Challenger amy kennedy. This debate is just over one hour. Its debate that you at the Academic Center at Stockton University. Facing off jeff will be joining Republican Party, cockup and Jeff Van Drew who made National Headlines after a very public party switch. The reason i left is because the Democratic Party is looking to the left. His opponent amy kennedy, former Public School teacher and a member of one of the most famous political dynasties. We want to know that the voices in south jersey arey head and i think i am the person to do that. Im raising my family here. For me this is it just a house. Its my home and my whole family lives in the area and understand whats happening in our community. At stake, the seat for the second Congressional District in south jersey the. I know our district. I walked up at target. People in south jersey a good hardworking middleclass people that want somebody thats going to to beat Jeff Van Drew we need to have vision of what we want this country to look like Going Forward and for me that means focusing on social justice, moving out of the coronavirus and george floydsto that come that will be really important to focus on the values of our community. The candidates will have their chance to square off on covidav recovery, economy, clime change, policing, healthcare, and all the issues medical to the people of south jersey. Getting a come to the Academic Center at Stockton University here and Atlantic City. Im briana vannozzi. For the next 60 minutes or so well have a spirited and informative debate in the second Congressional District candidates to republican congressman Jeff Van Drew and democrat amy kennedy followed by postdebate analysis. Ve this event is sponsored by the William J Hughes center for Public Policy at Stockton University. Moderator is the Center Executive director john froonjian. The panelists asking the question are my colleagues from nj spotlight news editor at large carlino day, Senior Correspondent david cruz, and myself. Before i turn it over to our moderator please know we are doing this debate life and in person. There is no live studio audience can only our crew and guess of the candidates are in the room. Where following covid19 protocols and outlined by Stockton University and the new Jersey Department helped other involved has signed the Health Pledge and wore masks of to the start of the broadcast. All else in the room were masks for the duration of the debate. Lets begin. John. Thank t you. And again welcome to Stockton University. The use senate is dash Hughes Center is pleased to partner with njtv andse new jersey spotlight news to bring you b to nights debate, in the new jersey Second District. Home of onef of the most important house races in the nation. There are groundrules for tonight. Our panel will pose questions to the candidates on a variety of issues. Candidates with 90 seconds to respond and will be about 30 seconds for followup where appropriate. There are no opening statements. Each candidate will give one minute closing statement. Candidates, please respect the timeline to which you agreed. Fd of questions requiring 30 second responses from each candidate and no rebuttals. Our first topic involves the coronavirus pandemic, breonna. Thank you, and welcome to you both. Mr. Van drew, first question is to you first, in the days since President Trumps covid19 diagnosis, more than 30 white house officials, staffers and others in his orbit have tested positive including former governor chris christie. Was it irresponsible of the president to travel and hold events knowing he had been exposed . 90 seconds to you. Well, i dont know exactly how much he did and didnt know and i cant speak for the president but obviously when somebody has been exposed and they know they have been, they have the responsibility to let their doctor or whatever Health Professional know. I believe that, you know, we are coming to a time now where we are going to be much more proactive about making sure that those types of things dont happen and we also know that which is interesting, that covid is your younger and healthier, et cetera, doesnt affect you nearly as much as people had originally thought. Some things are looking better on the horizon, still requires vigilance and still requires being careful. Ms. Kennedy, how would you rate the federal governments response to the coronavirus pandemic . First, thank you for having me here tonight, and, you know, i would love to tell you that everything was moving forward in a way where we can just not be cautious in the way that weve had to be tonight but we are six months in and we are still really struggling, we are seeing uptick in cases and its really the mix messaging that we saw throughout this pandemic about how dangerous the virus would be, whether or not we should have masks or not wear masks, the distribution of the ppe, left so much unclear for the American People, i want to see us have a real plan and make sure that we are thinking about how we are going to distribute the vaccine equitably and that we can soon reopen and get back to life. Mr. Van drew, i want to ask the same question to you, how would you rate the federal governments response to the pandemic . Well, first of all, we have to understand how this started. It did start in china and we have to understand that our cdc was not allowed to go into china and really evaluate what was happening. In fact, we dont know if it really came from a wet meat market or actually came from a laboratory, i believe it probably came from a laboratory, we dont know if this was genetically mutated but we do know that fortunately the president did say theyll be travel restrictions quite early on and after ward had travel restrictions with europe. Now at that time he was called racist, said he was xenophobic, thank you goodness he did. We are moving rapidly towards the vaccine and we will have it very soon, we are moving rapidly with Better Therapeutics and they are being used by physicians so i think that all in all, as i 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 toward. The world is going to move forward. This has affected the entire world. Ms. Kennedy, i want to ask the next question to you. Democratic president ial candidate joe biden has expressed a willingness to go into a National Lockdown if necessary, do you support or oppose such an action . 