Debate for the state. The u. S. Senate candidate. Here are your moderators. Lori townsend and mike ross. Mike good evening. Im mike ross with skis news source. Im lori townsend. Republican senator dan sullivan nd democratic nominee, independent dr. Al gross who is here in the studio and senator sullivan is joining us remotely from washington, d. C. Welcome to both of you. Mike you might have noticed were having some technical complications with this setup. If you hear a little screech every once in a while, dr. Gross is wearing an earpiece so he can hear what the senator is saying. Taylor perez will be getting questions from our viewers on social media. Were distanced here because of the pandemic. We are taking precautions. Well feature video questions from rural alaska and young alaska here in anchorage. Be sure to tune into Facebook Live immediately after this program for some debate analysis. Lori all questions and answers will be timed. A single bell will signal 10 seconds left and the bell will ring twice when the time is up. The candidates will have an opportunity to ask a question of each other during the debate. The candidate also start with a oneminute opening statement. The order was determined earlier by a coin toss. Mike dr. Gross, your one minute opening statement, please. Mr. Gross thank you for tuning in. Im al gross and a lifelong alaskan and independent. As a doctor, i have taken care of people. As a commercial fisherman i have worked to bristol bay. Alaskans deserve have to have a senator they can trust. Hurting alaska is his support for pebble mine to his billion Dollar Company doing direct business with the communist government of china. Tonight youll here dan say a lot about schumer and pelosi. But thats absurd. Im an alaskan. I will always put alaska first. Unlike dan, i have a plan to beat covid, lower healthcare costs and create new jobs. If youre ready for a doctor wholl always put your state over partisan politics, im your guy. Thank you. Mike we apologize for the audio screeching that youre hearing. Were trying to clear that up. Sen. Sullivan thank you and good evening, alaska. As your senator i promise to work for you to get big things done for our state and we have. Rebuilding our military. Cleaning our ocean. Protecting preexisting conditions and addressing drug addiction, Public Safety and Domestic Violence. We have made big progress. We face new challenges of covid19. We Work Together for alaskan families, schools, healthcare workers and Small Businesses. Keeping our citizens healthy remains critical. So too does bidding a strong economic recovery and more jobs for a brighter future. This election couldnt be more important. My opponent and i have very different visions for alaska. Im focused on my opponent wants to empower d. C. Politicians. Keep that in mind. Thank you. Lori thank you for those opening statements. Were starting off tonight with a question from the headlines. Senator sullivan, you rejected the idea of approving president obamas u. S. Supreme Court Nominee in 2016 because it was an Election Year but youre ok with the supreme Court Nominee advancing now. Why doesnt the same principle apply here . You have one minute. Sen. Sullivan in 2016 i mentioned the future direction of the Supreme Court was at stake because we had a white house and senate that were different parties. The people of alaska and america spoke electing a president and senate of the same party. The principle and the precedent is when you have a party of the same white house and senate during an Election Year typically a nomination for the Supreme Court moves forward and it doesnt when they are split. Thats what we have done today. I think judge barrett is going to be an outstanding justice for the u. S. Supreme court. She is somebody who is focused on the second amendment. She is someone who is focusing on limiting the power of federal gencies and i think she is going to be someone who is focused on making sure alaska has a bright future. Im proud to be supporting her in the next couple of weeks or next couple of days. Mike dr. Gross, if youre elected would you support expanding the u. S. Supreme court as some democrats in congress have called for . Mr. Gross no. I am not in favor of packing the court. We need to Work Together to make the system better. Back four years ago he talked about as the principle, not the person. And so to see dan in washington, d. C. About to confirm a justice who is going to strip away preexisting conditions, a womans right to choose and have government tear apart the a. C. A. , i dont support that. But i do not support packing the court. Mike thank you, mr. Gross. Lori thank you. Turning our attention to the pandemic. Senator sullivan, congress has been trying for weeks to put together a new covid relief package but has so far failed to do so. What are the most important elements you think should be included in this next round of relief . You have one minute. Sen. Sullivan you may have seen on the republican side a bill hat is very targeted relief. I asked many alaskans what they thought the Top Priorities were. Our bill has another p. P. P. Round for Small Businesses. It had almost 100 billion for schools, child care and of course for our hospitals. We think all of the provisions in the bill are bipartisan. I have talked to a number of my democrat friends. E problem is right now, senator schumer has filibustered this bill six different times. We think this targeted relief is what we need now. Schumer and pelosi are saying all or nothing with the heroes bill. That is 3 trillion. My opponent supports the heroes bill. There is a lot in the heroes