Famous political dynasties. We want to know that the voices in south jersey heard buried and i r guess im the person to do that. Amazing my family here. It is my home. My whole family lives area. I understand what is happening in our community. The seat for the secondd Congressional District in jersey. I walked in and target pregnant people in south jersey are good hardworking middleclass people. They want somebody is going to have their backs. That is me. To be jeff, we really need to have a vision of what we want this country to look like Going Forward to prayed for me it means focusing on social justice and moving out of the coronavirus and George Floyds death, that it will be really important to focus on the values of our community. The have the chance to square off on covid19 recovery, the economy, Climate Change, placing in healthcare and all of the issues critical to the people of south jersey. Good evening and welcome to the john f academic c good evening and welcome to the university here. In Atlantic City. Forr the next 60 minutes or so, we will have a spirited and informative debate between Second District congressional candidates sitting republican r congressman jeff and derek democrat amy kennedy. Followed by postevent analysis. This is that Stockton University for mom writer this seeming dissenters executive director john. That was asking the questions, or lookalikes from mj spotlight news, and direct law parked. Senior correspondent david cruz. And myself. Before he turned over to our moderator, please know we are doing this debate live and in person. There is no live studio audience layer crew and guests of the candidates are in the room. We are following all covid19 protocols. As outlined by Stockton University in the department of health. Everyone involved assigned a fullfledged and more masks up until the start of this broadcast. All else in the room will wear a mask for the duration of the debate. Lets begin. N. John. Thank you briand again welcome to Stockton University. Use centers pleased to partner with the intake and the new jersey spotlight news to bring your tonights debate in new jersey Second District. Home a form that the most important house races in the nation. Here are ground rules for tonight. Our panel pose questions for the candidate on a variety of h isss. Candidates willnd have 90 seconds to respond. And will be allowed 30 seconds for followups where appropriate. There are no opening statements. Each candidate will give a one minute closing statement. Candidates please respect the time limits of which you agreed. And to maximize the number of questions, Alice Timmons will feature fastpaced round of questions requiring 32nd responses from each candidate and no rebuttals. Our first topic involves the coronavirus pandemic. Briand f. Thank you and welcome to you both. First question. The day since President Trump covid19 diagnosis, more than 30 white house officials staffers and others in his area tested positive info and pruning chris christie. Was it irresponsible for him to travel and hold events knowing that he was was in people. I dont know how much exactly he knew didnt know but obviously when somebody has been exposed and they know they have been, they have the responsibility to let the doctor whatever Health Professional no. And i believe ever coming to a time now where we are going to be much moree proactive about making sure that those types of things dont happen. We also know which is interesting that covid19 if youre younger, if you are healthcare, etc. Does not affecting nearly as much as people had originally thought. So some things are looking better on the horizon. There still requiring being careful. Ms. Kennedy how would you rate federal governments response to the coronavirus pandemic. Thank you for having me tear tonight. I would love to tell you that everything was moving forward it in a way where we can just not be cautious in the way that we have had to be tonight. But were six months and were still really struggling. Immersing an uptick in cases. Is really the mixed messaging that we saw throughout this pandemic about how dangerous the virus would be and whether or not we should have masks or not wear masks. The distribution of the ppe left so much unclear the American People. Honesty is have a real plan. And make sure that we are thinking about how were going to distribute the vaccine by going to bailey rated that we can soon reopen and get back to life. What is the same question. How would you rate the federal governments response to the pandemic. For small we have to understand how the started. It did start in china. We have to understand that there cdc would not allowed to go into china and really evaluate what is happening. In fact we dont know if itt really came from a market or laboratory. I believe probably came from a laboratory. We dont know if this is even genetically mutated. What we do know is fortunately, the president did say they would be travel restrictions quite early on. And afterwards travel restrictions from europe forgetting at the time he was called racist, he was said that he was unify week because he did that. Think goodness he dead afraid that was a very important thing to do. We are moving rapidly towards a vaccine. We will have a very soon. For moving rapidly with new and better therapeutics. Policing that now. Theyre already being used by physicians. So think all in all, is a said before, i know we still have to be careful. And we do. But we have light at the end of the tunnel. This is going to get better. America is going to move forward it. The world is going to move forward to. This is infected the entire world. Speech of ms. Kennedy and when i asked the question to you. The democratic candidate joe biden, has expressed a willingness to go into a National Walk out necessary. Do you support or oppose such an