Republican Senate candidates meet in live debate, but without front-runners

Several Republican candidates participated in a prime-time debate for Pennsylvania’s open Senate seat being vacated by retiring U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey. The debate was chaotic, with most candidates dodging questions, instead speaking out about alleged voter fraud and criticizing other candidates.

There are seven Senate candidates running in Pennsylvania’s Republican primary May 17. However, only five participated in the debate Tuesday evening at Dickinson College in Carlisle. Kathy Barnette, Jeff Bartos, George Bochetto, Sean Gale and Carla Sands faced off in a 90-minute debate.

The race’s two front-runners, former hedge fund CEO Dave McCormick and former television personality Mehmet Oz, did not attend.

The debate was sponsored by investigative nonprofit news site Spotlight PA and its members, which include Trib Total Media. It was moderated by Scott LaMar, host of WITF’s “Smart Talk,” and questions were posed by TribLIVE’s Paula Reed Ward, PennLive’s Ivey DeJesus, and the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jonathan Tamari.

After opening statements, candidates answered questions about inflation and offered varied, and somewhat nuanced answers. All candidates blamed President Biden for rising inflation, citing the covid stimulus funding he supported.

Bochetto, a lawyer from Philadelphia, agreed with Bartos that inflation was the fault of too much federal covid stimulus. He added inflation also is hitting oil and gas prices hard, and he said America needs more domestic oil and gas production to combat rising prices.

“We have to be energy independent,” Bochetto said.

Candidates mostly focused on inflation for gasoline. Sands, a former U.S. Ambassador to Denmark, said the government should increase oil harvesting and exploration to increase supply. She also criticized Biden’s decision to cancel the Keystone Pipeline.

Barnette, a conservative commentator and author, blamed U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg taking parental leave last fall for supply chain issues.

But after the question regarding inflation, many candidates merely criticized Biden, Oz, McCormick, as well as each other, and spent many minutes claiming the 2020 election was not legitimate.

When asked if they would have certified the 2020 election, in which Biden defeated former President Trump, most candidates sidestepped the question. They blamed mail-in voting on Trump’s defeat, casting doubt on the legitimacy of mail-in votes. Gale, a Montgomery County lawyer, said he would not have certified the election, while Bartos, a businessman from Montgomery County, said he would have certified the 2020 results.

The rest of the debate had candidates agree on anti-abortion and gun rights stances, but mostly descended into candidates lobbing personal attacks at one another and trying to change the subject of moderator’s questions.