Mike is retired marine lieutenant colonel, a farmer and former newspaper editor. We want you to join the conversation with your questions on twitter, send an email, use the web form, make sure to check the box that says youre not a a robot or you may give us a call. The last few days in kentucky and across the nation, protests have erupted in response to Police Killings of george floyd inminneapolis , Rihanna Taylor in louisville were shot eight times while she was in her home and today we understand the killing of David Maccabee, a Business Owner in louisville. Elections in minnesotas said last week during one of governor andy bashirs press conferences and i quote when he was talking about Racial Injustice and alleged Police Brutality he said its not the minority population thats been silent but rather the majority has been death. So i have a question and we will start left to the right, representative booker, you first. How have you actively sought to be part of the solution to heal racial divisions and not just render an action list or action was rhetoric and name one specific policy or action you commit to doing win or lose this race Going Forward thank you for starting this forum off the right way. Addressing the challenges kentuckians are facing as we speak. I barely made it today because i left the streets where so many kentuckians are demanding justice and accountability and what were seeing now in louisville and all over our country across our commonwealth our people are still ignored and abandoned. They feel like justice is not accountable to them. They feel like their humanity is ignored and denied and very specifically there feeling the weight of Structural Racism and inequity that has permeated for generations. I speak boldly on that and informs my platform and why im running for senate to be Mitch Mcconnell because we need real change not just tweets, not just words and so i stood not only in the legislature but in every level of government demanding for systemlevel change and accountability and even in this moment of racial tension and angst standing up to say t we need to get rid of no knock warrants, the same dynamic that allowed for Rihanna Taylor to be killed in her home and also understand we need to reform and reimagine how we engage with policing instead of a militaristic operation how do we bring more partnership and collaboration into the community and create more accountability for citizen review boards with subpoena power. Im going to fight for that Law Enforcement trust and integrity act. How do we make sure we are accounting for the Racial Disparities and inequities in our justice system. Mister broihier same question to you and Amanda Palmer demanded justice for her daughter rihanna at a press conference and the family wants Police Officers in her depth to be charged. They want them to be fired first and eventually charged in breannas death and what specific policy proposal will you be committed to whether you win or lose this primary . I do agree. I think the firing of the chief of police of louisville metro is maybe too late obviously i think its a good start and i think. Which came today which came today, yes maam but i started my campaign in july founded on a call for we economic and social justice for all and as time went on things just sped up. They just got as we went through the jewel myers having their wages stalling and an impeachment trial and a Global Pandemic left over hundred 10,000 americans dead and now the great cities of and country are burning that call for social and Economic Justice isnt a request anymore, its ademand. What does it look like in your view, specifically what will you do . You can call for it but people want to know whats the plan. I think what we have to do is first demilitarized our Police Forces. Weve been telling them theres been a war on drug for decades and this war, you tell someone theyre out more for long enough and they start believing that war. We can start the process by stopping the selling of military equipment to Police Forces read theres no reason that a Police Department or countyPolice Department needs to have armored vehicles. Its set the wrong mindset in the police. The police think wthey are at war. War needs an enemy and the enemy to many times our africanamericans. Miss mcgrath this is an issue when it comes to demilitarization of police to that rand paul agrees with and he wrote an oped in Time Magazine a few years ago about Law Enforcement becoming too militarized washington incentivizing them to do so. For some of the same reasons mister broihier and mister brooker have spoken off. Yourposition on the militarization of police, you believe Police Brutality exists and is there Structural Racism in Law Enforcement . I think there is in Structural Racism in america and i think that the death of Rihanna Taylor and george floyd and David Maccabee last night are tragic. And what youre seeing around the country with hundreds and around the world with hundreds of protesters show and demonstrators show that communities are hurting. And that their voices are not hubeing heard and thats why theres protests. And i think as leaders the first thing we need to do is listen. We need to listen to them. The second thing we need to do is we need to foster as leaders a command climate. What does that mean . In the military when you have a unit everybody that is under you is a reflection of the leader. Okay . And their actions are a reflection of that leadership so in the case of george floyd in minneapolis and in his really tragic and unfortunate death you not only had a bad cop doing terrible things but you have three other cops looking on doing nothing. And thats what im talking about. We have to foster a command climate within the Police Community that tackles some of this. You agree those other three officers should be charged inminneapolis . The first thing we have to do is have a complete investigation on all of this and thats why i called for transparent investigations. Thats so important to make sure that we have trust between the policing communities and the communities themselves and i think Breanna Taylors mother Tamika Palmer said it best that we want justice for rihanna and we should demand at the same time, she said no more violence. And i think thats really important to, that we should have leaders that not trying to escalate the situation but the escalate, thats what leader should be doing. Many are making the