action. Ninety seconds to you. Were not going to need to take action like that. Here we have seen really high numbers and parts of the country and in parts of the state and lower numbers in other areas. I would like to see it happen in the way that is more precise. But thats going to require Rapid Testing and tracing. And until those are in place, for going have to handle it in the way that means americans will be safe. And that will help us get back on track as soon as possible. Breonna so to clarify, the Vice President were elected president and call for National Lockdown. Your position would be what. Breonna i dont think he would call on a National Lockdown and lisette were absolutely necessary. And at that point i would hope is falling for direction of scientists and doctors. Breonna thank you. These next questions are about federal pandemic relief. Speech of ms. Kennedy, spent six months since Congress Passed the cares act and the president ended the negotiations with democrats to speak. But then said he was on bills giving another 1200 stimulus payment to most americans. And more aid to airlines and businesses do you support another round of federal aid or stimulus funding and if so, how much and where should it go. Amy kennedy im absolutely in support of that number when hes going to approve this measure great immune of the families in south jersey have been struggling just looking at the rise in demand for the Community Food bank for example. Before having a difficult time just putting food on their tables. We know that t unemployment at e high, we need to get people back to work but in the meantime, that necessary stimulus is going to have to be the bridge there. Its not just the airlines but it is our Small Businesses that have really struggled. I would like to see that stimulus go to the Small Businesses and working families as well as our frontline workers. Breonna this is essentially the same question to you. Do supportt another round of stimulus funding and if so, how much and where should it go. Sure, the amounts canou be worked out in this you know, it varies from 6 billion to over trillion rather. Two oh 2 trillion. But that is not the issue, here is thel real issue. We shouldve done this already and we couldve done it already. The reason is not done already is because of politics. Because we had a bill for covid19 and in the belt put certain measures that were so unacceptable to so any conference people including democrats what was in the bill. Squeezed in there, they should not have been. It was actually the release of several prisoners who were violent prisoners. That would be part of the bill. Murderers, rapists and others. How could you vote for that. There was the funding of those who were undocumented residents in this country. And they would actually get funded with the 2500 stimulus and are mark and again without even being residents. When we dont even get it for our 17 yearold kids. There was a Green New Deal which would cost trillions of dollars ultimately. So all of these other political ideas and packages for squeezed and when most of the bill e was good. So at the end of the day when we left, did not get done. And we are still four we are. I want to go back. I want to get it done. I want to get built on. In a bipartisan level. With all of us working together not putting in the nonsense. We can argue about the other stuff later. But weee need to have the relie. Breonna thank you. This next question. Have a quick followup for you if thats okay. Theres some republicans calling the stimulus a bailout. The something that you agree . With. s of course we need the money. So depends on how you do that. I believe in helping. The story dont believe and i do believe and i believe that the state should be helped accountable for epast practices and work very irresponsible in the way they budgeted and what they did. Without a doubt. But i also think the expenses that they have due to the covid19 absolutely should be coveredid and they should be helped freedom that we just cant bail them out because they didnt run their state right other parade is that something we have to go through statebystate. Breonna thank you. Next question is about election security. Breonna this question is for both of the candidates. President trump is called into question the validity of the election. He contends there is widespread voter fraud. In particular to vote by mail. But without providing proof read how confident are you in the security of this years election and the validity of the results. Im hopeful but i am worried. For me tell you, talk to the postmasters. Covid19 person and we w can go out in the stret and just talked to a regular folk. Every one of them will tell you that they either have had an experience or know somebody is an express with that gotten extra ballots in the mail, Peoples Movement dont live there anymore. People have passed away. People who live in other states. That is not good and we are sending life ballots in the mail, millions of them. Not expressed into the governor. And i would right now openly say what we shouldve done is even had maybe monday and tuesday and wednesday voting by machines, in the middle of that vote on tuesday beginning vote on monday. In the end of the alphabet vote on wednesday. You can have the space he couldve had the precautions. You couldve done everything the dright way. The people would go and vote in press the button and note they do the right thing. Traditional vote by mail is fine because you have to make a request. Right now were displaying balanced other british honestly, we dont need President Trump to tell a separate all you need to do is hard families and friends and i guarantee that they will tell you andhe even happen in te primary that theyre getting all kinds of ballot males and they dont the coming from. Speech of ms. Kennedy. Same