90 seconds to you. Im hopeful that we are not going to need to take action like that. You know, here we have seen really high numbers in parts of the country and in parts of the state, lower numbers in other areas, id like to see it happen in a way thats more precise, but thats going to require Rapid Testing and tracing and until those are in place, we are going to have to handle it in the way that means that americans will be safe and that will help us get back on track as soon as possible. And so to clarify, if the Vice President were elected president and called for a National Lockdown, your position would be what . I dont think he would call a National Lockdown unless it were absolutely necessary and at that point i would hope that hes following the direction of scientists and doctors. Thank you. The next questions are about federal pandemic relief. Ms. Kennedy, it has been six months since Congress Passed the cares act. The president ended negotiations with democrats this week, but then said he would sign bills giving another 1,200dollar 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 . I absolutely support another round of stimulus funding. Im glad to hear that the president is going to approve those measures. We know that families in south jersey have been struggling, just looking at the rise in demand for the Community Food bank, for example, people are having a difficult time just putting food on their table. We know that unemployment is high and we need to get people back to work but in the meantime that that necessary stimulus is going to have to be the bridge there and its not just the airlines but its our Small Businesses that have really struggled and id like to see that stimulus go to the Small Businesses and working families as well as our frontline workers. Mr. Van drew, this is essentially the same question to you, do you support another round of stimulus funding fanned so how much and where should it go . Sure, well i do. The amount can be worked out. As you know its varied from 1. 6 billion to over but that trillion rather, 1. 6 trillion to over 2 trillion. But thats not the issue. Here is the real issue and we could have done this reason and the reason its not done already because of politics, we had a bill that we voted on for covid relief and in that bill were put certain measures that were so unacceptable to so Many Congress people including democrats. What was in that bill, squeezed in there, that shouldnt have been, the release of federal prisoners who were violent prisoners and 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 2,500dollar stimulus and or more without even being residents when we dont get it for our 17yearold kids. It was the Green New Deal which would cost trillions of dollars ultimately, so all of the other political ideas and packages were squeezed in when most of the bill was good, so at the end of the day when we left, it didnt get done and we are still where we are. I want to go back. I want to get it done. I want to get a bill done in a bipartisan level with all of us working together and not putting in the nonsense, we can argue about the other stuff later but we need the relief. Thank you. Thank you for that. The next question excuse me, i have a quick followup for you, mr. Van drew, if thats okay. There are some republicans who have called the stimulus a bluestate bailout. Is that something that you agree with . So, of course, we do. It depends how you do that. I believe in helping the states. I believe that states should be held accountable for past practices that were very irresponsible in the way they budgeted it and what they did without a doubt, but i also think the expenses that they have do to due to the covid should be helped, we just cant bail them out because they didnt run their state either. Thats something that you have to go through state by state. Thank you. Next question is about election security. And this question is for both of the candidates. President trump has called into question the validity of this election. He contends theres widespread voter fraud, particularly in relation to vote by mail. But without providing proof. How confident are you in the security of this years election and the validity of the results, mr. Van drew, if you would start . Im hopeful but im worried. Talk to postmasters and any person, we can go to the street and talk to regular folks, every one of them will tell you that they have had the experience or know somebody who has had it where they have gotten extra ballots in the mail and people who moved and dont life there anymore, people who passed away and live in other states, thats not good. We are sending live ballots in the mail, millions of them and i expressed to the governor and i would right now openly on live and said what we should have done is even have maybe monday, tuesday and wednesday voting by machines, you could have the middle of the alphabet vote on tuesday and the beginning vote on monday and the end of the alphabet vote on wednesday, the point is you could have had the spacing and precautions and could have done everything the right way but people would go and vote and press the button and know they did the right thing. Traditional vote by mail is find because you have to make the request. Right now we are just putting ballots out there. Honestly we dont need President Trump to tell us that. All you need to do is talk to family and friends and i guaranty, thaw will tell you and it even happened in the primary that theyre getting all kinds of ballots and they dont know where theyre coming from. Ms. Kennedy, the same question. Yeah, im 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 works. We saw an inaccuracy in turnout. Almost 50 higher than ever in the history of district 2 that people participated both republicans and democrats, saw increase on participation and on the thinking that if people want to vote in person, they have that option, they can do that. If they need to put it in the mail, thats an option for them and theres also the secure drop boxes which we know that theres ten in each county at a minimum, so i feel like this is a good path forward and also means that everybody will have a paper ballot, it helps us with the idea of interference from any type of Foreign Government as well because paper ballots are secure and the whole narrative that President Trump has been pushing, i think, is disruptive. Quick followup, 30 seconds, if you would. There was an incident just last week up in byrd county where ballots were found with other mail that was thrown away and fairly quickly found the postal employee who they think was responsible. Does that prove that there may be some sort of, you know, worry that is we should have ballots getting where they need to go . I think always with an election that we should be very cautious that we need people to report if Something Like that is happening, but that this overall is a very secure method, its being used in other states and have been for a long time. And for you, mr. Van drew, 30 seconds, if you would, youve been a state legislator before you were in congress for an awful long time and i think you know how the system works, arent there enough safeguards in our system to prevent a person from mailing from voting twice, you know there were, there absolutely were and even in the system that we had we all spoke about in the legislature how actually there should be a backup on the machines and im sure youve heard that. Our machines arent even good enough and there are a whole lot better than all the paper ballots that were floating out there. Look what happened in patterson and look at what happened in the other locations. You mentioned one of them. Im telling you theres a lot. If you know anecdotally people that are telling you that they are getting ballots for people who arent even alive, you know something is wrong. It is a mistake. Time. The next questions involve political ideology. Welcome, candidates. Mammoth University Pole found out that half of the voters were bothered a little bit or a lot by your party switch. We got a lot of questions from the viewers, here is one of them. What do you say for voters who voted for you as a democrat in the previous election and feel betrayed by your switch to the Republican Party . 