point there are protesters and then there are writers those are two different groups and i want to ask you this question about Police Brutality, since 2015 the Washington Post has been logging fatal shootings by onduty Police Officers and in that time that there thhave been 4728 such shootings. Blacks account for less than 13 percent of the nations population but the rate at which black americans were killed by police is more than twice as high as the rate for white americans so you believe theres a culture of systemic racism in Law Enforcement andhow do we go about ending it in your view . Absolutely, the systemic, structural, its very institutional and i appreciate my colleague saying that we need to listen to those that are most affected. This is my family. Thats my story. I lived that. Jive been in the streets demanding justice after my cousins were murdered the last four years read this isnt to for me. This is an aspirational to say we need to listen and do more. We need results right now and it means we have to acknowledge the challenges that are levied within our institution that see someone that looks like me that doesnt come from alive as a Deadly Weapon before a human being and thats why ive been standing around talking about accountability within our Law Enforcement but its structural and it goes across the board, we criminalize poverty. You expect a different response now that she comrade has been fired. I worked with the mayor today and i released some proposals this morning and holding including full release of body cams and full accountability and understanding why the E National Guard was sent in like a military force as if they are at war with taxpaying citizens and i helped in acknowledging that these lawenforcement officers that killed Breanna Taylor should be fired. We dont need to mince words andhelp in conversation about the removal of the police chief. We have a lot of workto do and were taking the steps but we need to get going urgently. Do you believe the kentucky National Guard should have been deployed . Because having military presence somethingelse to the community that they are serving. In the statement i released this morning i made it clear that they should not have been. The escalation that has come at the hands of Law Enforcement and many of these people are people i love dearly and there are so many people that want us to be safe but they took an adversarial posture. A confrontational posture to people that are hurting and demand to be accounted for and it continued to escalate and now the barbecue man as we call them has been killed. So no they shouldnt have been there and ive asked the governor and local leadership to call them off. Misterboyer, should thE National Guard be called off . I think so. This is a sensitive and difficult operation. I was coming into the building with my wife and there was a young lawenforcement officer and he looked like no offense to him but he looked like a lady and i could not imagine him facing the crowd faand the fear of going through his mind and thE National Guardsmen are no different than that and they have most of them not received training. This is a difficult thing to do and i think uli understand put some on the street who wasnt a Louisville Police officer but it blew up and i still do not understand where the shooting is coming from but with the hundreds of cameras that are rolling on the streets and no one can say where the shooting is coming from, it does not make anysense at all. Miss mcgrath same question. I wore the uniform of the United States 24 years and anytime somebody wears a uniform whether its a Police Uniform for the uniform of the military, youre held to a higher standard. Youre in a position of public trust and that comes with a lot of responsibility and it comes with accountability and that stands with leadership so anytime a tragic event happens the first thing we need to do is have an independent investigation, make sure we find all the facts and hold people accountable and i think its so important we need police in our community and that relationship between the police and every day people, theres got to be a trust there. How would you advocate improving Community Relations . I think theres first of all as i mentioned before we got to listen to people of color like representative booker because they are living that. Thats really important. I think there are commonsense things we can do. Theres legislation right now at the federal level to ensure anytime nothing like this occurs where theres a deadly use of force is controversial, that police use this force, an investigation happens anything outside the chain of command and is looked at from adifferent entity, a federal entity. I think those things are important to continue to make sure we have trust here between communities andPolice Forces. A question on the second t amendment , an email from abby rogers, mister boy are ill give this question to you first. What are the candidates box on the Second Amendment and what do they plan to do to combat gunviolence. Thanks for the person who wrote in, i am proud to be a rostandard action candidate of distinction and i met anmy first weekend campaigning and ive been on board ever since rid kentucky moms got to support, they realize this is kentucky i have two simple goals. Universal background checks and red flag laws like you find in the violence against iswomen act. Both those laws have come out of the house with overwhelming bipartisan support, overwhelming bipartisan support in the senate and did not move forward for one reason. Because Mitch Mcconnell doesnt want them to because he is in the pocket of the gun industry and the nra. These are laws that are completely supported by the American People even most members of the nra. When igo to the senate , the first thing were going to do is clear out miss mcconnells desk and have background checks andpass the violence against women act. Miss mcgrath. Im a mother of three small kids and my kids have to go through School Shooting drills, something i never thought that i would have to see as a mother. At the same time, im somebody who fought for this country. I was a marine for 20 years and im proSecond Amendment, im a gun owner and i think we ought to start with the things most gun owners agree should happen. Most gun owners and nongun owners agree that isa better background check. We all want to keep weapons out of the hands of people who are going to