question s. Amy kennedy i am excited that we are among the states that are making sure that everybody will be safe and able to participate in the process. I think the primary was a great example of why the system marks. We saw an increase in turnout. The most 50 percent higher than ever in the history of district to. The people participated, both democrats and republicans. I am thinking that people want to vote in person, they have an option. They can do that right if they needed 200 in the mail, thats an option for them. And theres also the secure drop boxes whichha we know there is tenth in each county at a minimum. So i feel that this is really a good path forward and it also means that everybody will have a paper ballot. It helps us with the idea of interference from any type of form government as well because paper ballots are secure. In the narrative the President Trump has been pushing i thank you so destructive. Breonna th quick followup 30 seconds if you would. There was an incident just last week open county where these ballotsou were found among other male in stornoway. Fairly quickly found the postal employee who they think was responsible. Does that prove there may be some sort of worries that we should have about ballots getting where they need to go. I think voice within election we should be very cautious of any people to report is Something Like that is happening. But if this is a more secure method is being used in other states and has been for a long time. Breonna 30 seconds if you would. Even estate legislator for an awful long time. So i think you i know how the system works. Enough safeguards in ourys systems to prevent a person from mailing or from putting twice. There absolutely were and even the system that we had, we all spoke about in the legislator how actually there should be at back up on the machines. Im sure your card that. Machines are even good enough. There a whole lot better than all of the paper ballots there are floating out there. Look what happened in paterson, and other locations. You just mentioned one of them. Telling you, if you know anecdotally, people who are telling you that they are getting ballots from all of the place for people who arent even a flight, you know that something is wrong. This is a mistakeke in the wrong thing to do. Thesese next questions invole political ideology. Welcome candidates. It among the university poll. He found this make the nearly half the voters in your district were bothered either a little bit or a lot by your party switch. We got a lot of questions on this from viewers. Heres one of them. What hee stated voters who voted for you as a democrat in the previous election and feel betrayed by your switch to the republican party. Thank you. First ball on have to disagree with the pole a little bit. The funny business and ive seen a lot of different balls and enough a lot of stuff for you to walk the streets and i and ive had a tremendous amount of support. Our own internal polling does not show that it all. Which is really weird how different did this. So i would say this. People voted for me because of who i am. My whole career has been based upon the fact that i was not so concerned about republicans and democrats predicts concern about standing up and for fighting and for believing in the people in south jersey who often dont get their fair share. People did not vote for me just because i was a democrat in fact, in my legislature district, their whole lot more republicans and democrats im probably more republicans voted for me the democrats. Sub voting for the individual person, not just for the party alone. No biden i think that people know how i am. The knew what i stand for. They will vote for or against me on that basis. Let me follow up. In the oval office and pledged your undying support to President Trump rdp system by that. What thatea means is that nothing avoid to agree with him everything. Weve already had disagreements, good discrete months. Nt solid policy issues and voted differently when we have voted not explain house of representatives. Seven very independent i will continue to do so. What it meant is that this up for the presidency that i support bring some of the things that he has done about a strong america, america that really can stand up and his number one in Energy Production in america that has its own supply chains and america really supports education, market will fight for the environment. And its military and other things as well. Thank you. Ms. Kennedy, you come from a family wellknown. Youve married into family with a wellknown political name. But you yourself have never held elective office. I expect to get anything done with no elected political experience. Amy kennedy thank you david. This is really going back to the heart of why i am here. And it is because i was raised in this county in this district. My family has lived here for four generations. I put Public School and raising my own five kids here. And it work as a Mental Health advocate trying to make sure that we are improving lives. And i think that people will really support that kind of lived experience because i can bring a voice my own community to this position. So this followup question comes from a viewer. It pertains to brief on the political spectrums. If youre asked, are there any issues with your partys president ial candidate joe biden, i wish you disagree. Thirty seconds. Thank you. Amy kennedy letting one last night, i came up was on fracking. And i was disappointed to hear that comment and of course it was something that weve heard a lotwa about. And odysseus moving towards greener energy. And i think that was a setback. Ceo agreed that there should be fracking. Amy kennedy i do not think that we should be encouraging fracking. Then the speech to Republican National convention, you said you switched parties because