Democratic candidates for Pennsylvania’s open U.S. Senate seat on Sunday agreed on several important party platform items but disagreed when it came to big tech companies and the Supreme Court.

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, Jenkintown Borough Council member Alex Khalil and U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb shared policies and priorities during the two-hour event in Carnegie Mellon University’s Simmons Auditorium. Several questions were posed by moderators on topics including abortion, climate change, the U.S. Supreme Court and the war in Ukraine.

Candidates had about two minutes to respond to each question. The forum attracted about 100 attendees and was extremely civil, with just a few subtle swipes from candidates. They were not given time for rebuttals.

There were several areas where the Democratic candidates largely agreed, including protecting access to abortions, codifying Roe v. Wade into federal law and ending the legislative filibuster. Disagreements emerged on how the Senate should tackle big tech companies, energy policy and expansion of the Supreme Court.

When asked if the government should break up the country’s biggest tech companies ⁠— Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon ⁠— only Kenyatta supported those efforts.

“Structural reform for these companies and starting with breaking them up,” said Kenyatta, who is from Philadelphia.

Kenyatta criticized Amazon for having too big a share of the retail market, making it harder for small businesses to compete. He said Facebook is controlling the flow of too much information and spreading misinformation.

Lamb and Fetterman also criticized Facebook for spreading misinformation, which they agreed was the biggest problem among the four tech giants. Lamb said he supports repealing Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act for Facebook. Section 230 provides social media platforms with liability protection for most content posted by their users.

When asked about how candidates would address climate change, Fetterman emphasized the importance of retaining manufacturing and energy jobs in Pennsylvania. He said he supports a transition away from fossil fuels, but said that won’t be instantaneous and might take a few decades.

“We need to transition away from these fuels, but not have that take away people’s jobs,” Fetterman said.

Kenyatta said he supports a moratorium on new oil and gas permits, and wants to see Pennsylvania create more wind, solar, geothermal and nuclear power. Kenyatta said Fetterman changed his stance on the issue. When running for Senate in 2016, Fetterman called for a moratorium on natural-gas drilling in Pennsylvania, but he no longer supports that position.

Lamb said he supports “politically realistic” energy policies that will be able to pass the Senate and be sustained over the next three decades. Lamb, a well-known ally of energy and natural-gas workers in Pennsylvania, said any transition to renewable energy must be focused on ensuring those currently working in the field will have the same economic opportunities.

“We have to make sure that people feel that we are creating opportunities, not taking them away,” Lamb said. He said he supports nuclear energy, building pipelines to transport hydrogen and ensuring electric vehicles are built in America.

All four candidates used the forum to criticize Republicans. Khalil said Democrats need to call out Republican hypocrisy more when talking about abortion.

Responding to a question about President Biden’s Build Back Better proposal, Lamb said the most important thing Democrats can pass from that agenda is allowing the federal government to negotiate drug prices through Medicare. He called out Republican Senate candidate Mehmet Oz, former host of the “Dr. Oz” television show, when explaining why he supports this policy.

“Dr. Oz will offer voters a long line of herbal supplements, but we can give voters free dentures, glasses and lower medical costs,” Lamb said.

All candidates supported Biden’s actions in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Khalil and Kenyatta said they don’t support sending U.S. troops in Ukraine, but Kenyatta said U.S. troops will be forced to go to Europe if Russia was to expand its invasion to a NATO country.

The candidates diverged the most on whether the U.S. Supreme Court should be expanded. With the court signaling openness to ending abortion protections and other liberal priorities, and a 6-3 edge for conservatives on the court, some Democratic politicians have called for expanding the court to have more justices.

Kenyatta and Khalil said they support expanding the court.

Fetterman and Lamb said they don’t support expanding the court. Lamb called court expansion “a trap” and said Democrats can address issues by staying in power and legislating. Fetterman asked how many Democrats would be supportive of expansion if the court was 6-3 with liberals holding the advantage.

“We don’t just change something because we are upset by the outcome,” Fetterman said.

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