90 seconds. First of all, i have to disagree with the monmouth poll and ive walked the streets and talked to people and ive had a tremendous amount of support, our own internal polling doesnt show that at all which is really weird how different it is. I would say this, people voted for me because im Jeff Van Drew. My whole career has been based upon the fact that i wasnt so concerned about republicans and democrats. I was concerned about standing up for south jersey, for fighting for south jersey, for believing in the people in south jersey who often dont get their fair share. People didnt vote for me just because i was a democrat. In fact, in my legislative districts there are a whole lot more republicans than democrats and probably more republicans voted for me than democrats. So its voting for the individual person and we just cant vote for the party alone, so i dont buy it, i think that people know who i am, they know what i stand for and they will vote for or against me on that basis. Let me follow up with a 30second question for you. In the oval office, you pledged your undying support to President Trump, do you still standby that . What that means not that i will agree with him on everything. Weve had goodies agreements, solid policy issues and i voted differently when we voted in the house of representatives, so ive been very independent and i will continue to do so. What it meant is i support the presidency, that i support some of the things that hes done about a strong america, america that really can stand up and is number 1 in Energy Production in america, that has its own supply chain and an america that supports education and an america that will fight for the environment and an america that supports military and other things as well. Thank you. Ms. Kennedy, you come from a family well known in politics, you married into a family with a wellknown political name but you yourself have never held elected office, how do you expect to get anything done with no elected political experience . 90 seconds. Thank you, david. You know, this is really going back to the heart of why im here and it is because i was raised in this county, in this district, my family has lived here for four generations. I taught Public School, im raising my own 5 kids here and i work as a Mental Health advocate trying to make sure that we are improving lives and i think people will really support that kind of lived experience because im able to bring a voice of my own community to this position. So this followup question comes from a viewer and it pertains to where you fall on the political spectrum. Sure. A viewer asked, are there any issues with your partys president ial candidate joe biden on which you disagree . 30 seconds. Yeah, thank you. I think, you know, one last night that came up was on fracking and i was disappointed to hear that comment. Of course, it was something that weve heard a lot about and i want to see us moving toward Greener Energy and that was, i think, a step back. So you agree that there should be fracking or that there shouldnt be . I dont think that we should be encouraging fracking. All right. Mr. Van drew, in a speech in the republican inspectional convention this summer you said you switched parties because the Democratic Party had moved too far to the left and that they now supported radical socialist agenda, what specifically do you think is radical and socialist about the Democratic Party . Theres a number of things, so lets start with the Green New Deal and just how much that would cost, trillions of dollars. There is certainly the idea among Many Democrats that we should defund the police. Now think about it. The individuals who 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 . The answer is not to defund the police, they actually need to be helped more financially and then to have more work done within the community, Community Policing where community and police come together and the community has actual meetings with the police. We can work some of the issues out, but i stand tall with my police and i believe in what they do and i believe what they stand for. I stand for strong military, most of many of the radical democrats at least do not stand for a strong military. I dont believe any nation is ever attacked because its too strong. I stand for not only that but i stand for being number 1 in Energy Production in the world and having a good supply chain. You know whats really embarrassing, it was embarrassing after china sent us the wonderful gift of the virus, we then had to go back with our tail in between our legs and ask them for ppe. Never again. We should stand and have our own supply chain, produce our own stuff, make sure that we manufacture, make sure that we lead, make sure that we continue to be that shining city on the hill thats ahead of where everybody is in the world and help them. All right. Thank you both. Now turn to the topic of health care. Mr. Van drew, this question goes to you first. The Current Administration is actively seeking to strike down the individual mandate in obamacare. If successful, that would mean about 19,000 constituents in your district would lose their health care according to the most recent data from the Kaiser Family foundation, is it your view to see the Affordable Care act overturned. Its too expensive for many people but we do not have anything good to replace it yet. I will not vote for that to happen until we have a just as good or hopefully better replacement. Thats the wrong thing to do. We have to make sure that people have health care and we absolutely have to make sure that they are covered for preexisting conditions. Thats why when i voted the last time this came up in the house, i did not vote to actually remove obamacare or to, you know, say that we wouldnt continue with the aca, we have to until we find Something Better and i also dont want to see taken away those who have Employer Healthcare, that they have employer sponsored healthcare, they should be able to keep that. We should not go to a system thats going to destroy all of that. People need to also have their own doctor. If i may follow up, sir, are you saying that your colleagues in congress and the president do not have a plan, an appropriate plan to replace . I would say that theres some pieces of it but for an entirely appropriate plan, i think i would need to see more of it and evaluate it more before i put my signature on it. Thank you. Ms. Kennedy, you support a medicare for all who want a health care plan, what should the governments role be in providing health care, 90 seconds, please . Thank you. Well, im glad to hear we agree on the fact that we need to maintain the Affordable Care act. Thats important now more than ever, i believe, and we cannot for south jersey see so many two uninsured when unemployment is so high right now and people have lost their Employer Health care. I do believe that a public option for medicare would be important for people who are not able to afford that inbetween coverage and that we absolutely should be able to maintain our employer package if possible. So for me, its going on the to be crucial as we are going around the county and talking to families that are worried about their health care and they have the care that they need, lifesaving treatment is not put off because they simply cant afford it. Estimates for a public option run the gamut, wouldnt the government need to raise taxes in order to pay for this and would you support that . 