the Democratic Party had been too far to the left targeted and they now support a radical socialist agenda. Was specifically do you thank you so radical and socialist about the Democratic Party. It. Number of things. Let start with the green to deal just how much that would cost, trillions of dollars. Theres certainly the idea among any democrats that we shouldnt defund the police. Now think about it. The individuals stand up for us, who keep us safe. Who are willing to do anything to make sure that people actually survive an incident or whatever occurs. We should defund them. Thed answer is not to defend the police. Actually need to be helped more financially and then to have more work done within the community. Community policing. Comenity and the policend together and where the community has actual meetings with the police. We can work some of the issues out. But i stand tall with my beliefs. I believe in what they do. I believe in what they stand for. I stand for strong military. Most of any of the radical democrats at least, do not stand for a strong military. Dont believe any nation is ever attacked because it is too strong. I stand for, only that butut i stand for being number one in Energy Production in the world and having a good supply chain. Was really embarrassing, after china sent us a wonderful gift of the virus. We then have to go back with her tail in between her legs and asked them for ppe. Never again. We should stand and have our own supply chain and produce our own stuff. Make sure that we manufacture and that we need to make sure that we can continue to be that shining city on the hill that is ahead of where everybody is in the world. Help them. Thank youou both. Note to the topic of healthcare. Breonna said administration is actively seeking to start down the mandate and obama care. If successful that would be about 19000 a constituents in your district what is the healthcare according to the most recent data from the kaiser foundation. As the year hope to see the Affordable Cares act overturned. Let me be clear. The Affordable Care act is not as good as it should be permit is too expensive for any people. But we do not have anything good to replace it yet. I will not vote for that to happen. Until we have an adjusted or hopefully a better replacement. It is the wrong thing to do. We have make sure the people of healthcare. The absolutely not have toy make sure to be short that they are covered for preexisting conditions. And i did not vote to actually remove obama care or to say that we would w not continue with the aca. We have to until we find Something Better. I also do want to see taken away, those people have employer in healthcare. In other words, their Employer Sponsored Health care. They should be able to keep that. We should not go to a system thats going to destroy all of that. People also need to have their own f doctor. Breonna are you saying that your calling in congress and the president do not have a plan and appropriate plan to replace. I would say that there are some pieces of it before an entire appropriate plan. Think i would need to see more of it. And evaluate itt more before i put my signature on it. Breonna thank you. Ms. Kennedy do you support a f medicare for all who wanted healthcare plan. Bush of thes role be in providing healthcare, 90 seconds please. Amy kennedy im glad to hear the agree and fact that we need to maintain the Affordable Care act. , thats more important now more than ever i believe. We cannot for south jersey see so any go on injured unemployment is so high right now. And people lost their employer healthcare. I do believe that a public option were really care would be important for people who are not able to afford that in between coverage. And that we absolutely should be able to maintain our employer package as possible. For me, it is going to be crucial as we are going around the county, we are talking to families who are worried about their health care. They have the care thatt they need, the lifesaving treatment is not put off because they simply cannot afford it. Estimates for public option, run the gamut. With the government need too raise taxes in order to pay for this and you and support that. Anyway expensive it is and even congressman talked about this a few years ago on the stage freedom of the cost of people having to resort to crisisn management when there in the emergency room. Really is a cost on all taxpayers. We need to be putting Preventative Care at the forefront. We need to h talk about how we n make healthier lives and healthier community so that the costs are reduced for all of us but we also need to be able to bargain for lower Prescription Drug prices. I think that will be key to lowering the Health Care Costs for all of us. It. Breonna 30 seconds for you. Is there another option to keep the cost low without individual mandate. Certainly bargaining for Prescription Drugs is deny do that i agree with. Thats why voted for a broad big bill that didnt go to his final fruition to actually lower the cost. I think we actually must do that. You must do it in a way were still incentivize american where we are still coming up and finding new drugs and better therapies. Secondly, i believe when were talking about healthcare before, but i understand her opinion but any people disagree on the democrat side. It all privately sponsored healthcare should be removed in government only. We now turn to the economy. Breonna this is a question for both of the candidates. South jerseys economy, relies on tourism. Atlantic city continues to struggle after the closure of five casinos since 2014. Residents another part of the district were also having trouble finding work. Voter voted with this question. Eleven i can commute, like to good thing jobs and good benefits and south jersey. No more than ever i want to stay closer to