News source present debate for the state the u. S. Senate candidate perjury or moderators glory fountain and mike ross. Semacodes near point thank you for joining us for debate for the state. Recovering to you live from Alaska Public Media. Im gonsolin. And im Laurie Townsend and we will pose a series of questions to the two major candidates for u. S. Senate. Republican senator dan sullivan and democratic nominee independent doctors al gross who is in the studio and senator sullivan is joining us from away from washington d. C. Welcome to both of r you. As you might have noticed we are having some technical complications with this setup so if you hear a screech every once in a while gross has an earpiece so he can hear what mr. Sullivan has to say. You will notice we are all distanceez in the studio because of the pandemic. We are taking precautions and we feature video questions from rural alaska and one young alaskan. Tune in to Facebook Live immediately after this program for debate analysis. All questions and answers will be timed greatest single bill bill will signal 10 seconds left in the bell will ring twice when the times is up or the candidas will have the opportunity to ask a question of each other during the debate. Candidates will start with a one minute Opening Statement for the starting order would determine was determined earlier by coin toss. Dr. Gross your one minute Opening Statement please. Thank you to Alaska Public Media hand ktuutv noibi for tuning in. I am al gross and im a lifelong alaskan. Im an independent. So doctor ive listened to do and taking care of people all the way up to no attack and is a commercial fisherman ive worked from ketchikan to bristol bay put alaskans deserve to have a senator that they can trust and we cant trust dan sullivan. But just as i will take coverage away from. Existing conditions and hurting alaska from his support to the billiondollar Family Company doing direct business with the communist government of china bridge night youll hear dance a lot about schumer and pelosi but thats absurd. Im an alaskan mmr is going to put alaska first. Unlike damato plan to be covid into Lower Health Care costs and. New jobs. Get ready for a doctor a butcher state over politics. We have apologize for the screeching. Senator sullivan if you can hear us you get one minute. Thank you and good evening alaska britisher senator we will gets things done first and we have. Cleaning up arsons and protecting preexisting conditions and addressing Critical Issues like Public Safety and Domestic Violence. Now we face new challenges with covid19 from the pandemic for healthes care workers and Small Businesses keeping our citizens healthier remains critical and so does building a strong economic cover in more jobs for brighter future. My opponent and i have very different visions for alaska but im focused on building on the support we have made for jobs and opportunity. My opponent is a d. C. Politician with an antialaska position that will shut down our economy just like they have done before peak heat that in mind. Thank thank you. Thank you for those Opening Statements. Youre starting out tonight with a question from the headlines. Senator sullivan he rejected the idea of approving president obamas u. S. Supreme Court Nominee in 2015 because it was an Election Year that you are okay with the supreme Court Nominee advancing now. Why doesnt the same rule apply here quick one minute. And 2016 i mentioned the future direction of the Supreme Court was at stake and it was because we had a white house and the senate that were different parties. The people of alaska and the people spoke in 2016 electing a president in the senate at the same party in the principle and precedent that we have a party at the same white house and senate during an Election Year could typically a nomination for the serum cream court and the president are split. I think judge barrett is an outstanding justice for the u. S. Supreme court. She is somebody who is focused on the 2nd amendment and someone who is focused on limiting the power of federal agencies and i think shes going to be someone who will focus on making sure alaska has the right future. Im proud to be supporting her in the next couple of days. Dr. Gross if youre gross if your elected way supports expanding the u. S. Supreme court as some democrats in congress have called for and you have one minute for your response. Said i would not support packing the court but i understand there are concerns about the balance of the court but we need to work within the system to make the system better. Dan sullivan is showing complete lack of honesty and integrity. Four years ago he talked about the principles not the person. Washingtonut about two confirm r justice and strip away preexisting conditions a womans right to choose and have government tier apart the aca. I dont support that and i do not support packing the courts. C thank you. Turning our attention to the pandemic. Mr. Sullivan the present has been trying to put together covid relief problem but so far as fail to doge so. Why the most most important elements you think should be included in the next round of relief and you have one minute. C you may have seen a week before on the republican side of bill that i talk to many alaskans about and what they thought the top priority was. Our billny has none of these. For businesses that had 100 billion for schools and for childcarel and of course for hospitals. If you think all the revisions of the bill were bipartisan ive spoken to a number of democratic friends in the problem is i am looking for targeted relief. Senators these are different times. Schumer and pelosi are sitting with all or nothing with the heroes bill that gives billions of