hurt kids and our children and us. And so that is the first step and its something that senator Mitch Mcconnell will take action on because hes bought off by professional interests. I think other actions, the cdc and nih should be able to study gun violence as ahealth concern. This is definitely something that should be done. The violence against women act thats been sitting on senator mcconnells desk is just unbelievable that hewill not act on that. Though those are just come up the things that i would do. Mister booker, same question to you. For sunlight to stress that this is very personal to me and im speaking right now for a lot of people that never get heard and im on the only person sitting up here and has worked on the ground in kentucky. All across this commonwealth with people that understand the importance of the Second Amendment andunderstand the critical importance of common sense gun safety. I was director at the department of fish and wildlife in one of the things i know that are critically important is that we have the leadership to say that we are not gun safety to be in the front of the Second Amendment but were looking to honor it by making sure that its not being abuse so we can keep people safe. That is why i am done commonsense candidate as well and i was endorsed by every town during my statehouse run because people understand where i stand , they know where i stood. An understanding that gun violence is a Public Health crisis we need to address this comprehensively. When my cousin tj was murdered on Easter Sunday i have his dog tag in my pocket and the young man pulled the trigger that killed him was dealing with a lot of issues and there are so many things that permeate around incidents of violence that we cannot ignore if we want things to change. Yes we did expanded background checks and we need to close the loophole and yes we need legislation and thats why i cosponsored it in the statehouse and when we criminalize poverty, when we ignore the people of kentucky we put utpeople in a situation where their pain isnt noticed, their Mental Health issues are taken care of and then when violence happens we asked the questionwhy . We need leaders that understand that answer to that. This question from andrea ray of louisville, who will call for a complete overhaul of Law Enforcement in kentucky and who will ask the louisville mayor brad fisher to resign. Are you raising your hand u mark. I can go first. Is that raising your hand you want to respond . It was a twopart question. So ive already been leading on the overhaul. I work for an Organization Called city united, not citizens and we worked to build conference of Violence Reduction plans for mayors all over the country and louisville is one of those cities looking at gun violence as a Public Health crisis read how do we leverage the faith community, Law Enforcement, citizens voices leading the way includingyoung people. Will you call for the resignation of mayor greg fisher . I believe he needs to be accountable for what hes doing and these officers should be fired and it needs to happen immediately and he needs to provide clear transparency on how he will make things better moving forward. You will notcall for the resignation of the mayor of louisville. He has to earn his face. Mister broihier, question to you, would you be willing to callfor the resignation of the louisville mayor . I would, if he does not take responsibility for this and does not change things immediately i mean, im glad that he fired the chief but the body camera need to come out and im talking about pronto and if not i would call for his resignation. Miss mcgrath. I would not call for the resignation of the mayor. Right now leaders need totry to deescalate the situation, not escalated. As a senator, what you should be doing is looking for things, plays at the federal level to make things better in this area. One of the things you could do is and theres legislation out there to make sure that we have better training for police, to make sure that the underlying issues that are causing a lot of this is the underlying social injustice that we see and so i want to be a senator that is committed to tackling those underlying issues and im talking Racial Injustice, the educational injustice. The systemic injustice that you see and the policies that we need a senator its going to have policies that will tackle that and not just talk about Police Brutality and move on. Allen, a graduate student in lexington asked this question of you. Have you been on the ground in louisville with the protesters the lastthree days or in lexington or elsewhere . I have not. And why . Ive been with my family and ive had some family things going on this past weekend that ive been following the news and watching and making sure that i think were in themiddle of the pandemic. So we also have to look at is that the place to be right now . Mister boyer, same question to you. I have not and with my campaign i only have two hard and fast rules for my campaign staff. You want to talk about war, combat, valor, my voice and the other hard and fast rule we have is we dont use people as props and i said if i went to louisville or lexington it would appear opportunistic and i did not want to be put in that position. If i was a citizen, id be with them but i did not want it to appear like i was trying to take advantage of people who are really suffering. The last question on this topic comes from heatherayer. We are not props. Heather air from frankfurt, do you support defunding the police and redirecting those funds to communities affected by Police Brutality and systemic racism . I think we need police, we cant defund the police. We can fundamentally change them but we cant make them go away though defunding lythe , redirecting funds that are being wasted, sure but a better use of our money would be to stop having prisons that are for profit. We have a cycle that politicians make laws and get donations from people who run president s and created this process where people are the material that go into this machine. We need to break the cycle. I love rather take the money and profit out of the business and use that for helping people instead of it going in the pockets of politicians who keep this horrible cycle of imprisonment and this pipeline from high school to prison going to ask where we need to break the money chain. Defunding police, mister brooker. Something ive been working on for