home. And you have any plans for jobs growth in this area. Ms. Kennedy if he would answer first. Amy kennedy . This is so important in our communities. It i lived here near my parents and near my brothers brain and that is a conversation that ive had with my family. Betweenn us, theres 12 grandchildren. We wonder what opportunities are going to be here forting our kio they can live down the street from their grandparents. But what we have seen is an economy that is really struggled over not just during the pandemic but over years here. And we have to be able to diversify that economy through investment in infrastructure. I expect that to be not just bridges and roads which we desperately need things likee broadband, billing for a Climate Resilience that will bring good paying jobs to our area. We also need to see the diversification so that we can build out research in our area. There are building out Green Technology and the faa and i also believe that we need to support the Small Businesses that have been struggling during this time early give the character to our community. Breonna but your job plan for south jersey. For small we have to look at what we have your freighted with adventure that that Tourism Industry more. It shouldnt be there in industry or only one. But one of the shameful thing is that every other state in the United States of america had a plan where areas that were not hit as hard by covid19 were able to open up earlier. Even Governor Cuomo in new york statene open up northern new yok state earlier. Our numbers are far lower than other areas of the state of new jersey. Yet our governor did allow that to t happen. He has the same standards for our people here on who easily couldve open up certain businesses and those businesses were destroyed. Those businesses, any are not there anymore and those businesses are so we can there not going to make it into the future of the ones who are surviving. That was the wrong thing to do. I disagree with the way we dealt with opening up. Secondly, with the plan trade is to work with the technologies to make sure that hopefully eventually not only did tech center does a lot of work, i have a bill that worked on and i have brought support on it. Which we are working with the tech center to try to get this throw. When they actually be part of honking with airlines and airports that have less problems with covid19 issues so that they can deal with that better. And those are the types of technological things that we need too do. We also need to do more not only on that type of technology. With the technology that deals across the gamut and they want to work obviously and lower townships. And then to come back to washington and said we are closing our doors. Its real stuff that happened to people. Ha was will change maker done a better job without making people sick we did the wrong thing. Host my question is so that is a valid order. I. C. E. Express they are expressing their extreme effects on frustration so do they have to obey the law and it didnt happen in south jersey they just obeyed edd many is worse for. So new jersey is among the most diverse state in the nation counting on mynd grant waiver so where do you degree disagree with the policies on immigration and work visa . I think immigration is an area we need bipartisan support for a policy and the plan so we can have the work that we need to hear in south jersey when we need employees for rights are protected and safety is protected that was difficult during this pandemic to ensure safety of those coming in seasonally to work and we should expand where we need to to bring workers in and where we have those and then to ensure that the employers that are not hiring legally need to be held accountable. We do not need it should not have been borders. I believe in century cities thats an area where i am very different and i also dont believe in sanctuary counties or states. We might have to take care of our people first or a nation of law also people coming across the board no control whatsoever some of the main criminals they also agree that we need a new plan for immigration in general particularly for the immigration with work visa because our area is so dependent and we need to use it and it can be a learning experience where they learned from they go back home. Host race and policing. D believes systemic racism exist inve america . Everybody gives me different definitions but that means the average person in america hates people of other colors i do not if it means there are pockets of problems in some areas for some reason, of course we know that exist. This is a wonderful and amazing country that self correctsnd the really helps with these types of problems. Im actually jumping forward to police but the government tried respect official hates anybody colon i believe that. Many in lawenforcement we have asians and blacks and whites and hispanics all with Law Enforcement. I think emphasizing the negative or hate is what helps so we need to come together to see if you agree or disagree and make our country and relationships even betterre. I think whats happening with the cities and the destruction of buildings were molotov cocktails and that hurts actually folks in the black community than anybody t else. What is happening in portland is a shame with a week need mayor it is the love thought and we have to obey that for the protection of everyone. Host study show black americans are three times more likely than whites to be shot by police, five times more likely to be incarcerated and black children are four times more likely to live in poverty. These are the results of systemic racism then what do you attribute these disparitiesisie . Because we need to do more work. The average Police Officer would wake up to say i hate black people but i dont it is not true so what do we need to do . I