30 seconds, if you would, your response. Sure. I know how expensive it is even congressman van drew talked about this just 2 years ago on the stage, how the cost of people having to resort to Crisis Management when theyre in the emergency room really is a cost on all taxpayers. We need to be putting Preventive Care at the forefront and we need to talk about how we can make healthier lives and healthier communities so that the costs are reduced for all of us but we also need to be able to to bargain for lower Prescription Drug prices and that would be key to lower for all of us. Mr. Van drew, 30 seconds for you, is there another option to keep the costs low without an individual mandate . Well, certainly bargaining for Prescription Drugs is an idea that i agree with. It is why i voted for a broad and big bill that didnt go to its final fruition to actually lower drug costs and i think that we absolutely positively must do that and do it in a way where we incentivize American Experience and still coming up and, you know, finding new drugs and better therapies. Secondly, i believe when we were talking about health care before, i understand her opinion but many people disagree on the democrats side and believe that all privatelysponsored healthcare should be removed and all should be government, period. We now turn to the economy. This is a question for both of the candidates. South jerseys economy is less diverse and more reliant on tourism and Atlantic City continues to struggle since closing of casinos and parts of the district are also having trouble finding work. A voter wrote in this with question, i commute to philadelphia due to lack of goodpaying jobs with good benefits in south jersey. Now more than ever, i want to stay closer to home. Do you have any plans for job growth in this area, ms. Kennedy, if you would answer first . Thank you. This is so important in our communities. Ive lived here near my parents and my brothers and thats a conversation that ive had with my family and between us theres 12 grandchildren and we wonder what opportunities are going to be here for our kids so they can live down the street from their grandparents, but what we have seen is an economy that has struggled over not just during the pandemic but over years here and we have to be able to diversify that economy through an investment in infrastructure, i expect that to be not just bridges and roads which we desperately need, broadband, building for Climate Resilience that would bring goodpaying jobs to the area we also neede to see diversification so that we are building out research in our area. Were building out f. A. A. And Small Businesses that are struggling at this time, but give the character to our community. Whats your job plan for south jersey . First we have to look at what weve got. Weve got to help the terrorism more, it shouldnt be the only industry, but one of the shameful things that happened is every other state in the United States of america had a plan where areas that werent hit as hard by covid were able to open up earlier. Even Governor Cuomo in new york state opened up Northern New York state earlier. Our numbers are far lower than other areas of the state of new jersey, yet, our governor did not allow that to happen. He used the same standards for our people down here who easily could have opened up certain businesses, and those businesses were destroyed. Those businesses, many of them are not there anymore. Those businesses are so weak, they may not make it into the future, those that are surviving. It was the wrong thing to do and wasnt done in the rest the country. I disagree with the what he we opened up. Whats the plan to work with the f. A. A. Tech center not only that they have work, and i have a bill i worked on, broad support on it, were working with the tech center to try to get this through where they would actually be a part of working with airlines and airports to have less problems with covid issues. Those are the technological things we need to do and we need to do more not only on that type of technology, but deal across the gamut. They want to work in lower township. Time, mr. Van drew. Sorry, but let me ask a quick thank you i think youre supported or maybe had a fundraiser, or you have some of the gym owners who have been closed down and violated state orders, knocked down the doors. I was not seen with them, actually, but i definitely i did not have a fundraiser with them, but i feel for them. Right here in northfield, island gym, ive project gone there 20some years and they said youre not going to be able to work out here, were closing the doors. Its real things that happened to people. The doors were closed and lives changed we could have done a better job medically without making people sick. We did the wrong thing. My question is, regardless whether you agree with the order, it is a valid order, it is a law, its an order by the governor. An executive order. Yeah, an executive order. Do you think that gym owners should have been allowed to violate that . I think they were expressing, just like the founders of our nation did at one time the extreme frustration, we were hurting their families and taking food out of their mouths. If i think they have to obey the law . They do and ultimately the governor, did he padlock their places, locked them up. It didnt happen here down in south jersey. Our folks just obeyed and many of them lost their businesses. So i dont know who i feel worse for. This is another question now, still on the economy for both candidates. New jersey is among the most diverse states in the nation. Farmers count on migrant labor and shore and boardwalk businesses hire from abroad for the summer. Where do you agree or disagree with the Trump Administration policies on administrations and work visas, miss kennedy first . Sure, i think that immigration is an area where we absolutely need bipartisan support to come up with a policy and a plan so that we can have the work that we need to here in south jersey when we need employees, but that their rights are protected, that their safety is going to be protected. We know that that was very difficult during this pandemic to ensure safety of those that were coming in seasonally to work. And that we should be able to expand where we need to, to bring workers in. But where we have those that are qualified in our own area, we need to hire their first and need to ensure that employers that are not hiring legally need to be held accountable. And mr. Van drew, the same question, where do you agree or disagree with the Trump Administration . Good question, so i agree with him that we do not need and should not have open borders. You asked the question before, the difference between those folks on the left and what i believe, thats something thats very, very different. I dont believe in sanctuary cities. I agree with him on that. Thats another area where im very different and i think that we really need to look at it and i dont believe in sanctuary counties or sanctuary states. Thats all harmful. We have to take care of our people first and we are a nation of the rule of law. Before you asked me a question should we obey the law with gym owners yeah, the end of the day we had to, we should. Also, people coming across the border with no control whatsoever. Some of them being criminals and