bill i hope we get to discuss that would be really problematic for the state of alaska. Lori thank you. Mike on the same topic, dr. Gross, you criticize spend. Would you have voted against the package because of the elements you didnt like and what would you have done differently . You have one minute for your response. Mr. Gross i would have read the bill and seen that fisheries got half as much as the washington allet. Your oversight on the ambiguous language of the bill cost fishermen 60 billion. We only got 15 of the cares act money destined for fishermen across the country. Thats only twice as much as the washington, d. C. Ballet. The covid, you have been dishonest to the American People from the start and hid what you knew, that it was such a dangerous disease and you failed to deliver to alaska. So when i get to the senate, i will read the bill a lot more carefully than you did and fight harder for alaska to make sure we get what we deserve. Mike we want to give our candidates a chance for rebuttal. Senator sullivan, do you want to respond to that . Sen. Sullivan sure, i would care to respond to that. This bill saved 114,000 jobs in alaska. Thats an insult for families ho needed that relief. It is interesting when you talk about the alaska native corporations, the heroes act which you support has a complete discrimination against alaskan natives and claws back any money they get. Hundreds of millons of dollars. Lori we have to leave it there, sir. Mike there were special considerations regarding the cares act and rural alaska. We have a question on that right ow from henry hunter sr. Alaska tribes have received care about funding but there are so much restrictions and deadlines. How will you work with congress to ensure that our tribes receive extension to ensure these funds are given to the people in need . Mike senator sullivan, you have one minute for your response please. Sen. Sullivan im glad that was raised and i appreciate the question. The cares act had an 8 billion tribal relief fund. Senator murkowski and i worked hard to make that happen. We made sure in the language that all alaskan natives were covered. My opponent said only certain alaskan natives should be covered. Hundreds of millions should go to the lower 48. That is ridiculous and i dont think any alaskans support it. But he does. The question is a very valid one. In the bill that we put forward on the senate floor, there are flexibilities to extend the deadline in which that cares act money has to be spent into september of next year. That was something i heard from alaskans and that was something in the current bill and i hope we can get that in the bill as we continue to negotiate a compromise on this. But the focus on rural alaska wasnt just the 8 billion tribal fund. I was able to get an additional 100 million for hospitals that were playing such a Critical Role during this pandemic. Lori thank you, sir. We have to leave it there. Mike your response. Mr. Gross youre right. How it can be used and how it had to be tied to covid. Youre 100 right. When i get to the senate ill make sure that is not a problem when i sign the next bill. My opponent of course has been not a good advocate for people in rural alaska like yourself. And when he first came to alaska, he fought against the katie john case. He and his office were very disrespectful to fred johns when he was arrested out in front of his office. He has been enabling the pebble mine ever since he showed up here in alaska which of course threatens a rural subsistence priority. He has failed to address the high rate of Domestic Violence and sexual assault. It has gone up under his term. Not down. He is trying strip away the Medicaid Expansion and trying to help the Tribal Health system. It is chronically underfunded. Lori senator sullivan, republicans have repeatedly said hey want to do away with the Affordable Care about and havent yet come up with a plan to replace it. Do you have a viable replacement plan and if so, what does it contain and what does it do . You have one minute. Sen. Sullivan first of all, my opponent has no credibility on healthcare. You may have seen he charged he made 2. 5 million working three days a week as a doctor. He has admitted fleecing alaskans. Everybody go take a look at grosstapes. Com. I saw him recently talking about how he did that. It was really incredible to see his unethical behavior as a doctor, but he is also for medicare for all, which i oppose. We are focused on keeping the best parts of the Affordable Care act like preexisting conditions which we still have coverage on and i have voted to protect numerous times and getting rid of the other elements of the Affordable Care act. The individual mandate. The cadillac tax which would have really hurt alaska. Were going to have more government control, like medicare for all which my opponent is completely for or the patient is going to have the power. Lori we have to leave it there. I want to follow up quickly. Your campaign ads say you will always protect preexisting conditions. How will you be able to do that if the Supreme Court repeals the Affordable Care about . You have one minute. Sen. Sullivan is this question for me, lori . Lori yes. Your campaign act says you would protect preexisting conditions. How would you be able to do is that if the Supreme Court repeal Affordable Care act. Sen. Sullivan they are looking at severability. Whether the individual mandate is constitutional. As the whole a. C. A. Saw. It is quite unlikely. It is likely to be a severable provision in the Affordable Cares act and therefore the rest of the a. C. A. Would stay intact including coverage