need more education about each other and what weth do in schools to teach young people how to deal with issues. But it does it mean and i will be clear, i stand by men and women who died for us every single day for us every week of the year. I stand by them but that doesnt mean we couldnt make this better and we canhise. D believes systemic racism exist in america . I think that racist people swear looking a system of educational so out to be a teacher new jersey is at the top of Public Education but i also acknowledge we are among the most segregated schools and we have to make changes in our criminal justice system, Education System and policies around housing and employment and he a. To see a legislative solution . Its policybased and with the Voting Rights act and then to apply to other institutions. Defined the police has become a part of the mainstream Educational Police reform so how do you define defending the police . It will use the budget so there are less Police Officers on the street and portland is an example and other areas as well. Defending police you dont want to get a adequatete compensation with the Safety Equipment and whatever else they need to make sure they stay alive as they take bullets for you. Did you see the officer the other day . And officer of color who took reports to the head but was still putting the tourniquet around her partner. These are the people were talking about. Defendingurvi what they need too day in and day out trying to help people survive themselves want to do more good command we can i will been giving more money to have Community Policing andha programs and connecting the police with the Community Even more. And Walking AroundAtlantic City talking to the islamic thanks to the bangladeshi people and south asian and black and white and hispanic and i said what is it that we can do better . They said we need more police and more help in Atlantic City every few days the windows are smashed in that is the reality. These are Small Business people who came here and immigrated here to make a living and a way for themselves and they cannot even feel safe they are so worried every day their goods and services will be stolen and windows will be smashedel t they were more policing, not less. Host use of reforms to policing . And he reforms . Should be requiring anything. Dentistry. I am am dentist. Host is only 30 seconds. Drew there is a good parallel theres always more you can learn more you can do is that are blowing up buildings and hurting police and residents, lets sit down quietly and carefully in a bipartisan way together to make thiss h happen. Host how do you to find defending the police . I would not disagree with his idea of what defending might mean i. E. To the accusation that i support that. I believe as you do that we need to have police that are better trained, addressing bias then as we said earlier bias in the system needs to be addressed when we talk about how we move together as a country to mitigate the violence we see in this nation right now we should be talking about solutions to that by bringing both parties to the table to make sure Law Enforcement has a voice at the table as well as Community Members and thats where we find real bias in solutions that might work i do believe it will be an investment not only in lawenforcement things like mentall health will have the help they need and see Law Enforcement not arrive on a crisis scene so often. Sure those come from budgets for Police Departments . I would like to see state and local governments funded to have in place unfortunately my opponent has not supported the government with dollars. And we sticking to when we talk about the other person with anger an additional 30 seconds . That i will ask for that. First of all respectfully young the primary absolutely we would give them to you that you supported defending the police. Number one that is not true ruand second whatever he said about the state and federal government, i support helping them at the federal level if its too too bad and responsible budgeting the state of new york is completely your responsibility the way they from theirsp budget the people in new jersey should not have to pay for that have a problem we all have issues because of the expenses related to covid then the federal government should help. We need thing we need the funding now and that the naacp forum i said there is merit to having provide funding and that Mental Health services are available you take that to say s defending the police and he never even said the word defend so then every ad of mailers about me using that refrain but when you talk about your pledge of undying support so thats not what i meant to you are willing to put words into my mouth i have not even said. Again another 30 seconds. I did not say thats not what i meant what i explained what it meant i think i have made sthat clear and as far as defending we were speaking of that issue and you said there was merit to it. I think there is merit to conversing about how we will defend the police. You have touched on something that ms. Kennedy would you see the ad that is most offensive were the most false and how do you answer that . I am basically cut and paste into the republican talking points that would like to be seen as an individual maybe look at my policies on my page before slamming me with the liberal elitist radical, all of those things that i think anyone who took a look at the website would say that doesnt seem to at that schoolteacher i dont think that is her and justin have hathat conversation about the needs and south jersey and he would represent that best been going to that negative and Nasty Campaign we see too much of frankly. Drew ms. Kennedy you dont think youre that homespun schoolteacher. I dont mean that in a negative way but you are attempting to achieve something very