some of them worse. They should also have to obey the law. We cant do that anymore. Thats where i agree with him. And i also agree that we absolutely need a new plan for immigration in general, particularly for the immigration with work visas, because our area is so dependent upon it and we do use it for a few months. Year and it can even be a learning experience where people come, but then they go back home. Thank you. These next questions deal with race and policing. Mr. Van drew, do you believe systemic racism exists in america . If systemic racism means i always wonder, everybody gives me different definitions, that the average person in america hates people of other colors, i do not. If it means that there are pockets of problems sometimes in some areas for some reasons, of course, we know that exists. And this is a wonderful, amazing country. Its a country that selfcorrects that i really do believe gets better and better and does more to really help with these types of problems. So, i believe that, you know, if were going to and im actually jumping forward to our police, but i dont believe our average Law Enforcement official hates anybody of color. I just dont believe that. I believe theyre doing a job to help us. Many of the people in Law Enforcement are people of color. We have asians and blacks and whites and hispanics, all that are in Law Enforcement. So, i dont think emphasizing the negative, the hurtful, emphasizing hate is what helps. I think what we need to do is could come together and see where we agree more than we disagree. Come together and make our country and our relationships even better. And i dont think whats happening in the cities now with the destruction of buildings, with the throwing of molotov cocktails, with the killing and hurting of police and other people, and that hurts actually folks in the black communities more than anyone else. Whats happening in portland is a shame. The weakkneed mayor that wont stand up and believe in law. It is the law. Just again, like the gym before, it is the rule of law, and we have to obey that for the protection of everyone. Let me follow up with you and give you 30 seconds for this, right. Studies show black americans are three times more likely than white to be shot by police, five times more likely to be incarcerated, black children are four times more likely to live in poverty. If these arent the result of systemic racism, to what do you attribute these disparities. The disparities exist because we need to do more work, excuse me, long day a lot of talking, we need to do more work to bring us together, but the disparities dont exist because the average Police Officer when he or she wakes up in the morning says i hate black people, thats not truement anl and many of them are of color themselves. We need education and how we feel about each other and we need more education in the schools to teach people, young people how to deal with issues when they have an issue as a Police Officer. Who needs that education . We all do. We all do. You, me, everybody. It doesnt mean, but ill say one thing, im going to be clear, i stand by men and women who die for us, get injured for us, get hurt for us, every single day of the week, every day of the year, i stand by them, but it doesnt mean we cant make this better. We can. Miss kennedy, do you believe that systemic racism exists in america . I do. When we talk about systemic racism, i dont believe were talking about racist people, its our policies and institutions and how we address those so that we are looking at our system of education. I was so proud to be a teacher in new jersey that is at the top of this country in public education. But i also acknowledge that we are among the most segregated schools and that we have to make changes in our criminal justice system, in our education system. In policies around housing. And employment and equal pay. Do you see a legislative solution to this . I do. I think its policybased and i think that when we see racism that exists within our systems and institutions that its something that we can address just like we had Voting Rights act. This is the type of policy that we need to see applied to other institutions. All right, mr. Van drew. Defund the police has become a part of the mainstream conversation on police reform. How do you how do you define defunding the police . I think defunding the police is obviously lowering their budget so there are less Police Officers on the street and some towns want none at all. Portland is an example of that and there are other areas as well. Defunding police means that you dont want to give them adequate compensation for the chance that they take putting their lives on the line. Defunding the police means they wont get the equipment, the safety equipment, the vests, whatever else they need to make sure that they stay alive as they take bullets for you. Did you see the lady the other day, the officer who an officer of color, by the way, who took three bullets to the head and still was putting the tourniquet around her partner and this is what were talking about. It takes away what they need to survive day in day out on the beat trying to help people survive themselves. Now, if you want to do more good, and we can, as i said, i really believe in giving more money to have Community Policing and Community Programs and community meetings, and really connecting the police with the Community Even more. They dont have time to do that now. You know what the number one thing i that was told to me, last week Walking AroundAtlantic City. Talked to the islamic folks out there. Banglade bangladeshi people, talked to folks that were black, talked to folks who were white, talked to folks who were hispanic, i said what do we need . We need more police. Every few days our front store windows in atlantic avenue are smashed in. Thats the reality. These are Small Business people, people that came here, immigranted here and theyre not able to feel safe and worried every day their goods and services are stolen an and windows are smashed. They want more policing, not less. Do you support reforms to policing, any reforms . 30 seconds. So, of course, there should be reform in anything. And in dentistry, now, and its only 30 seconds. A good parallel, but im going to finish it. All right. And the point is theres always more you can learn, theres always more you can do, so lets, instead of blowing up buildings and hurting police and residents, lets sit down quietly, carefully in a bipartisan way together and make this happen. Miss kennedy, how do you define defunding the police . No, i wouldnt disagree with his idea of what he thinks defunding might mean. I only disagree with his accusation that i support that. I believe, as you do, that we need to have policing that are better trained, that are addressing bias, as we said earlier, bias in our systems needs to be addressed. That when we are talking about how we move together as a country and how we mitigate the violence that were seeing in this nation right now, that we should be talking about solutions to that by bringing both parties to the table. Making sure Law Enforcement has a voice at the table, as well as community members. And thats where we find real buyin and solutions that might work. And when we talk about how we make our community safer, i do believe its going to be an investment