dollars. My opponent supports the heroes bill. It will be really problematic for the state of alaska. On the same topic dr. Gross you criticize cares act spending saying most bills are up for compromise. Would youf upload against the package because they are lemons you didnt like and what would he have done different . One minute for your response. I would have read the bill and i would have seen that alaskasr history that twice as much is at washington d. C. Valley. If you fail to bring the money back to the state your oversight on the ambiguous language in the bill , the Alaska Native Corporation is 160 million. Our fishermen produce 60 of the nation seafood. Weio only got 15 of the cares t money destined for the country but thats only twice as much as the washington scene d. C. Ballet. The covid youve been dishonest with the American People from the start. You knew was such an dangerous disease and you fail to deliver to alaska. What i did for the senate was i read thee, bill a lot more carefully than he did not fight a lot harder for alaskans to make sure we get we what we deserve. We want to give our candidates a chance for rebuttal. Mr. Sullivan would he like to respond to that . Sure id like to respond toe, that. This bill has. 114,000 jobs in alaska and Small Businesses. Thats an insult to the families who knew their relief. I got in there and its interesting when you talk about the Alaska Native Corporation the heroes act which you support has a complete discrimination provision and would clawback any money hundreds of millions of dollars. There are special considerations regarding cares act relief for rural alaska may be questioned from henry hunter senior. I [laughing] tribes have received care act funding but there are so many restrictions and deadlines. How will youdi work with congres to ensure that our tribes receive extension to ensure thesee funds are given to the people in need . Sullivan one minute for your response please. I really appreciate the question for the cares act had an aide to lionel or tribal relief fund. The senator and i worked hard to make that happen. We made sure on the language that all of alaska natives recovered again my opponent said only certain should be covered in hundreds of millions to go to the lower 48 or thats a ridiculous position that i dont think any alaskans support. The question is a very valid one. And i the bill that we put flora on the senate floor there are flexibilities to extend the deadline in which the cares act money has to be into september of next year. Was something i heard from alaskans and something in the current bill. I certainly hope we can get that on the bill as we continue to negotiate a compromise on this. To focus on rural alaska i would give ann additional 100 million for ihs are native hospitals who can play such a Critical Role during this pandemic. Dr. Gross if your response. We have too many restrictions associated with the original cares act with respect to how could be used and how it had to be tied to covid. You are 100 right when i get to the senate bill make sure thats not the problem when i signed the next build of my opponent of course, not a good advocate for people in rural alaska like yourself. When he first came to alaska he fought against the katie john case breehey in his office were disrespectful to when he was arrested outside of his office. Hes been enabling the pebble mine which threatens the rural subsistencesu program he has failed to address the high rate of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault thatss gone up during his term and not down in a. To strip away the medicaid bill which was chronically underfunded. Senator sullivan republicans have repeatedly said they want to do away with the Affordable Care act yet havent yet presented a plan to replace it. Do you have a viable replacement plan and if so what does it do . Do you have one minute. First of all my own it has no good ability. You may have seen he charged 2. 5 million working through his week is a doctor and hes admitted fleecing alaskans and i want everybody to take a look at gross pay. Com talking about how he did that and its really incredible to see as unethical behavior is a doctor. Hes also for from medicare for all which i completely oppose. What we are focused on is keeping the best parts of the Affordable Care act like her existing conditions which we still have covered john and i voted to protect numerous numerous times and getting rid of the other elements of the Affordable Care act the individual mandate the cadillac tax which would have really hurt aspects. We are at a crossroads. We are either going to have more government control for socialized medicine which i or the patient is going to have the power. I want to followup. Your campaign ads say you will always protect preexisting conditions. How wed be able to do that if the Supreme Court or appeals the Affordable Care act and you have one minute. Its as question for me . Yes. Your campaign ad said you always protect preexisting conditions but how wed be able to do that if the Supreme Court or appeals the Affordable Care act . Do you have one minute. Some of the Supreme Court is looking at the issue of severability. Thats the issue of under the individual mandate that is unconstitutional but the whole aca. Its quite unlikely. Its unlikely to be a separate provision in the Affordable Cares act and therefore the rest ofof the aca would stay intact including coverage for preexisting conditions. The Supreme Court has said Justice Roberts said the justices look for ways to protect the constitutionality of statutes. I think its unlikely the whole Affordable Care act will fall. If it did im a cosponsor of whats called the protect act. We moved to vote on the