different your family is very different there is nothing wrong with any of that but you were just not the homespun schoolteacher. Second a lot of the ads are offensive because sometimes to hear what is the truth ive had more negative m advertising against me than anybody else moving in this room i know from enough times in the past lets not do that was have a true positive campaign everything has a notation on it i was reportedly advertisement is my wife tells me and then i said i want to hear it. We will movel on lets talk about Climate Change. Ms. Kennedy either the district on the day those that have thousand homes in the Second District are at risk of flooding in the next 30 years how do you work with publicans to prevent the impending crisis of the rising sea level . This is an important issue we can find some bipartisan ground because new jersey is at the top of the list for Climate Change the regardless of what yousoeg believe and if there is to be an investment in infrastructure like President Trump had asked for the Vice President biden is hoping to achieve that there would be a Real Investment here in dams and roads and bridges and levees doing what we can to have the protection that we need for businesses and homes and also invest in green energy so i dont see for Climate Change. Do believe it is threatening the district and if so how do you work with members of your own party that a claimant change deniers to check this district . Yes i do believe in Climate Change and in fact as a sponsor of the land and conservation waterflood one of the largest environmental bills ever done that guarantees open space and areas to maintain waterways. Was taken away from me because i became a republican so was given it to a democrat who was a great friend and i still sponsored it the president signed it Carbon Capture really good idea something we should work on more ah more. And zoning the way zone and build houses pulling them higher to make sure there is venting of water comes into the home it goes right back out which makes a big difference with Flood Insurance cost which is another big issue. I still nuclear. We can be clean in many countries around the world that are doing w it and then to be incentivizing as well with the solar energy what i believe is sometimes we make deals with countries like china who is responsible for 28 percent alone of the carbon are the motion and then to give them a special deal that they can go on and keep doing that and we will pay for it because we do all the right things and then we have to go by our stuff because we dont have the supply chain. Host a followup. And was storm city those that had it out of the program. Is that a viable option or should they start thinking about moving away from thehe shoreline . We still need to have the Flood Insurance available. Everybody is not moving away we still see families that way from generations and to make sure they are building in a way that is more resilient we have seen people raising houses and so many people have a theory about for those that remain, they need to have that protection and safeguard unless they come up with other Solutions Including infrastructure. Host next topic is transportation. Public transportation in south jersey continues to be more scarce than north jersey. And with the residents here. With the Atlantic City bus line was shut down forcing workers to find alternative routes so what do you do to provide more Public Transportation to the people of south jersey . I do think this is an important thing to get the economy back on its feet. Without Reliable Transportation and an easy way to commute to different areas , its hard for people to get to work in companies to think they could invest in our i area. Not only those that need the transportation but also lowering other businesses into our area to invest we have infrastructure in place and to make sure and we do need federal dollars to help support us to make it more equitable and that transportation is a priority. What specific industries would you look . That is difficult to do without that infrastructure in place are there specific steps you would like tors target . Distribution to be an option in our area if we were to have in place the systems we needed surrounding the Atlantic City airport because they do have the capacity but not the transportation or the roads set up to easily get to the places that they need. And regarding Public Transportation south jersey. Its a your question also to remind everybody new Jersey Transit close down in between Atlantic City and what do you thank you remember how hard i thought and how much noise i made to make sure we got it bac back. We are going to lose and it would get worse which is terrible. Will have the numbers especially in the winter time and misdemeanors i hope to keep just petition the community. It may be smaller units of transportation the big persons areas withd in all those types of vehicles may have more application and that makes sense as well. And by the way when we finally do the infrastructure bill, which we have notpl don done, with so many investigations and impeachments, we didnt get to a lot of the work in the questions you are talking about you dont have the final answers they should because of what went on in congress that was more political than sustenance. Host now we move into the around the questions and answers take no more than 30 seconds. Each candidate will answer every question. And no rebuttals. Ldhost ms. Kennedy where the last 70 years taxpayers spent 135 billion on projects along the shore. Do you think this is an appropriate longterm solution . We need to continue to do that for tourism but of course it is a longterm solution but for now as we have toe do in this is a place where people still want to come to the beach. And that we do need to do this now but nobody has