years we have to reimagine policing which means if were dealingwith Public Safety and not just Law Enforcement. Eric consolidated Amendment Act that managed more funding for Law Enforcement means are not putting money on the ground in the community , where more safety can be dealt so no, we should not continue to fund more and more Law Enforcement putting the pressure on them to be the whole arbiter of the Safe Community when all they are being forced to do in most cases is our doors in with shooters, profile us and justice is due so we have an opportunity now to grow and to build a Better Future and lead in Public Safety like we made it and thats what im going to do in the senate. Miss mcgrath. We should not bedefunding police. Men and women who protect us and our own Police Forces, the vast majority of them are really good people and professional. I think again, we need to tackle this from a leadership perspective. We need to set a command climate where everybody is treated as respect and decency. And when you have a command climate likethat , when theres tragic events first of all, theres less of them in the second of all when it happens, you have an investigation that is prompt, quick, transparent and that is something that the community can trust. I think its really important and we should not be defunding the very people that protect us every day. Im going to move now to talk about covid19 relief and possibly another stimulus package. We know on may 15 the house passed the hero zach, the house economic recovery economic stimulus act that includes a round of 1200, more housing paid for essential workers and nearly 1 trillion in Financial Aid to local and state governments, increased health insurance, extended Unemployment Benefits and so on and so forth. You agree that this should be passed . Its waiting for action in the senate and senator Mitch Mcconnellhas said the bill is rvirtually dead on arrival your thoughts. I think its unfortunate that we have a senator that wouldnt even look at the bill is out there to help state and local governments and heres what amy as senator would be focusing on riyadh we have a 500 million or so dollars shortfall according to Governor Beshear if we dont get help. Senator mcconnell in the last bill prioritize help for wall street area did he Prioritize Health for big business and for the special interests that power his campaign and including the 80 percent of the tax cuts in that bill went to people that make over 1 million riyadh and here now he calls for state and local governments. They ought to consider bankruptcy. Thats not where i would be at and in this bill that was pr passed in the house it has money to prop up our state and local governments which are simply our firefighters riyadh our school systems. The everyday people that we have. The infrastructure we have in the country. I would be prioritizing that and i think those are the types of things we need in this bill area in addition we need personal protective equipment, funding for voting, for our postal service. We need to keep our democracy going. We need to have funding for first responders. We need to make sure anybody that is going into a position of duty where we are requiring them to go to work in the middle of this pandemic, that they have hazard pay. These are all good things that i would be supporting right now if i were in the senate. Mister booker if you are in the senate would you support the hero zach and you think it goes far enough . It doesnt go far enough but includes important points much of which i included in the memo on march 24 outlining the focus points for Coronavirus Relief and as a young black man with type i diabetes i am seeing how critically important it is that we invest in communities with immunodeficiency and conference concentrated disparities and so canceling rent is critically important. We support relief for landlords. Making sure vaccines are free is important. Fecanceling food and debt. My wife and i own i dont think will ever pay off and we need 2000 Cash Payments for every person through this pandemic so another round of 1200 if youve ever had to balance the budget the bill for your insulin to keep the lights on you know its not enough. You would be for an 800 increase over what the hero act has allotted. Mister broihier, same question to you and what are the issues that have been brought to light or magnified as weve dealt with this pandemic that you would be committed to answering should you be able to serve in the United States senate. Absolutely. We have a Health Care System thats tied to employment and one of the only ones in the world and weve just put 40 million americans on Unemployment Rate thats 40 million american households probably facing the greatest healthcare crisis in the last hundred years without healthcare insurance though thats why we need to have a singlepayer Health Care System and i want to build one from the ground up but for now we need to open medicare for all and make it available for everyone ive been advocatinguniversal base income and when i first started my plan we said 1200 a month , 1200 per child and what was the first payment that came out of congress . 1200 a month. And then when the pandemic struck i came up with a proposal for emergency universal basic income. 2000 month per adult, thousand per child and now congress is talking about 200 a month. We need to have a uveitis through the pandemic and the ensuing depression or repression thats going to follow it and switch to a fulltime ubi of your hundred dollars per child. You envisioned some type of universal basic income in perpetuity. Yes maam and thats what i was endorsed by andrew yang and community forward. Scott sims from the World Economic forum was helping me draft my plan and the reason my numbers match those coming out of congress is because of the math behind them and because weve done the math we can implement it and pay for it. Would you be foreveryone regardless of income having a universal basic income or should there be some income thresholds . Thats universality and universal basic income. No checks , even the one presenters. Even the one presenters, we will call that back in texas. And the wisdom someone say is all about trying to equalize income inequality , that given that lump of money to those that dont need it doesnt make much sense your response would be . Its about equalizing someone with that one percent isnt even going to feel it but someone