not only in Law Enforcement, but in things like Mental Health. And making sure that theres substance treatment. So that everybody thats struggling in our communities will have the help they need and were going to see Law Enforcement not have to arrive on a crisis scene so often. Should some of those Services Come from budgets set aside for Police Departments . Id like to see our state and local governments funded so that we can have both in place. Unfortunately, my opponent has not supported the funding of our state and local government by our federal dollars. All right. Thank you both. May i Say Something for a moment . Are we sticking to the rule that when we talk to the other person we get additional 30 seconds . Yes. Okay. Yes, you certainly im going to ask for that 30 seconds. First of all, respectfully during the primary, you absolutely, and we have the quotes and will give them to you in case you forgot. I would love that, that isnt what i said. We will, supported defunding the police, that number one is not true and secondly what ive always said about the state and federal governments, i support helping them at the federal level if its due to covid. If its due to bad, irresponsible budgeting, i dont think thats the job of the federal government to do that. If anything state if the state of new york is completely irresponsible in the way they fund their budget, the people in new jersey should not have to pay for that. If we have a problem where were all you know, having issues because of the expenses related to covid, then the federal government should help and ive always made that clear. Thank you. We need the funding. We are the ones that need the funding now. In regards to my comments at the naacp forum i was proud to participate in there was merit to conversations how we provide funding and make sure that Mental Health services are available. And you took that and spun it to say that i supported defunding the police and that i said. I never said the word defund, but youve used that in every ad in mailers about me, and you have con standpointly used that refrain. Yet when youre asked about your pledge of undying support, you said thats not what i meant, but youre willing to put words into my mouth that ive not said. Well, i get another 30 seconds. So i didnt say thats not exactly what i meant. Thats not exactly how it works. I explained what i meant and i made that clear and as far as the defunding, they were speaking of that issue and you said there was merit to it so to having a conversation. Right, merit to having a conversation. If you dont agree with having a conversation. No, i dont think theres merit to conversing about how were going to defund our police, i think it will hurt them and thats where we disagree. Thank you. Yeah, if i can just followup for a moment because i think youve kind of touched on something that we were thinking of. Sure. Miss kennedy, you first, what would you say is the ad that your opponent that is red wing against you the most offensive or most false. How would you answer that . I think i am basically cut and paste into the republican talking points that are happening across the country right now. I would like to be seen as an individual, maybe look at my policies on my page before shamming sham slamming me as phony, elitist, radical. All of those things that i think everyone that went and took a look at the website, oh, that doesnt seem to fit that school teacher. I dont think thats her. You know, and really just being able to have that conversation about what the needs are in south jersey and who would represent it best, rather than going to that kind of negative, nasty campaigning that were seeing too much of, frankly. Mr. Van true van drew, how about you . Miss kennedy, i dont think youre that home spun school teacher, i dont mean that in a negative way, but youre attempting to achieve Something Different and your family is different and youre just not a little home spun school teacher. Secondly, i think that a lot of the ads are offensive because sometimes we dont want to hear what is the truth. Now, sometimes it is too negative. Ive had more negative advertisements against me than just about anybody else living in this room right now because of the number of years that ive served and ive even offered at times in the past to say lets not do any of that. Lets have a purely positive campaign. Only once in the campaigns i ever ran would somebody do that. Everything has a notation on it where its cited, where it comes from, what the words are, otherwise we would have had to pull. I dont watch them, including the ads on me. My wife starts to tell me. I dont want to hear it. Thank you, were going to move on now, lets talk about Climate Change. Miss kennedy, almost all of the districts front either the ocean or the bay, the most optimistic scenarios for Climate Change have 45,000 homes in the Second District at risk of flooding within the next 30 years. How would you work with republicans to prevent the impending crisis of rising sea levels. Thank you, this is such an important issue, i think we can find some bipartisan ground and that really is in the Infrastructure Projects that we would hope to see build our Climate Resiliency in south jersey because we know that new jersey is at the top of the list for being at risk of Climate Change. So regardless of what you believe the causes of Climate Change are, we know that were front and center in that battle and if theres to be an investment in infrastructure like President Trump had asked for that we know vicepresident biden is hoping to achieve under the build back better plan. That there would be a Real Investment fear in stands and roads and bridges and levees and do what we can to provide natural dunes and have the protection that we need for businesses, for homes, and also to invest in green energy so that were not seeing further Climate Change. Mr. Van drew, do you believe that Climate Change is threatening the district . And if so, how would you work members of your own party, many of whom are Climate Change deniers to do something to protect this district . And there are those that are not. But i do, yes, i believe in Climate Change and ive indicated that before. In fact, i just was a sponsor of the land and Water Conservation fund probably one of the largest environmental bills that have ever been done in history that guarantees open space and open areas and maintain water ways and doing good things. The bill was taken away from me, a democrat. A great friend and i sponsored it and it passed and the president signed it. Carbon capture, is good idea, something that weve worked on more. Zoning the way that we zone and the way that we build our houses and were doing this automatically, building them higher and making sure theres venting so if the water comes into the home and it actually goes right out of the home and theres a difference in Flood Insurance cost and helps with that, and i believe theres still room for nuclear. I do. I believe that nuclear can be clean and many countries around the world are doing it that are concerned with Climate Change as well and i believe in solar, and incentivizing as well with solar energy, what i dont believe in, sometimes we make deals with countries like china who are responsible for 28 alone, just them, 28 of the carbon, 28 of the pollution and then we give them a