protect act over the last three weeks. Chuck schumer my opponent has pledged allegiance to have filibustered that in the last three weeks so in the unlikely event that is not severable we would pass the out the with preexisting coverage and thats how we would do it. Was talk about your provision. You said in the Anchorage Daily News into the 2016ou advocated r singlepayer Health Care System and now you are proposing a less comprehensive approach ofu the public option where people can buy into medicare and some their forms. Why did you change your plan from beers ago . First of all actors fund to my point. Ive never once supported medicare for all but the elimination of the private Health Care System. Ive studied and written about the high Health Care Costs want to get to the senate i will be the doctor against the public of option across the finish line and dan its not that they make three to five times more than my peers raise charge less than my peers. Health care costs are three to five times higherlt in alaska tn they are in the lower 48 so i dont support medicare for all that you on the other hand have posted this many times to repeal the ap and get rid of coverage for preexisting conditions. You dont understand health care. You understand how it relates to the alaskan economy and you are just in washington d. C. Right now and youre about to add a Supreme Court justice is going to add more problems for america. My question was about your position just three years ago we dedicated publicly in the newspaper and anchorage for a government run singlepayer Health Care System. Not only did you change that to a buyin for medicare. Why the change in position on this click. As i said ive written about medicare for all that ive written about singlepayers and ive written and spoken about dueling programs with the public system in the private system and when i get the United States senate as a policy for alaska and our country is to have a public option where individuals and Small Businesses can buy into medicare at no one elses expense and thats what would work best for alaska and their country. Simina to followup on my original question where does private insurance fit into those . One of the criticisms of the aca is people want the ability to keep their private policies and pick and choose what coverage they wanted. We have a Health Care Exchange with private insuranceo am option in the public option on the exchanges will to compete with the o private system. Many people dont want to switch but there a lot of angelos olsons malt this is his in the state and their country have been pressed by the high cost of health care. Buying into medicare will cost a fraction of what it cost to buy into the private system and medicare covers preexisting conditions by the way. I think it will be a way to. Competition in the marketplace and keep down the cost of the private system. I thank you for that but lets turn to the topic of Resource Development. Senator sullivan you said you intendndyo to make sure allie for remains dead and what specifically do you plan to do to make sure that happens and what can you do to make good on that definitive statement . You have one minute. Glory i want to quickly my opponent can look alaskans in the eye and said he isnt from medicare for all products absolutely false. Look at the public option and look at his oped. You are from medicare for all. Back to Resource Development what ive said with regard to pebble is pebble did not meet the high standards that we have with regard to Resource Development projects. They didnt need it in the Trump Administration and so i am again to me the issue that is an important one there a lot of Resource Development projects and no alaska and if my opponent empowers the hard left i will give you another 30 seconds but im looking for specifics about what you would do to make sure that when you say i promise s to make sure what you can do to make good on that commitment. You have 30 seconds. The entire process was based on science and data not politics and alaskans have access to decisionmaking at the highest level of the federal government and when the decision came out [inaudible] i fully agree with that and i will continue to monitor the corps of engineers process right now and as a mousavi epa where they have people looking for a veto i would encourage that. I made sure the process worked and my opponent criticized it in a campaign as inaccurate. Lets give him one minute to respond. Thank you. No one believes dan for one second that hes been enabling thee pebble mine. Hes accepted 35,000 worth of campaign0 contributions from te pebble mine executives and their subsidiaries. The pebble mines lead lobbyist dans billionaire family board of directors and hes in the back pocket of pebble mine. If you want to stop the pebble mine there are two ways to do a third one is to defund the army corps of engineers and the other is to activate section 404 or c to the clean water act of epa. When it gets of the senate im going to take action to stop the pebble mine instead of dan trying to ride out the election. I propose the pebble mine and i will work hard to stop up when i get to washington d. C. We are going to give senator sullivan another 30 seconds to respond. You have 30 seconds to respond. This is part of my opponents view that in many ways is dangerous. He is now saying hes going to defund the corps of engineers. This is what the people are supporting him would want to do on all resource developed projects in alaska. Many projects like anwr the handler mind the Donovan Creek mine and if my opponent gets elected he is going to empower the antialaska agenda that was shut down every single the future of our state. Dr. Gonsolin on the topic of resource