whos living in poverty is not dragged out of poverty, theyre absolutely going to feel it and if youre talking about incremental good, bill gates is not going to care about that thousand dollars but somebody living inpoverty is going to have incredible change in their lives. Critics would sayit equates to a handout. Your response to that . Its just not true. Theres a Program Just Like that in alaska and its been in effect for 30 years riyadh no one would say all alaskans are lazy and dont go to work and every single place thats been tried has not been proven to be a disincentive to labor. Peoples lives are just dramatically improved and heres the best part. When i talk to people in the country my neighbors are all farmers read their farming the headlights of the pickup trucks and tractors because they love the farm but theyve got to have another job but if you say how different if you had 1200 a month you could see the lights come up in their eyes and the gears start turning and i tell you what they would do, they would farm fulltime because they love to farm and its important to them. They are good wardensof the soil and its good for the environment. Some kentuckians is say this is what we fear, another plank in the socialist agenda githat most kentuckians would review. If were going to give money to anybody you can give them to corporations or give it to people. Give it to people and the working class, working poor spend that money. They spend it locally and trump develops tremendous philosophy and it gets spent over and over. Give that money to a rich person and a Corporation Like we did in 2009 with that airline industry, these 45 million to buy back their own stock and enrich themselves. Missed mcgrath how do you feel about universal basic income. I think there are major disparities and major income inequality in america and in kentucky and i think its something we need to tackle and heres the thing area weve got peoplein kentucky. Hope in woodford county, erin in paducah who i talked to last week who was a Public School teacher. Her and her husband both Public School teachers. They both have towork multiple jobs to make ends meet. Its not uncommon in kentucky and this is a real problem. I propose we do things like make work pay. The work that people are already doing. And this is a function of doing the things that senator mcconnell hasnot done. So for example lets not undermine unions. Senator mcconnell has a long decades long history of undermining unions. Those unions are the ones that work for Better Benefits and better pay. Lets raise the minimum wage. Lets invest in kentucky to bring good natural. What would you raise the federal minimum wage to. I called for the minimum wage to be raised to 15 an thhour. But thats just one thing. Thats not going to fix it llall. What we need to do in hakentucky is something senator mcconnell hasnt done in decades and that is invest in us for the future so here in kentucky, to get the good quality jobs of the 21st century we need better education and Workforce Development and the real investment, meaningful investments in those areas and we need investments in 21st century infrastructure and im talking not just roads, bridges and dams. Im talking broadband. Cell phone coverage. No business is going to want to come to a county in kentucky that cannot talk to the modern world and thats what we see a lot of places around thecommonwealth here so i would be investing in that. Doctor William Brooks asked this question related to what were talking about. They both have a lot of time to talk. Your own equal on time. Perhaps the greatest issue we face is poverty in kentucky, Educational Opportunities are limited and no employment, how would you work to improve this and you think providing money to people is a way to improve the deficiencies noted in kentucky. Absolutely and this is an important point. I live in and have grown up in what is four years in the poorest zip code in the state ommy mom is watching me right now, the woman that went without eating so i could eat. We grow up in poverty and in the west in louisville its much more in common with s appalachia than the west of louisville with high concentrations of poverty that is generational and we need to invest in people and break down barriers the opportunity to provide an equity stake in the economy that we have busted our butts to build. This includes the people in the mountains and have had livelihoods ripped away as they have worked day in and day out only to be left stranded on the track and that is why i supported basic universal income and supported it for years notout of expediency but understanding that if we want to break the cycle of poverty we need to make sure people have the Financial Freedom to make decisions in their lives and we know we can afford to do it as honestly we cant afford not to do it. And that is why ive been endorsed by the Income Movement and how ive led on the ground in kentucky, working with leadership at the local level to create pilots, to move forward for universal because basic income so we can invest in communities that have been abandoned for a long time and when we do that and we raise wages we need to do it to 15 an hour incremental. Incremental means never to us anand we do it need to expand the industries and thats why i support the Green New Deal and we need a kentucky new deal so we can create sustainable jobs, invest in infrastructure including broadband because if you are from the neighborhood like me you live in a digital desert. Our internet is crap and we need someone that understands its not some political talkingpoint or outside consultants that came in at the last second but because youve lived it on the ground in kentucky and thats what and building this movement and why ive been endorsed by the Sunrise Movement and were going to win this race. A lot of kentuckians are rural dwellers think his experiences in the 43rd district, how can he connect me and how does he understand my plight, my woes read make case to those voters that you are the candidate who can best serve them. I know it means to feel invisible, to feel like nobody listens to you and cares about you and the reason i have to answer this question so much is because no one pays attention to my neighborhood. In the westend of louisville with 75,000 people we have a couple of grocery stores, and full ofdollar stores because they prey on us and if you need to use Public Transportation and