove our dependence from China.”

Ryan said he and Democrats are providing relief where ever they can.

“As Ulster County executive I introduced an inflation relief plan, cut our county's gas tax in half to provide relief at the pumps ,cut our property tax to the lowest level since the year I was born in 1982, 40 years ago, and battled hard against Central Hudson, our utility that's been ripping off customers.”

Tensions rose at times while discussing issues also playing out nationally. Ryan grew heated after Schmitt sought to portray him as a far-left candidate who supported the “Defund the police” movement.

“I think it's absolute BS. I've been clear about that. My record at every level of government - and going back to my time serving in uniform where I had to provide safety and security directly - is to make sure that safety remains number one at all levels of government as a priority. As county executive, I consistently increased funding to our county sheriff's department, especially our Violent Crimes Task Force, resulting in the single biggest seizure of guns, drugs and fentanyl in Ulster County's history.”

As in the special election, Ryan is hoping abortion will drive Democrats to the polls. Schmitt said he is pro-life, but supports a “common sense approach.” When pushed by the moderator, he added he does not support late-term abortion in any form, even if the life of the mother is threatened.

“My opponent has made the selection about his extreme politics, supporting partial birth abortion up to the moment of birth, non-doctors performing abortion, removing parental notification for minors in a distressful situation, and removing penal law protections for pregnant expectant mothers who God forbid, were the victims of a violent assault. I'm not about the extreme politics, I'm about common sense and compassion and that's where we stand on the issue.”

Issues like abortion and crime are likely to loom large in the race. The former 19th Congressional District flipped repeatedly in the last 20 years. Most recently, three separate Republicans held the seat from 2011 to 2019, but the region has become bluer since then. Schmitt was asked by moderator Susan Arbetter about his support of former President Donald Trump while running in a district that rejected the Republican in both 2016 and 2020.

“Do you believe the 2020 election was stolen?” Arbetter asked.

“No.” (left silence in purpose)

Schmitt did not elaborate.

At the end of the debate, the candidates did manage to come to agreement on one key question.

“What do you want to eat right now?” Arbetter asked.

“I'm going to go to Brothers Barbecue and get some ribs and wings,” Schmitt said.

“I'm going to stick with my original answer. I'm going to Southwest wrap at Sissy’s (Café) in Uptown Kingston … but I am going to get barbecue, too.”

Ryan defeated Molinaro by about three points in August.

Election Day is November 8th.