enrollment if youre elected he could injure the democrats have a majority in the u. S. Senate the great majority Democratic Senators oppose drilling in the art that National Wildlife refuge would you say you are for big Oil Development but wouldnt electing you achieve the opposite and how would you get other members of the doma caucus to do things your way . How do you look Chuck Schumer in the eye and say i wanted to lynn anne noir . Im not to hold into the Democratic Party and im going to caucus with the democrats because the republicans would completely fail when it comes to health care but i was born and raised in alaska and i know how Important Oil and gas here in the state. I would never oppose ending fracking in a state like joe biden suggested last night. Im a strong advocate for continued development of oil and gas because its so important to our economy. Dan has failed to deliver as the commissioner of Natural Resources he pushed through senate bill 21 promising wed have 1 Million Barrels ofg oila day in our pipeline. We are down to order thousand barrels of oil today states in fiscal crisis and everybody is about to lose their Permanent Fund dividend because of hampered ease than a oneman wrecking ball for alaskas economy. By senator sullivan you have one minute to respond. The raise my most important addition this whole senate rate race through my opponent is funded by a far left 25 million in this race. They dont care about are stayed. They care about one thing. Schumer is the Senate Majority leader and my opponent says they believe that i can make that happen. If that happens this is whats going to happen. This is what they did before. They are going to do it again. They are saying they are going to do it again. The antidrilling on federal land. You saw biden last night hes antioil. Chuck schumer and Bernie Sanders and my opponent donates to Bernie Sanders on the so my opponents will and power the antialaska agenda. [inaudible] see my senator sullivan we are trying to keep the time balance here. Now we are going to give the candidates a chance to ask their opponent a question in the format will be a 22nd question in a one minute answer with 30 seconds for rebuttal. Senator sullivan you will have the first question in this round. As we said before its not that i was making three to five times more than my peers, i was not. I was charging the same or even less than my peers. With healthcare because in alaska special for hospitals are many times three to five times higher than thehe lower 48. That is the problem, dan. That is why we back to school to study the drivers of healthcare cost and why when i get to the senate i will be the doctor the gets the public auction across the finish line. The high healthcare costs in the alaska herding individuals and Small Businesses. And preventing new businesses from moving for the these state. But unlike you dan, you voted this many times to repeal daca with no plan to replace it, whatsoever. You have no plan to cover preexisting conditions, to lower the healthcare costs that people are dealing with. I do have a plan for i did not create the system, i came home to it, dan. All he did was come to my hometown of juneau to raise my kidsme pretty walked right into a system that has not been helpful to alaska. Select senator sullivan 30 seconds. Bottle. Youll see an unethical doctor it is stunning. Think about my opponent Senate Campaign proposition through all of alaska. I know how the system works. Now let me and i will fix it. You are like the fire chief. He made off in the financial you have no credibility on healthcare and youve been the strongest advocate for medicare for all for you deny it now, but that is the truth and your plan for healthcare is nonexistent. She backed out of the sold in thank you. Now you are chance to ask your question to senator sullivan. Yes thank you. Dan you just took a meaningless vote in the senate to defend the Affordable Care act. But given that your entire career has been built on tearing down the Affordable Care act, taking away insurance or people with preexisting conditions and stripping healthcare away from tens and thousands of alaskans and the health system, how do you expect anyone to trust you on that last vote . Centers sold in your woman response please. So like i said i voted many, many times since i got to the senate to defend preexisting conditions, the coverage it still exists right now. What we did in regard to daca was get rid of the worst parts, the individual mandate that i heard you and joe biden want to bring back. Those are attacks on the working families predict cadillac tac which wouldve had 90 of alaskans plan, 90 and probably crushed our system. Like preexisting conditions that we still have. In coverage from people are 26 and under the key issue is we are at a crossroads. You want more government control, socialized healthcare. Again public option, we want the patient to have the power, transparency, and no surprise medical billing, things like that. [inaudible] been on the backs of alaskans for two decades. Yes you have 30 seconds for bottle doctor. And you keep talking about who i am going to empower. But lets talk about what you are empowering by being in d. C. Youve overseen the worst g onomy and alaskas history. Your dismantling healthcare. You are supporting the trade war against china, which is hurting alaska fishing and vote by prices and by market. Youre about ready to strip away a womans right to choose by affirming your Supreme Court judge who is opposed tomi it. Give the Social Security system, you are certainly enabling and deep funding the native Tribal Health system. Thank you. Now, we will turn to taylor perez who is monitoring audience questions on social media tonight. That