for preexisting conditions. The Supreme Court has said, Justice Roberts said the ustices looked for ways to protect the constitutionality of the statutes. I think it is unlikely that the whole Affordable Care about will fall. If it did, im a cosponsor of the protects act. We have moved on it in the past three weeks. Chuck schumer, my opponent has pledged allegiance to has filibustered that in the last three weeks. In the unlikely event that it is not severable, we would pass the protects act and protect preexisting coverage and thats how we would do it. Lori thank you, sir. Mike dr. Gross, lets talk about your position when it comes to healthcare. You advocate for a governmentrun single payer healthcare system. Now youre proposing a less comprehensive approach so people can buy into medicare and other reforms. Why did you change your plans three years ago . Mr. Gross first of all, i have to respond to my opponent. I have never once supported medicare for all. What i have done is studied and written about drivers of healthcare cost. Im going to be the doctor that gets the public option. I charged the same or even less than my peers. It is that healthcare costs are three to five times higher in alaska than they are in the lower 48. I dont support medicare for all. But you on the other hand have voted this many times to repeal the a. C. A. And get rid of coverage for preexisting conditions. You dont understand healthcare and how it relates to the alaskan economy and youre in washington, d. C. Now and about to confirm a Supreme Court justice that is going to create a tremendous problem for americans. Mike that is a rebuttal to senator sullivan. But my question was about your position. Just three years ago, you advocated publicly in the newspaper in anchorage for a governmentrun Single Health care pair care payer system. Why the change in position . Where do you stand . Mr. Gross i have studied the drivers of healthcare cost. I have written about medicare for all and single payers and dueling payers with a public system and a private system. What i think is best for a policy of alaska and our country is to have a public option where individuals and Small Businesses can buy into medicare at cost at no one elses expense. Thats what i think would work best for alaska and our country. Mike where does private insurance fit into this . One of the criticisms of the a. C. Sambings a lot of people lost the ability to keep their private policies and keep the coverage they wanted. Mr. Gross we have a healthcare exchanges with private insurance. I think we should have a public option on the exchange as well to compete with the private system. Many, many people wont want to switch but there are a lot of individuals and Small Businesses in our state and in our country who have been crushed by the high cost of healthcare. Buying into medicare will cost a small fraction of what it costs to buy into the private system and medicare covers preexisting conditions by the way. So i think it will be a way to create competition in the marketplace and drive down costs in the private system. Lori thank you for that. Lets turn now to the topic of Resource Development. Senator sullivan, you said you spend to make sure the pebble mine remains dead. What specifically do you intend to do to make sure that happens and what can you do to make good on that definitive statement . You have one minute. Sen. Sullivan lori, i just want to quickly touch on the exchange of healthcare. My opponent just looked alaskans in the eye and said he wasnt for medicare for all. That is completely false. Go look at his oped. Go look at his tweets. You have to fess up. Lori sir, lets move to Resource Development. Sen. Sullivan back the Resource Development. What i have said with regards to pebble is that pebble did not meet the high standards that we ave with regard to every resource project in the state. They went through the process. I oppose pebble mine. Im against pebble mine. If the core of engineers doesnt do their job, they shall do their job. To me, the issue that is an important one but there is a lot of other Resource Development projects being permeated in alaska and my pound lori i want to follow up here. Ill give you another 30 seconds but im looking for specifics about what you would do to make sure that when you say i promise to make sure the pebble mine is dead, what you can actually do to make good on that commitment. You have 30 seconds. Sen. Sullivan what i did throughout the entire process is making sure it was based on science and data and not politics. That alaskans have access to Decision Makers at the highest level of the federal government and when the decision came out that it was going to harm the critical bristol salmon industry, and if it moves through e. P. A. Where they have the ability for a veto, then i would encourage that. Made sure the process worked. Lori we have to leave it there. Thank you, sir. Well have to leave it there. Lets give him one minute to respond. Mr. Gross thank you, lori. No one believes dan for one second on pebble mine. He has been enabling pebble mine. He accepted 35,000 worth of Campaign Contributions from the pebble mine executives and their ubsidiaries. Their lead lobbyist sits on dans billionaire familys board of directors. The process is the permit. To stop it, you have to defund the army corps of engineers and the other is to activate section 404, the clean water act and the e. P. A. When i get to the senate, im going to take action to stop the pebble mine instead of dan who has been quiet in the corner trying to ride out the election. I have been opposed to pebble mine since i was