can take a couple of hours. Jobs have left. Unemployment was around 30 percent foryears in the neighborhood i live in. People in eachkentucky know their struggle. Access to clean water, high utility bills, they know what thats about and thats why my campaign is Building Momentum from the mountains to the rivers and were going to build them to win this race. Mister boyer youve talked about democrats who are running republican light. You believe missed mcgrath is one of those candidates and is it your view that that is a path to defeat . It is, absolutely. And part of the problem is this , that in 2018 for example , colonel mcgrath was critical of Brett Kavanaugh and when shes running for senate, she changed her mind and said she would have voted to elevate Brett Kavanaugh to Thesupreme Court and theres a massive backlash by voters in kentucky and particularly women who saw this as an insult and then she took it back. So she flipflopped again and again and again. Now this issue that should be a nobrainer for any kind of progressive candidate and so we have this history in kentucky for the last 35 years of running nice but centrist candidates against Mitch Mcconnell and getting creamed every time. If you want to excite people you have to give them a vision, a path forward. A progressive leadership idea and thats whats important to read in these times we got this transactional leadership where everything is focused on money. We have to be transformational leaders and describe a Better Future that everyone believes in and provide them a bath path forward, not just im a little less worse than Mitch Mcconnell. To the point about you did come under fire for waffling on the question of justice Brett Kavanaugh last year and some question if that was an unsteady position that signaled you had undisciplined messaging and it would raise questions about your judgment so howcan you assure voters that your exercising decisive te leadership when it counts . Im running because i want to be a voice for every day kentuckians area for people like angie who shes trying to just make ends meet and cant because of Prescription Drug prices. Her and her husband, they have a daughter who is 12 years old who is diabetic. And we have six bills sitting on Mitch Mcconnells desk right now that could help her get Prescription Drug prices down. I mean, the issues that affect everyday lives and im not a polished politician. Im somebody who looks at things through the lens of being a wife and being a mother and being a United States marine and ill tell you what, i dont see everything through a political lens. When i served i didnt lookat the marine on my left or the marine on the my right and say are you a democrat or republican. You know what i think we really need with leaders right now , particularly now in the senate is we need people are going to work with anyone. Who will do whats right for kentucky. Who wears any jersey whether its a red ora blue to do whats right for kentucky and thats who i am. To me its about being an american first and its about being a kentuckian first and you know what . Everybody else ill tell you what i learned in the marine corps. Whenyou make one , you corrected and thats what i did. Missed mcgrath i want to you for a moment because you said you realize you need to attract some trump voters in order to win in november should you advance from the primary. When you lost your candidacy you said Trump Supporters wanted him to drain the swamp. But Mitch Mcconnell you said is the biggest swap dweller there is and you contend that Mitch Mcconnell has blocked some of trumps agenda and has been able to keep some of the key Campaign Promises and block that from becoming a reality. Are you saying that if youre elected to the u. S. Senate that you would support the trump agenda . What im saying is i would support kentucky and for so many kentuckians like angie and her husband who are trying to figure out how to make ends meet because Prescription Drug prices are too high and when trump came here to kentucky Prescription Drugs is something he wants to work on and guess why that hasnt happened i . Ill tell you why, because Mitch Mcconnell is bought off by big pharma. What another issue that you agreewith . President trump has said we need to fix our infrastructure, we do. Heres the thing. Mitch mcconnell has said infrastructure is a nonstarter in the senate but the other thing i would like to mention is that not only will i work with any president because i think this is the problem in america right now, one of the major problems is that we are to polarized. I will stand up to any president regardless of whether he or she someday wears a red jersey or a blue jersey when it comes to the constitution of the United States of america which i swore to uphold and defend it six times in my life or when its bad for kentucky. I will stand up to any president for example with President Trump, his trade policy i. The trade war is really hurting kentucky and i have said from the moment that this was even a policy consideration that it would be wrong so to me, its not about your party and its not about being proor antianyone person. Its about being prokentucky and prothe things that we need and every day people here and i think weve got to get back to that. If elected to the senate you would find ways to work with President Trump should he be reelected. I think thats what people want, wouldnt you want that in a senator . Wouldnt you want someone whos going to do whats right for kentucky . This is the opposite of what Mitch Mcconnell is. He is somebody who is s constantly pushing for dysfunction when somebody of the other party is in power. Thats why hes so bad. Thats why hes so bad for kentucky and for our country because its all about obstruction and partisanship for him. Its not that way for me and thats why i say i will work with anybody to do whats right for kentucky and at the same time i will have the guts to stand up to anyone when its right for kentucky and that is also the difference between myself and senator mcconnell. There have been several questions about abortion so ill ask one that comes from Sherry Branson of louisville. Where do you stand on a a womans right to choose. I stand firmly for a womans right to choose. Or ive been in the streets across kentucky and i will do it in the u. S. Senate and when you understand the challenges that kentuckians face , you dont approach some democrat, you dont play these