is right laurie. We are looking for viewer comments about their Facebook Live and Facebook Twitter pretty can join in on the conversation too. Simply use the for the state. This question comes from matt moore off of facebook predict twopart question to both of the candidates. To cure theor overwhelming majority of scientists that Climate Change has been caused by or increase due to activities of humans. How will Climate Change impact waskans in the next two to three decades. Lets go to doctor gross for sprays to that Climate Changeha is real. We have to be very aware of that. I believe man is contributing to a changing climate. A fissure migrating north, the caught or not catching prey there is no question. When i was a kid theres huge piles of snow in juneau. My kids did not have the same experience. My opponent keep saying im in favor of the Green New Deal but ive never said that ever. What i am in favor of his Clean Renewable Energy projects like kodiak has. Thirtyeight cents. Kilowatt hour with Renewable Energy. If we could have that a rural parts of the state all over the state, we could have Economic Development and new jobs. So im a big fan of using Clean Renewable Energy, whenever and wherever we can. But at the same time supporting our gas and Oil Production. So much as there is a world wide for oil. We got it we should produce it is good for the state good for jobs. Senator sullivan same question to you. Will given whether that far apart. I certainly believe climate ask a is happening part is ground zero. What ive been trying to do is have medication and resiliency in the highway bill that we just passed out of the public works committee. We have almost a billion dollars for Climate Change resiliency. We funded in the same way to address that. Ive been the lead advocate Ocean Pacific research remove double the amount of researchse at noah since the Obama Administration from 65 million all the way to make sure we understand the impact of a warming ocean for you need to have a sustainable ocean with regards to our fish. We do differ though is again, the groups that he wants power are focused on the Green New Deal. Topdown approach. The last six years have actually declined because of the revolution. [inaudible] my opponent is empowering hard left democrats. Think its her we have to take a w break. We are gathering questions from alaskans across the state tonight. Our next question comes from as student with use vote. Hello my name is yang and i am at West Anchorage high school purred heres my question. We speak out against those that deny the existence of systemic racism and the need for further reform to ensure racial equality for ourur country . Doctoring of one minute to respond to that question perrys tobacco thank you there are no questions at a racial and social justice in this country. And some of them are structural in nature and that speaks to the wealth inequality problem we have in our country part it is a huge problem. Right here in alaska we have a terrible problem with alaska and Sexual Assault which is up what senator sullivan has been in power. I put forward aad plan on the website. Provides aid for the victims open the door to all parties involved which was hurting which is behind a lot of racial and social injustices we see praise to write thank you. Senator sullivan you have one minute to answer this question. Was still of many problems with racial challenges, racial injustice. As a cosponsor of the justice act. Senator tim scott put forward. And unfortunately it was by the Senate Minority leader. But have also been a very big advocate for more Law Enforcement in our state, not less to define the police certainly does not work here. And weve gotten over 38 new positions of the federal government andnd over 70 million to help with Law Enforcement, particularly in our ruralor communities. To be honest im offended. Ive been focused on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault since i spearhead the campaign. My Power Capacity senate with more resources. Im going to continue to be the leader on that. Thank youou sir. We do want to point out that we did ask and inform candidates a better time restrictions. Both campaigns a agreed to those. That is why laurie and i are calling time on these we have a lot of ground to cover the moon to ask both of our candidates to please follow the rules. We dont mute microphones here time. Doing to stay on federal authorities save iran iis behind voter attacked into election infrastructure and poses an even greater threat. What he think the federal government can or should do to stop this . Sanders sold in one minute for your response please. Set the center and i just had a detailed brief on this with the fbi. It is a challenge. We put out a statement alaskans need to continue to stay vigilant pay particular with the restaurant. This is an issue ive been focused on said they came to the senate. For it years ago when the russians were attacking us, we were not retaliating paid we did not have a plan. Since that time, for my position on the Armed Services committee, we have focused on making things short. Even with the attack that hit alaska ive been encouraging senior officials to make sure we retaliate at a time and place of our choosing. So there is a cost to these kind of actions. The department of Homeland Security is working very closely with every state election official. I talked to the Lieutenant Governor today about these issues. We need to stay vigilant. It is a threat and we need to a make sure doctor grosser one minute response of the question pursued by thank you. Set over sullivan has actually done nothing to make our elections more secure. Its actually standing alongside the president to his welcoming the