in my 20s and i will work hard to stop it when lori we will give senator sullivan another 30 seconds to respond. Sen. Sullivan he is now saying he will defund the corps of engineers. This is what the people who are supporting him would want to do with all Resource Development projects in alaska. Right now, we have many projects and more. Project, the creek mine. Hemy opponent gets elected, will empower the antialaska will shut down every single one of these resources. The future of our state lori thank you. On this topic of Resource Development, if you are elected, you could ensure that democrats have the majority of the u. S. Them an senate. The great majority oppose drilling in the wildlife refuge. Wouldnt electing you achieve the opposite . How would you get other members of the Democratic Caucus to see things your way . How do you look Chuck Schumer in the eye and say i want to draw this . Mr. Gross i am an independent. I am not beholden to the democratic party. I will caucus because the republicans have failed. I know how Important Oil and gas are here in the state. We would not have a Permanent Fund dividend in this state. I would never oppose ending fracking in the state like joe biden suggested last night. I am a strong advocate for continued development of our oil and gas fields because it is so important to our economy. Dan has completely failed to deliver when he was commissioner of national resources. He pushed through senate bill 31, promising we would have one billion barrels of oil a day. We are down to 400,000 barrels of oil a day. Is about to lose the dividend because of him. He has been a one man wrecking ball to the alaskan economy. Mike senator sullivan, you have one minute to respond. Sen. Sullivan one of the most important issues in this senate race, my opponent is being funded by farleft groups who do not care about alaska. 25 million in this race in the last three months. They are all affiliated with Chuck Schumer. They do not care about our stay. They care about one thing, schumer becomes the Senate Majority leader. My opponent is the tool they believe can make that happen. This is what will happen, they will implement their antialaska agenda. How do we know . Because this is what they did before. I thought it when my opponent was making all this money as a talked her, and they are saying they are going as a doctor, and they are saying they are saying theyre going to do it again. You saw joe biden. It is antioil. It is also antimilitary. Donateday, my opponent to Bernie Sanders on a defund the military amendment. The notion that he will do it is ridiculous. Mike we are trying to keep the time ballots, so lets move on. We are going to give the candidates the chance to ask their opponent a question. The format will be a 22nd question and a one minute answer and you seconds for rebuttal. Senator sullivan, you will ask the first question. Sen. Sullivan you have been posting about how you got very rich gaming the Health Care System. I encourage everybody to go o nline and see for themselves. Have been running a practice that earns you to . 5 million a year. Will you be returning the money to alaskans . Mr. Gross as i said before, it is not that i was making three to five times more than my peers. I wasnt. I was charging the same or even less than my peers. It is that Health Care Costs in alaska for specialists and hospitals are many times three to five times higher than the lower 48. That is the problem, dan. That is why i went back to school to study the drivers of Health Care Costs and when i get to the senate i will be the doctor that gets the public option across the finish line. With the high healthcare costs here in alaska, it is hurting individuals and Small Businesses and preventing new businesses from moving to the state. But unlike you, you voted this many times to repeal the aca with no plan to replace it whatsoever. You have no plan to cover preexisting conditions, to lower the Health Care Costs that people are dealing with. I do have a plan, and i did not create the system. I came home to it. All i did is come back home to it, to my hometown of juneau, to raise my kids. I walked back to a system that has not been hopeful to alaska. Mike sen. Sullivan senator sullivan, you have 30 seconds for a rebuttal. Go online. An you will see at unethical doctor. Think about my opponents proposition. I know how the debate system works. I was part of it. Now elect me and i will fix it. Who put bernie made off in charge . You have no credibility on health care and youve been the strongest advocate of medicare for all. You deny it now, but that is the truth. Senator sullivan, thank you. Dr. Gross, it is your chance to ask a question to senator sullivan. Just took aou meaningless vote in the senate to defend the Affordable Care act, but given your entire career has been built on tearing down the fort will care act, taking away insurance for preexisting conditions into stripping health care from alaskans, how do you expect anyone to trust you on that last vote . Mike senator sullivan, your one minute response, please. Sen. Sullivan like i said, i voted many times since i got to the senate to defend preexisting conditions. The coverage, they still exist right now. What we did with regard to the of the get rid individual mandate, which i heard that you and joe biden want to bring back. That was attacks on working families. The cadillac tax, which would have had 80 90 of alaska tax, it would have crushed our system, we got rid of that. These are things we think are important, but we are keeping issues like preexisting conditions, which we still have, and coverage for people