come up with a better answer it isnt to completely retreat from the shore. For now this is absolutely what we need toe do is find Something Better in the future lets do it or experiment and see if it works. The Senate Judiciary committee is set to begin for judging me Coney Barrett on october 12th. Less than four weeks election. Forty years after the republicans denied president obama nominated for weeks election of moving ahead with this appropriate . Drew it is appropriate its up to the president everybody has a different way to look at it he did nominate her she has the votes shall become the next leftdoublequote justice. E. This is not unique historically has been done before in fact many times when theres only been a certain number of weeks to actually go forward. As long as it is done thoroughly and properly and efficiently, i see an issue with it. It was a little different back thenlius because majority and Minority Party were different. Kennedy i would like to see consistency the American People like to see consistency what was done years ago should. E now if thats voters are asking for then people just want to know the same rules will apply. Access to legal abortion has been settling case law since 1973 should that be maintained . Im prochoice it should be maintained and i will fight for womens reproductive rights you have to qualify that you seduce is the Hyde Amendment it shouldnt be taxpayerfunded. Do not support lateterm abortions because of the science do i support live birth abortions . I do not so that has to be qualified do support abortion under any circumstance. If its a life of the mother or rape or incest without question. Do you support or oppose gun control legislation and crude including universal background checks with the plan on military style assault weapons . Drew i support universal background checks and always have a crime the gun owner and to believe that so i went to the gun store to have the size reduced and i was standing there i thought i guess the next gang banger or criminal will be sure to go in there he murder somebody he will get his magazine size reduced it is nonsense. He needed we need to push people are creating those crimes not legal gun owners. So to train our kids how to hide in corners and do the drills because they havent come up with good meaningful changes to make sure we use common sense gun laws and i support the ones that you mentioned because that is the direction that we need to move into make sure that the universal background check thats in place with the ban on assault weapons t what we need forha b t our children with safety in schools and what they deserve. Even if new jersey votes to legalize marijuana it still classified schedule one substance on the federal level do support removing it from that list . Kennedy i i do. We need to do the research that is not possible and talk about medical uses. I do as well so moving on to Social Security the president has expressed a desire to and the payroll the tx what is your response and up so because of the inaction of Congress People need more money in their pocket right now so i support the payroll tax cut knowing that we have to push to get the economy going next year because that will have to be be paid. Same question. I do not support the changes that President Trump made so many people rely on Social Security benefits we saw big corporations that were very successful during this w virus and they had to take tax breaks we cannot make sure that they had the Social Security that they need that is unacceptable the cdc recommends wearing a Face Covering inn public when social distancing is a possible. Would you support a federal mandate for mask wearing. I went into a federal mandate each state is different what wyoming needs to do in north dakota may be very different than what the city of washington in new york asked to do there is a little bit of states rights we should do with medically correct there are those that can make those decisions. I would have to see what the parameters were sent people that had covid to be nationwide otherwise i agree and i support that based on the political basis. As we sit here socially distant will you get a Coronavirus Vaccine as soon as it becomes publicly available . Kennedy i will get a vaccine as soon as it is availabl available, provided the fda has approved it and science has said that it is safe to do. And as a nation can move forwar forward. Thank you to the candidates. Host you have 60 seconds. Drew thank you for debating with me its an honor to be here. I love this country. It has been so amazingly good a to me to think i am a United States congressman i am not a very wealthy person growing up i was able to become a dentist all because of the freedoms that we have f and the amazing nature and the exceptionalism of this country and the americanism and the right to reach the brass ring into better if thats not the most important election since the civil war and i think it matters what i say to the people watching and listenin listening, care about america and want to live and the in the america you have always knownthca t and loved it has beo good to our children and grandchildren and hopefully greatgrandchildren in the future, that this election matters a lot. I will not be enough to say show you what i thank you can figure it out. Thank you so much. Kennedy for generations south jersey i am running because i love my home. I love where i live i am raising my five kids here when i start in with Field Community schoolsls thats want to do for you in congress to make sure we are including the entire community to achieve success south jersey for too long it has been ignored you desire a congressperson who will work hard every day making the changes for the health care and economy back on its feet. That concludes the debate portion thank you tour candidates