special deal that they can still go on and basically keep doing that and well pay for it because well actually do the right things they wont, and then well have to go and buy our stuff from them again because we dont have a supply chain. That i dont believe in. Thank you, mr. Van drew. Yeah, a followup first to you, miss kennedy. Mr. Van drew mentioned the Flood Insurance program. You know, we the biggest storm we had recently was super storm sandy, obviously, there were billions of dollars that had to be paid out through that program. Is that a viable option still or should people start to think about moving away from the shoreline . You know, i think we still need to have the Flood Insurance available. This is a community, we know everybody is not moving away. Were still seeing families that have been here for generations, like my own, that want to stay in this area. Of course, we need to make sure that were building in a way that is going to be more resilient. Like weve seen. I live in briggenstein and weve seen people raise their houses. So many left the area, but those that remain need that protection, that safeguard until we come up with some other solutions, including the infrastructure. Our next topic is transportation. Ms. Kennedy, i want to ask you this question first. Public transportation, as we all know in south jersey, continues to be much more scarce than it is in north jersey and this does limit Economic Opportunity for some of the residents here. We saw this two years ago, when the Atlantic City busline was shut down for months, the train as well and forced workers to find alternate routes. What will you do to provide more Public Transportation for the people of south jersey . You have 90 secondsments thank you. I do think this is a really important thing for getting our economy back on its feet. We know that without really reliable transportation, without an easy way to commute to different areas that its going to be hard for people to get to work and also, for companies to think that they might invest in our area. So this is a twofold thing, not only helping the families that need that transportation, but also luring other businesses into our area for them to want an invest. Because weve got the infrastructure and system in place to make that possible. Im happy to have the support of the unions and make sure theyll continue to have that service and to be able to expand it. Well need federal dollars to come in and help support us in our efforts in this state to make it more equitable and make sure that transportation is a priority. I want to follow up with that. What specifically industries would you look to lure and bringing jobs here, we know thats difficult to do without that infrastructure in place. Are there specific sectors you would look to target . Yeah, i think that what weve seen is the distribution could 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 there, but we dont have the transportation, we dont have our roads set up for them to easily get out to the places that they need. But the airport itself lends itself to distribution. Mr. Van drew, same question to you regarding Public Transportation in south jersey and the lack of opportunity offered to some residents as far as employment goes. Thank you, number one, just to remind everybody that when new Jersey Transit closed down and was not having their line between Atlantic City and philadelphia, i think you remember how hard i fought. And how much noisy made to make sure that we got it back because we were going to lose it. It was actually going to get worse, which is really terrible. Secondly, same with the bus services, i mean, these folks dont want to be down here because we dont have the numbers, especially in the winter time. So, they were really looking, also, to cut back and i can give you a list of mayors that i help to keep the transportation in their communities. But we need to do better. Theres no question. One of the ideas may be smaller units of transportation, you know, these big buses, we may not need in all of our areas down here. People are familiar with the needs and those types of vehicles may have more application in some of our communities down here and i think that makes sense as well. So, and by the way, when we finally do an infrastructure bill, which we havent done because weve been playing so much politics and when i say we, not me, but weve had so many investigations and impeachments and everything else, we didnt get to a lot of the work and a lot of the good questions to talk about dont have the final answers we should because of what went on in congress, that was more political than substantive. Thank you to you both. Thank you. Were going to move now into our round of quick questions and answers. Please take no more than 30 seconds. Each candidate will answer every question. And this will be no rebuttals. Ms. Kennedy, id like to ask you first. Over the last 70 years, taxpayers spent close to a billion and a half dollars along beach remrenment projects along the store. We touched on this, do you think this is a longterm solution to beach emotion . You have 30 seconds for your response. In the shortterm, i think we need to continue to do it for our to yo tourism. If theres a longer viable solution, well use that. What we need to do to our source economy, make sure this is a place where people still need to come to the beach. Mr. Van drew, same question to you. Good question, and fairly from stockton does a lot of work. Nobody has come up with a better answer. The answer is not to completely retreat from the shore. Thats for sure. So far now, this is absolutely what we need to do and if we can find Something Better in the uch foo future, lets do it. Lets experiment with it and see if it works. I want to move on to the Supreme Court. The Senate Judiciary committee is set to start confirmation hearings for amy coney barrett. This comes four years after the republicans denied president obamas nominee with 34 weeks before the election. Is moving ahead with this confirmation appropriate. Mr. Van drew, you first. I think its appropriate, its up to the president and everybody would have a different way of looking at it, but he did nominate her. Its going through the senate. If she has the votes, she will be the next Supreme Court justice. Its not unique, its been done historically before. Many times with a certain number of weeks to go forward and do this, as long as the job is done thoroughly, properly, and efficiently, i dont see an issue with it and i think quite frankly, im sorry, it was a little different back then, because back then the Majority Party and Minority Party were different. Miss kennedy. I would like to see consistency. I think the American People would like to see consistency, what was done four years ago, should be appropriate now. You know, thats what people, voters are asking for, i think people, just want to know that the same rules will apply. And moving on to a sort of related question, which involves abortion, access to legal abortion has been settled case law in the United States since 1973. Should that legal access be maintained, ms. Kennedy . Yes, i believe im pro choice. I believe that it should be maintained and im going to be someone thats going to continue to fight for womens reproductive rights. Mr. Van drew. So, i think you have to qualify that a little bit. Do i support the Hyde Amendment . Yes, i do. Which says it shunting taxpayer funded. Do i support late term abortions . I absolutely do not. Especially what we know in todays times and what we can see because of the science of it. Do i support live birth abortions . I do not and i think thats wrong as well. So i think it depends, again, it has to be qualified. And do you support abortion under any circumstances. Certainly if its the life of the mother or if its rape or incest without question. Mr. Van drew. Do you support or oppose gun control legislation, including universal background checks and a ban on military style assault weapons . 