who are 26 and under. The key issues on health care this week is we are at a crossroads. The democrats in power want more government control. You want socialized health care. Public option. We want the patient to have the power. No surprise, medical billing, things like that. Mike you have 30 seconds for rebuttal. Dr. Gross you keep talking about who i am going to empower, but lets talk about what you are empowering by being in washington, d. C. You have overseen the worst economy in alaskas history. You are dismantling health care. You are supporting the trade war, which is hurting alaska fishing by pricing and markets. You are about to strip away a womans right to choose by confirming a Supreme Court justice who is opposed to it. You are certainly enabling pebble mine and defunding the native Tribal Health system. Now we will turn to taylor is monitoring audience questions on social media tonight. Taylor we are looking for vera viewer comments. Use the debate for the state. This question comes from facebook. Do you agree with the overwhelming majority of scientists that Climate Change has been caused by or increased due to activities of humans . Will Climate Change impacts alaskans in the next two to three decades . Dr. Gross Climate Change is real and we have to be aware of that. I believe man is contributing to Climate Change. There is no question. When i was a kid, there were huge piles of snow in juneau. My kids did not have the same experience. My opponent says i am in favor of the Green New Deal, but i never said that ever. What i am in favor of his Clean Renewable Energy projects like nearly 100 ith Renewable Energy. If we can have that in rural parts of the states, we could have Economic Development and new jobs. I am a big fan of using Clean Renewable Energy wherever we can. But at the same time, supporting our oil and gas production, so long as there is a worldwide demand for oil, and we got it, then we should produce it because it is good for our state and good for jobs. Taylor senator sullivan, the same question to you. Sen. Sullivan maybe we are not that far apart. I certainly believe that Climate Change is happening and alaska is ground zero. What i have been trying to do is both add resiliency in the highway bill that we passed. We had a most 1 billion for Climate Change we had almost 1 billion for Climate Change. Advocateen the lead for research. We have doubled the amount of Research Since the Obama Administration, from 65 million all the way to understand the impacts of a warming ocean. Sustainableave a ocean for our fisheries. Our focuso differ is on the Green New Deal is a topdown approach. Havehouse gas emissions declined because of the revolution empowering hard left democrats lori we have to. Leaveit there to take a break. We are gathering questions from alaskans across the state tonight. Our next question comes from a student with anchorage youth boat. Hello. I am a 10th grader at West Anchorage high school. Here is my question. Will you speak out against those who deny the existence of systemic racism and a need for further reform to ensure racial equality in our country . Lori dr. Gross, your one minute to respond. Dr. Gross there is no question there are racial and social injustices in this country and to some of them are structural in nature. This really speaks to the wealth inequality problem that we have in our country. It is a huge problem. Right here in alaska, we have a terrible problem with Domestic Violence and sexual assault, which has gone up while senator sullivan has been in power. They say he has done a lot for it, but the fact of the matter is we have the highest rate in the country and it needs to be addressed. I put forward a plan on my website. Recidivismhe rate of and provides aid for the victims sa. Dv i will open my door to all parties involved and listen to ways we can address the problem of wealth inequality which is behind a lot of the racial and social injustices we see. You haveator sullivan, one minute to answer this question. Dr. Gross we still have sen. Sullivan we still have many problems with racial challenges. I was a cosponsor of the justice act. Senator tim scott put it forward. Unfortunately, it was blocked by the Senate Minority leader. But i have also been a very big advocate for more Law Enforcement in our state, not less. The defund the police movement, which is part of the farleft, it certainly doesnt work here. We have gotten over 30 new positions from the federal government and over 70 million to help with Law Enforcement, particularly in our Rural Communities. As to what he just said, i am offended. I have been focused on the mystic and sexual assault. The act passed in the senate. Passed. Trafficking act i will continue to be the leader on that. Mike we do want to point out we did inform both candidates about our time restrictions. Both campaigns agreed to those. That is why lori and i are calling time on these. We have a lot of ground to cover and we ask both of our candidates to please follow the rules. We do want to stay on time. Iseral Authorities Say iran behind voter intimidation in alaska. Officials say russia has hacked into election infrastructure and it poses an even greater threat. What do you think the federal government can or should do to stop this, senator sullivan . Senator murkowski and i had a detailed brief on this with the fbi. It is a challenge. We put out a statement, alaskans need to continue to stay vigilant, particularly with attacks from iran and russia. This is an issue i have been focused on since i came to the senate. Four years ago when the russians were attacking us, we were not