political games and youre not going to in convince voters of donald trump to vote for him because youre not as bad as Mitch Mcconnell or you play expediency on when you can stand up for issues. We can stop smell billet bs noand i stood up for the right of women because i know what it means to see someone that i care about so deeply that i will lay down and die for have of her voice silent in healthcare decisions that could take her life away and thats why i was proud to be one of the few men that would always stand up on the house floor and speak out and speak up for not only reproductive justice but healthcare and expanding resources understanding the hadisproportionate impact of women of color and that is why ive been endorsed by planned parenthood in my role as a state legislature and built these coalitions now because they know im not just talking about it and im not afraid to back down. People need to know they dont have a leader that will go across kentucky and lead with clarity and not back down on these issues. When you do that even iffolks disagree they will respect you and thats why theyre supporting me now. Questions of reproductive freedom, mister broihier, where do you stand . Ro versus wade was correctly decided in 1973 and ndi will not put the judge on the federal bench that does not agree with that and judges are key. I know things are nuts in the country right now and i know the news is full of things that are keeping people a little bit distracted but Mitch Mcconnell and Lindsey Graham are telling us whats going on. Mitch mcconnell has been signaling this for a year when he told people in kentucky i am changing America Forever and he was talking about judges. Lindsey graham was on tv this week asking older judges that are 60 years or older to step aside and what he said in that press conference was President Trump has appointed one out of five federal judges with Lifetime Appointments and senator graham and senator mcconnell one of these older judges and 60 is not old for a judge, to step aside so they can put a 30yearold or 40yearold on the bench so when Mitch Mcconnell says he changing America Forever he is talking about judges , judges thatare hawomen , people of color, lgbt q people, immigrants, basically anyone who is not an old white man. Missing Mister Mcgrath i want to go back to the original question because there are ads that say you support abortions in the ninth month of pregnancy so clarify yourposition on abortion and reproductive rights. Im the mother of three small kids and im also catholic. And i grew up with Catholic Schools and this issue has been around for me and my family my entire life area its very important to me. And i did not believe that the government should be legislating my personal religious beliefs on my fellow americans or fellow kentuckians and i believe that these personal family decisions should stay with the family and not that they are not decisions for the government. So therefore, i am in agreement with the context of roe versus wade that we already have reasonable restrictions on abortion and let me make this clear. I am not for lateterm abortions and i never have been. So there are questions about the pandemic and the topics that we had before and they may be a lightning around so this question comes frombetty pendergrast of bardstown kentucky, what legislation would you propose to rebuild our economy after this pandemic. I have a plan called Just Transition to a Green Economy and ive been reaching out to candidates in adjoining states to aid call producing six states. Richard jenna and West Virginia down in tennessee and im talking to them about us not going to washington asking but demanding that we bring social and Economic Justice toappalachia and how do we do this . We do it through infrastructure. Big infrastructure and im talking, im not embarrassed to say this, works project and ministration level infrastructure. Key to that is returning Eastern Kentucky and all of apalachicola producing area into a green energy of for the eastern half of the United States and that is roads, bridges, rural broadband, water for areas like Martin County where they cant even drink the water. Was the price tag for that proposal . I dont know what the proposal is but i can tell you what the payback period on solar is for seven years and when you put solar in seven years later its paid for itself and after that the energy is paying for itself so thats a relatively good return on investment for somebody to get free energy from and we dont have to believe in Climate Change. I happen to believe in Climate Change but you do a large scale greenenergy program like this , you put people to work and build infrastructure and the industry follows infrastructure so people in other businesses will come to kentucky and appalachia and put not just our coal miners enwork with their children and grandchildren to work and if yyou happen to believe in Climate Change like i do it would put a huge dent in the nations carbon footprint. E mister booker, what does a post covid19 economy look like and what were your plans to bolster the economy. Weve been dealing with structural inequity in this pandemic and gross poverty before the pandemic. Looks were rationing their insulin like i had to do before the pandemic so what that means is we have to deal with the structural challenges that have been exacerbated by this pandemic a. Weve got to prioritize people and that is why i support agreement deal. We need a kentucky new deal because we need to lean on the future and that means more Economic Opportunity with sustainable injuries. Were dealing with the housing crisis and people across kentucky including in Sustainable Housing read that means we need to provide good paying jobs and invest in rural hospitals but it also means we need to break down the opportunities for people to pursue their dreams and become Business Owners and as we do that we need to pass medicare for all because not only is it a healthcare policy, yits an economic policy. If you are healthy you can be gainfully employed. If you are healthy you can own a business and advance your education. And then as well we need a universal basicincome to get folks Financial Freedom. Mister mcgrath, youre not for medicare for all, clarify your position before we get to it. I believe everybody sitting up here in the studio believes that healthcare is a right of all americans and all kentuckians and that we should have