30 seconds. I certainly support universal background checks and always have. Im a gun owner and i believe in the second amendment, and to believe that because, for example, in new jersey we reduced the size of a magazine, i think from 13 to 10. So i went to the gun store and had the size of my magazine reduced. As i was standing there i thought the next gang banger or criminal is going to be sure to go in there and before he murders somebody, hes going to get his magazine size reduced. This is nonsense, we need to punish the people who are creating and committing the time not legal gun owners. Time. Ms. Kennedy, same question. I in Teaching School had to train our kids how to hide in corners and under their desks and do these drills because we simply havent come up with good, meaningful changes to make sure that were using common sense gun laws and i support the ones that you mention because i think thats the direction that we need to move in so that we are making sure that the universal background checks that are in place, a ban on assault weapons, are also going to be what we need to do to deserve for our children to have their safety in schools and its what they deserve. Moving to marijuana. Even if new jersey voters elect to legalize marijuana this november, it will still be classified as a schedule one controlled substance on the federal level. Do you support removing it from that list, ms. Kennedy . I do. I think that we need to be able to do the research and the science thats not possible when its a schedule one drug. And that when were talking about medical uses, we want the science there to back it up and support it. Mr. Van drew . I do as well. Thank you. Were going to move on to a question on Social Security to you both. Mr. Van drew, youll be first. The president has expressed the desire to end the payroll tax that funds Social Security. Whats your response to that proposal . Because of the inaction of congress and all that has gone on, people need more money in their pocket right now. As we said here, people are financially in trouble at least a portion of them. And i support the payroll tax cut. Knowing that weve got to push the economy to get going next year because thats going to have to be repaid. Ms. Kennedy, the same question to you. I do not support of the changes that President Trump made. Our community, south jersey, so many people rely on Social Security benefits. We cannot afford to put it in jeopardy. We saw big corporations very successful during this virus and they have the tax breaks and yet, we cant afford to make sure that people have the Social Security that they need . Thats unacceptable. The c. D. C. Recommends wearing a Face Covering while in public when Social Securitying isnt possible. Lets start with you, mr. Van drew. Would you support a federal mandate for mask wearing . I wouldnt support a federal manda mandate. Each state is different. What wyoming needs to do and north dakota needs to do may be different than what the city of washington or city of new york has to do. Thats, you know, theres a little bit of states rights here. I would support the idea that we should all be careful and doing whats medically correct, but there are good doctors and leaders in those areas that can make the decisions. Ms. Kennedy. I think i would have to see what the parameters were, what the qualifying percent of people that had covid were for it to be something that would be nationwide. Otherwise, i agree and i would support that based on a local basis. This will be our last question of the evening. Ms. Kennedy, youll go first. As we sit here socially distanced, will you get a Coronavirus Vaccine as soon as it becomes publicly available . I will get a Coronavirus Vaccine as soon as it is available provided that the fda has approved it and its, you know, science has said that this is safe to do, which i know it will be, and im hopeful this is something that we can all, as a nation, move forward. Mr. Van drew, same question to you. Yes, i will. Thank you. John . Thank you and thank you to the candidates. Were going now to closing statement and by prior agreement by the candidate. Mr. Van drew will give his first. 60 seconds, please. So hard in 60 seconds especially for me, but in any event, have you for debating with me. New for the job that you all did. Its an honor to be here and its an honor to be in america. I love this country. This country has been so amazingly good to me to think that i am a United States congressman, i was not a very wealthy person growing up. I was able to become a dentist all because of the freedoms we have. All because of the amazing nature and the exceptionalism of this country and the americanism of this country. And the right to reach for the brass ring and to do better and do more. I think this election is one of the most, if not the most important election since the civil war. I think it really matters and what i would say to the people watching and listening to this, if you care about america, if you want to live in and be in the american that youve always known and that youve always loved and has been so good to our children and grandchildren and hopefully our greatgrandchildren in the future that this election matters a lot of im not going to be crude enough to say even who you should vote for, i think you can figure it out. Thank you so much. I am four generations south jersey and i am running because i love my home. I love where i live and im raising my five kids here. When i taught in Northfield Community school, it was my job to look around, see who was struggling and help those barriers to help them be successful. That he is thats what i want to do for you in congress. Were including our entire Community Helping to achieve success for south jersey. For too long its been ignored. For too long, people have not showed up to do the job. You deserve a Congress Person who is going to work hard for you every day and make the changes we need to see to get health care and our economy back on its feet. Thank you. That concludes the debate portion of this evening. We want to thank both of our candidates, amy kennedy. Congressman Jeff Van Drew. This evening, Republican SenateMajority Leader Mitch Mcconnell and u. S. Senate candidate take part in a televised debate. University of kentucky sponsoring the event. Live on cspan, cspan. Org ar listen with the free radio app. Utah Fourth District candidates including incumbent candidates ben mcadams and congress burgess owens. The Utah Debate Commission is sponsoring the event on cspa cspan2. Who will control congress in january . Stay informs on all the competitive congressional races, with cspans campaign 2020 coverage. Watch the candidates debate on cspan and watch online at