retaliating. We did not have a plan. Since that time, from my position in the Armed Services committee, we are focused on making sure that we go on offense. Thatthis iranian attack hit alaska, i have been encouraging officials to make sure we retaliate at a time and place of our choosing so there is a cost to the actions. The department of Homeland Security is working very closely with every state Election Officials office. I talked to the Lieutenant Governor today about these issues. We need to stay vigilant, but it is a threat and we need to make sure we protect our systems but retaliate when we need to. Mike dr. Gross, your one minute response. Dr. Gross senator sullivan has actually done nothing to make our elections more secure and is actually standing alongside the president , who is welcoming the russians to come in and mess with our elections. He is welcoming the president himself to undermine our elections. Election security is actually very critical. It is one of the biggest things i have heard on the campaign trail before we got shut down on traveling because of covid. People are concerned about outside influence. When i get to the senate, i will pass legislation to protect our elections, to make sure we are not invaded by the russians, the iranians, the north koreans, or anyone else because our votes need to be sacred. Lori thank you, gentlemen. Rural alaska has a chronic shortage of Law Enforcement officers. In 2019, attorney general william barr declared a Law Enforcement emergency for Rural Communities and pledged more than 10 million to help. What else do you think is needed to ensure rural residents have adequate Public Safety . Dr. Gross, you have one minute. Dr. Gross they need funding. I just talked about my plan for Domestic Violence and sexual assaults. The program is very underfunded and needs more federal funding. Tribal fully support sovereignty for addressing some of its Public Safety issues. We need to Work Together and be creative to address this really complicated problem. I have spent a lot of time in rural alaska as a kid growing up in the Southeast Alaska and having been all over the state. I understand the challenges, but i am willing to work with tribal leaders to come up with solutions because what is happening right now is clearly not working. Under Dan Sullivans 10 year, the rate of dvsa is going like this. When i get there, it is going to go down. Lori senator sullivan, you have one minute. Sen. Sullivan when i was attorney general spearheading the campaign, which i am still very passionate about, i looked for the goal that every community in rural alaska once a Law Enforcement that wants a Law Enforcement officer should have one. That is what they have in the lower 48 and what we should have in alaska. I have not wavered on that position at all as a u. S. Senator. In fact, senator murkowski and i invited attorney general barr up here. Since that time, he has become a huge advocate. Close to 70 million directed to our state, 38 new positions. That is action we have taken. I have been very focused on the Domestic Violence issue, but also on the missing and murdered Indigenous Women issues. An interior secretary leading that effort, but i will continue on all of these efforts. Of politicalue independence has been a hot topic in both of your ad campaigns. Actor grows, you are running as an independent. You have said in the past that your values are to the left and you would caucus with democrats if you are elected. Why should alaskans believe you are an independent and not really a democrat . Dr. Gross because i am an independent. I grew up in the most bipartisan relationship alaska has ever seen between my father and j hammond. Am an alaskan. I am beholden to alaskans. That quote was taken out of context. I said some of my values are to the left and some of my values to the right, and that is true. I am a lot more fiscally responsible than don sullivan has been. He gave tasks dan sullivan has been. He gave tax cuts to his brother and father. I believe in an enforceable immigration policy. I am not going to take away anybodys guns or take away anybodys weapons. I am going to caucus with the democrats because the republicans have completely failed when it comes to health care and i am a very strong believer in governments staying out of peoples personal lives, unlike my opponent, who is about to strip away a womans right to choose. Are you going to tell men when they are allowed to die . It is a critical issue here. My opponent tells one thing to his rich lower 48 donors. 25 million. Almost all of it is from people who want Chuck Schumer, the Senate Majority leader. They dont care about our state. The fact that my opponent has already pledged his allegiance to Chuck Schumer, the Senate Majority leader, and said he wants to be in a leadership position, we have seen this before. It happened in 2008. He was saying the exact same things. Goes againthere he talking about schumer and pelosi. It is like the only language dan knows is partisanship. All he is trying to do is distract voters from the fact he has failed alaska in many ways. He has failed the alaskan natives, he has tried to take away the Tribal Health money through the Medicaid Expansion, he is in that billing the pebble mine. He has put alaska into a tailspin. We are in a fiscal crisis and we are about to lose our pfds thanks to senate bill 21. Mike lets give senator sullivan a couple seconds to respond. I had 20 more seconds to respond to the initial question. Regard to whatth happened in 2008, he said the same thing. Look what happened. Harry reid became Senate Majority leader and they did exactly what