affordable and sustainable healthcare for everybody so we just differ on how we get there. For me, i believe we should have a reasonable commonsense solution where people are not thrown off their healthcare if they like it currently. Though i propose Something Like the public option. This is the idea i called an uncle sam plan, its a government plan that you can buy, renc and if you like your current plan and your current plan from your employer or private plan is fine, you dont have to buy it but this would be a nonprofit uncle sam plan that my family, my husband and i buy for our family because we are in the military. I believe everybody should have that option and it would provide people more options and also bring prices down because now the private insurers would have to compete with the public option. These are things we can get done. If we can get out of people like mitchmcconnell who are bought off by the Insurance Industry so i also think we need totackle Prescription Drug prices that we know we can do in a bipartisan way because we already have this idbill that we are passing in the house so these are common sense reasonable things but lets be clear. Senator Mitch Mcconnell in the two years he had all the power , he had the house , his party did. He had the senate and he had the presidency, his party did and what does he do for kentucky . Did he do anything on healthcare that was good . Number did he do anything on infrastructure that is so important for kentucky. The fence bridge was a ruproblem when i was a kid. Did he fixthat, 20th century infrastructure . Did he work on Prescription Drug prices or any of the things that helped . The only thing he did and the only major piece of legislation that he passed in two years was a big fat taxcut for people just like him. He is not interested in moving us forward in healthcare and it is so important to our growth in kentucky and we havent even talked about the opioid drug problem that we have here but tu we got to tackle that to and thats all wrapped around healthcare. Unfortunately we wont get to that tonight but i want you doto give your final speech to the kentucky voters tonight but this question. If joe biden were to call you and say who do you think my Vice President ial running mate should be , miss mcgrath who would you say and why . Obviously thats up to him and i think he should be looking for diversity because i think we are a diverse. Should be a woman . I think it should be, its about time but hes running for president and im running to defeat senator Mitch Mcconnell so thats what my focus is right now but i would like to say to everybody before we close, i just want to say thank you. Everybody was watching tonight, this is your democracy and i appreciate you watching and being engaged and voting and right now we havent talked about it much but voting in kentucky is very different right now in the middle of this pandemic so i just urge people to help their neighbor, help their grandparents, their parents, their children to obtain a ballot and they can do that on kentucky votes. Com whichis the website we put together because we are in the middle of a pandemic and a lot of people dont know how to vote and i think itsso important for kentuckians so thank you alfor that. Thank you for being here, mister broihier, who would be your vp pick . Pamela harris because i love her mind, shes incredibly sharp and tough and i would love to see her debate might pence. Final comment in 30 seconds. We have to pick somebody of these three. Anybody up here would be a much better candidate than Mitch Mcconnell but Mitch Mcconnell has a stranglehold on rural vote for the last 35 years. Im the best choice to run in all hundred 20 counties area. How can you beat Mitch Mcconnell . By running inall hundred 20 counties. Im a veteran, im a teacher and im a farmer. Like a real honest to goodness bend over and pick the crops farmer and that carries weight in kentucky. Im the person they trust and i can run in every single corner of this state and thats what you need to have to be to Mitch Mcconnell. Final question to you, who would you be your vp pick and how could you beat Mitch Mcconnell. I think theres a lot of incredible women he needs to pick especially black women. Senator warren is a good choice, i think val dennings has shown incredible leadership as well. He has a lot of options and he needs to be smart about them and i want to say in my closing this isthe moment where we need leadership. We need courage on the ground in kentucky for real change. We need someone that understands our struggle and has delivered results even in the face of our own donald trump which i have done and can build correlations, not just saying youre an urban candidate but youre the candidate for all kentucky. Thats what ive done and we need someone that will not play politics and to say their approachtrump democrat. Im building a movement of regular folks fighting back. We can see that and beat Mitch Mcconnell in the process, this is the time to do it and we cannot miss it. We appreciate cyour time and im i am sure the voters appreciate that as well. Stay with us. Coming up, todemocratic candidates for congress in the sixth district, josh hicks and daniel kemp. Thats next as kentucky tonight continues so stay right where you are and we will be back in just a bit. And the senate breaking for their weekly party caucus lunches. Senators have been working on executive nominations. Later this afternoon a final confirmation vote on ryan miller to serve as the first Inspector General for pandemic recovery, a position created in the cares at the red vote set for 4 30 p. M. Eastern. More live Senate Coverage at 2 15 here on cspan2. On wednesday former Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein testifies before the Senate Judiciary committee on the fisa application process used during the fbi investigation into possible ties between the Trump Campaign andrussian officials. The fbis investigation was eventually taken over by special Counsel Robert Mueller who rosenstein appointed in 2017. Watch live coverage of the hearing beginning at 10 am eastern on cspan, on demand that cspan. Org or listen live wherever you are on the free cspan radio app. Earlier today republican senators rob portman of ohio and John Barrasso of wyoming spoke on the floor about the death of george floyd and the civil unrest that followed. Heres what they had to say starting with senator portman