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topicnews · October 10, 2024

Kari Lake vs. Ruben Gallego in high-stakes Senate debate: What you should know

Kari Lake vs. Ruben Gallego in high-stakes Senate debate: What you should know

Republican Kari Lake portrayed Democrat Ruben Gallego during a debate Wednesday as someone focused on the “semantics” of illegal immigrants rather than security, while calling her a liar willing to act in her quest for power Ignore solutions.

Both candidates exchanged insults and engaged in repeated arguments over border security and abortion rights, an event that continually reflected the personal animosity that has loomed over the race since Lake entered the contest a year ago.

Gallego, a five-term member of Congress, pointed to his support for a bipartisan border security bill to address a national problem, while Lake opposed the measure “not because there was a better option, but because it was needed.” She must have a border problem.”

Lake said the bill, like many of Democrats’ approaches to the border issue, misses the real solution.

“The real solution, Arizona, … is to close the border. “Build the border wall, which he calls a stupid, stupid border wall, and then we won’t have to spend millions of dollars caring for migrants,” she said. “Mr. Gallego would send $260 billion of your hard-earned tax dollars to Ukraine.”

Gallego spent more energy trying to remove the word “illegal alien” from the federal lexicon than solving the problem, Lake said.

“He’s more concerned about semantics than our safety,” she said.

The debate, hosted by the bipartisan Arizona Clean Elections Commission, was perhaps the last big moment in the race to succeed U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz.

In March, Sinema decided against running for a second term, trailing Gallego and Lake in most polls. Since then, Gallego has topped almost every publicly available poll and has a commanding lead over Lake in fundraising.

Throughout the debate, Lake displayed the combativeness that has characterized her political persona since she began running for governor in 2021. In contrast to most of her appearances, Lake did not argue with the moderators over their questions.

Lake has consistently sought to nationalize the race and make it a referendum on former President Donald Trump’s agenda against Vice President Kamala Harris’s.

From the start, Gallego invoked his life story to explain his Senate candidacy: He grew up poor in Chicago, graduated from Harvard University and served his country as a Marine in the Iraq War. He promised to continue fighting for Arizona in the Senate.

The debate took place on the first day of early voting and was part of a race among a handful of contests nationally that will determine which party controls the Senate next year.

Vote in our poll below and let us know who you think won the debate.

Much of the first 25 minutes of the debate centered on border security, an issue on which Republicans long appeared to have the upper hand. It is one of the top issues for voters across the country and in Arizona.

Lake has called on Congress to complete the border wall, which Trump has made a priority. She has argued that an influx of illegal immigrants under Biden has worsened the economy and brought violence to Americans.

She also cast Gallego as a partisan of other countries towards Arizona and the USA

“He sold us out. He sold us to Ukraine,” Lake said.

While Trump occupied the White House, Gallego pushed back against Trump’s border plans, calling them “stupid and harmful.” As a Senate candidate and amid public opinion’s utter dissatisfaction with border conditions under President Joe Biden, Gallego described the situation as a “crisis” that requires legislative action.

Gallego repeatedly reminded viewers that many border mayors supported him because he was serious about finding solutions. Taking a swipe at Lake, he accused her of spending more time at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort than at the border.

As the debate shifted to abortion rights, Gallego said Lake couldn’t be trusted to decide whether women had the health care they needed. He noted her support for a near-total ban on abortion rights in 1864, which she strongly supported in 2022.

When the Arizona Supreme Court upheld that law in April, Lake said the old law was “not where the people are.” In the debate, Lake said she supported a federal approach to the issue and said Arizona law does not ban abortions.

State law bans them after 15 weeks of pregnancy and provides no exceptions for rape or incest after that, Gallego pointed out.

Live updates: Arizona Senate Debate Day: Lake lashes out at Gallego before debate

“We will trust her now? “This is the same person who is still lying about winning the 2022 election, and yet we will trust him,” Gallego said. “She failed the basic test of honesty. Why should we trust her with our daughters?”

Democrats have long viewed the fight over abortion rights as a winnable battle for them. Aside from the relatively broad public support for stronger abortion protections. Gallego has long argued that Congress should legislate to ensure federal protections that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down in a 2022 ruling.

Republic reporter Laura Gersony contributed to this story.

Arizona’s candidates for U.S. Senate: Where Kari Lake and Ruben Gallego stand on issues

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