they will do now, shut down our state, shut down our resource to vomit opportunities, cut our military, they went after the second amendment. That is the agenda of my opponent will empower. He has pledged allegiance to schumer. Lori i have a question for you, senator sullivan. Senator lisa mccaskey has gone against the Lisa Murkowski has gone against the gop on issues. Do you feel more pressure to support the Republican Leadership in the senate because of those things . I have a great relationship with senator murkowski and she and i worked together on all the key issues with regard to alaska, whether it is second amendment, Resource Development, rebuilding our ananwar, kinko road,. We have made so much progress on key things that relate to our state. I know that he refers to it frequently, but senator murkowski has endorsed me and has publicly called out my opponent for his dishonesty. I vote with my party. I think it makes sense. But if you are not voting with the party, you voting with schumer. Our secondis gutting amendments, although those he tried to bring to the floor, the votes against alaska natives and the cares act end the heroes act. These are areas where i certainly do not agree with Chuck Schumer and i will keep voting for what is good for alaska. Lori lets let dr. Gross followup. Away 160 you took million from the alaska native corporations. I think youre the one that screwed up in the cares act. You keep referring to me as a rich doctor, but i bought four shares of chevron oil stock when i was eight years old, right after alaska discovered oil. I started two businesses when i was 14. I bought microsoft when i was. In my early 20s i am proud of who i am. Ive worked really hard. Unlike you, i did not go to rich summercamp and i did not have a family doing direct business with the communist chinese government. Shame on you. Mike lets turn back to taylor perez, who is monitoring social media. Taylor we want to thank all of our viewers for engaging with us on our social media platforms. This question goes to both of the candidates. This is from amy on facebook. Much of the advertising available seems focused on irrelevant issues like hunting, fishing, or birthplace. Why do you think voters should choose you over your competitor . Dr. Gross i am going to bring jobs to this day. Dan has presided over the worst economy in alaskas history. He has destroyed our Permanent Fund dividend. I am going to get control of covid, and i am going to be a strong advocate for clean, Renewable Energy jobs which will lower the cost of energy, especially in rural alaska and promote Economic Development. Having lower Health Care Costs will allow alaska to be more competitive and invite other businesses to move here, Like Technology and information and finance businesses, who are better off setting up shop in the lower 48 because their overhead is lower. My opponent does not seem to understand how health care fits into the economy. It is critical we fix this problem. My opponent has voted this many times to get rid of it. If youenator sullivan, could tell us the top three reasons why you feel voters should choose you over your competitor. Sen. Sullivan when i ran for the senate in 2014, it was the first time i had run from anything. Run for anything. Heres why. Because we had a federal government, it was biden, harry reid, and barack obama that was shutting down our state, shutting down our resources, shutting down access, killing jobs and hurting working families, and gutting our military. Ive vowed to work with alaskans, promised them to reverse that. We have reversed all of those policies. We have made Resource Development a huge opportunity for jobs. We are rebuilding our military in a huge way. We now have access to our land again. We are going to build on that. But if my opponent gets elected, he will empower that antialaska agenda that Chuck Schumer and biden have already announced. So that is key. Question we next will have only 30 seconds to respond to. This comes from facebook. Is there any action you can take to help the economy of Southeast Alaska if canada does not allow cruise ships to get through to alaska again next year . Worksullivan yes, we can with them. I have talked to the canadian ambassador about this very issue. We can work with regards to federal law where we can have an exemption to enable our cruise ships to bypass canada. It is not the jones act exemption, it is another exemption, but we are looking at that. We had a discussion with the cruise ship industry. I want to make sure we have a competitive Tourism Industry. My upon it has been talking about putting more taxes toward things that wont happen straight. That wont help our state. Dr. Gross we need to lower Health Care Costs and encourage other businesses to move to our state. That is number one, number two, and number three. So many jobs have gone virtual because of the covid pandemic, which is really getting started. Only 2 of americans have tested positive when we have already lost 220 thousand americans as a result of the pandemic. This is going to be going on for a long time. There are a lot of opportunities for virtual jobs, which would be great in rural parts of the state, so we need to expand the internet to parts of the state that dont have access to it. Mike it is time for our lightning round. Many of these are yes or no questions. Others will have 20 seconds or so for response. Lori this first question will have. A 22nd response should the Electoral College be abolished . You have 20 seconds answer. Dr. Gross no, i dont support it. I believe working within the system to make the system better, but i dont support getting rid of it. Sen. Sullivan i dont support it at all. It would hurt alaska. All of these things are on the table. They are talking about packing the Supreme Court. Should oil leasing be allowed in the National Petroleum reserve as the Trip Administration has proposed . As the Trump Administration has proposed . Sen. Sullivan i am glad we are leasing it again. The Obama Administration took half of it off the table. They will do that again if they get power. That is why i am talking but the antialaska agenda. Dr. Gross i support Oil Production in the end pra and in anwar. Here, or colleague senator sullivan, he has fared to he has failed to deliver. We are at 400,000 barrels of oil a day. You failed alaska. Mike yes or no, how do you plan to vote on ballot measure number one. Dr. Gross i will definitely vote yes. Sen. Sullivan no. One last quick question here. Yes or no, how will you vote on ballot measure number two . Sen. Sullivan no. Dr. Gross i will vote yes. Is time for closing statements from the candidates. We flipped a coin and a senator sullivan will go first. You have one minute. Dr. Gross sen. Sullivan sen. Sullivan i have had the honor of working with alaskans to help realize our enormous potential. I promised to reverse the policies of politicians who were shutting down our economy, killing jobs, and gutting our economy. We kept that promise. Like tens of thousands of alaskans, i also served in the u. S. Military as a marine. Me and my family understand that you those of service above self. Unfortunately, my opponent has led the opposite creed. We are at a crossroads. The strength of our recovery and Economic Future will depend on this election. We can work with the federal governor as a partner and build on the significant progress we have made. Fight also continue to the antialaska agenda that my opponent would empower. Ourther, im convinced best days are ahead. Dr. Gross thanks again to all of you for being here this evening. This campaign has been about one simple thing who can you trust to put alaska first . Ever since senator sullivan showed up in alaska, ever since senator sullivan showed up, things have gotten worse. ,il demand and prices are low and our Tourism Industry is suffering badly because of his failure to address covid. Andromised to bring jobs Economic Growth to the state, enabled hishe has corporate donors and is trying to dismantle our Health Care System right in the midst of a worldwide pandemic. Its time for a change. Senator mike s a mike who not only understands your issues but can fix them. If you are ready for a doctor to putes, who is ready the state over with eight days left until election day, on november 3, when Voters Decide who will control congress and occupy the white house next year, state with cspan. Stay with cspan. Watch cspan 2020 coverage every day ondemand at cspan. Org or listen on the cspan radio app. Your place for an unfiltered view of politics. s washington journal. Every day, we are taking your calls live on the air. The news of the day and policy issues that impact you. Well take a look at the battleground state of wisconsin chiefhe Washington Bureau for the milwaukee journal sentinel, craig gilbert. Watch cspans washington journal, live at 7 00 eastern tuesday morning. Join the discussion with phone calls, facebook comments, text messages, and tweets. Tuesday, joeon biden speaking in warm springs, georgia, home of fdrs little white house. Harrism. , senator kamala campaigns in reno, nevada. Vice president mike pence speaks to reporters in greenville, south carolina. Pharmaceutical supply chain, the Heritage Foundation hears from occupation operation warp speed. The governors debate in indiana between Governor Eric Holcomb and his challengers democrat woody myers in independent candidate rainwater. Tuesday evening, President Trump holds a Campaign Rally in omaha, nebraska. Cspan, online, or listen on the free cspan radio app. President trump spoke to reporters when he arrived in pennsylvania for a day of campaigning. Here is some of what he had to say about the coronavirus pandemic, is challenger, joe biden, and the polls in pennsylvania. Pres. Trump we have a big event. We have three of them today. This will be a group of people that we know very well from this area. Amazing attendance at amazing poll numbers. We have poll numbers that i will be talking about up there that have been very extraordinary. Leading inare pennsylvania. I think we will win pennsylvania. So i dont think i have to worry about that. I think we are going to win pennsylvania by more than we did last time. I dont understand you. I am not. Go ahead. Reporter joe says you waved the white flag on fighting coronavirus. Pres. Trump he has waved a white flag on life he does not leave his basement. He is a pathetic candidate. Absolutely the opposite. We have done an incredible job. Take a look what is happening in europe. What is happening in europe, nobody has seen anything like it. We are doing a great job. We are absolutely rounding the corner. Other than the fake news. Are going to see probably in the white house this evening, see how it is working out. A very nice event. Between azerbaijan and armenia. Pres. Trump the ceasefire is holding. Ok . We will see you at the event. Was i offered . No, but we have the vaccine very soon. We will have it very soon. They have not been approved yet. They are going to be approved very soon. We are now eight days away from election day and President Trump continued his campaign for a stop in altoona, pennsylvania. He spoke to supporters from the airport. This runs an hour, 10 minutes. And i wont forget the men o