russians to come in a mess with our elections parties welcoming the president , himself to undermine our elections predilection security is actually very critical parts one of the biggest things i heard on the campaign trail back before it got shut down on traveling because of covid. People are concerned and should be about outside influence paid my get to the senate im going to pass legislation to protectct our elections to make sure we are not invaded by the russians, by the iranians or anyone else. Our votes need to be sacred. Alright thank you gentlemen. Rural alaska has a chronic shortage of Law Enforcement officers in 2019 attorney general william barr declared a Law Enforcement emergency for ruralla communities. And gave 10 million to help read what you think is needed to ensure there isaf adequate Public Safety . Doctor you have one minute. They need funding credit just talks about ad plan for Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. The program is very, very underfunded and needs more federal funding. Hopefully support tribal sovereignty for addressing some of its Public Safety issues. We need to Work Together and be creative to addressly this really complicated problem. I spent a lot of time in rural alaska as a kid growing up in Southeast Alaska and having been all over the state bird i understand the challenges. Imll willing to work with our tribal leaders to try and come up with solutions because what is happening right now is clearly not working and under Dan Sullivans tenure, the rate is going like this. When i get there is going to go down. Orlo et cetera sullivan you have one minute. Look, when i was attorney general spearheading the campaign, which im still very, very passionate a about, i put forward a goal, a vision. That every community in rural alaska in Law Enforcement officer should have one. This is why people have in the lower 48. Is what we should have in alaska. I have not wavered on that position at all. As a matter fact senator and i invited the attorney general barr. Since that time hes become a huge advocate. As i mentioned, 70 million directed to our state. Thirtyeight new positions. That is action that we have taken. Investment very on the Domestic Violence issue. Fortunately assistant secretary of interior was leading that effort. But imec going to continue on all of these efforts until every Community Wants one. Thank you. The issue of political independence has been a hot button topic and both of your ad campaigns. Doctor grosser were running as an independent, youre the democratic nominee. Yet you set in the pastor values her to the left. And heit would caucus with democrats if you are elected. Why should alaskans believe you are an independent and not really a democrat . You have one minute. Its because i am an independent. I grew up in the most bipartisan relationship youve ever seen between my father and jay hammons. My dad is a democrat, jay hammond was a republican. Ieh in alaska and beholding to alaskans. That was taken out of context for some of myy values or to the left and summer to the right. That is true. Im a whole lot more fiscally responsible than Dan Sullivans m adverb and he gave tax cuts to billionaires like his brother and his father. A nearly doubled the National Deficit in the process but i believe in a strong immigration policy with strong borders but im not about to take away anyones guns are banned anybodys weapons. I was going to caucus with the democrats because the republicans have completely fails when it comes to healthcare. Im a very strong believer of governments staying out of peoples personal lives, unlike my opponent was about ready just rip away a womans right to choose where are you going to tell men when they are allowed to die too, dan . Centers sold would like to respond . Mike, it is a critical issue here. My opponent tells one thing to his rich lower 48 donors, 25 million. Wendy 5 million, alaska part almost all of it is from people who what Chuck Schumer, he Senate Majority leader but thats what they want, they do not care about our states. So the fact that he started pledge of allegiance to Chuck Schumer the Senate Majority leader, he also says he wants to be in the leadership position. We have seen this before, it happened in 2008. [inaudible] parts back you can have 30 seconds. Back at the same thing. Thank you sir. There he goes again, talking about schumer and pelosi. Its like the only language that dan knows his partisanship. Always trying to do is distract voters for the fact that he has failed alaska many, many ways. He failed the alaska natives, he try to take away the Tribal Health money to the medicaid expansion. , hes enabling s put alaska into a tailspin we are in a fiscal crisis and we are all about to lose our pfts thanks to dance senate bill 21. Civic center it lets give senator sullivan a couple of seconds to respond. I had 20 more seconds to respond to the initial question. Subjects are goahead. So the point is with regard to what happened in 2008, marks of the same thing bird and look what happened. Harry reid becameam Senate Majority leader but they did exactly what they would do now. They shut down our state, the shut down our Resource Development opportunity. They cut our military. They went after second amendment. That is the agenda my opponent will empower if she were become Senate Majority leader. He plans to lead it. I have a question for you said senator Lisa Murkowski is often god against the gop and President Trump on keyws issues. Do you feel more pressure to support the Republican Leadership in the senate because of the things . If onene minute. Look ive a great relationship with senator makowski. She and i worked together and all the key issues with regard to Alaska Company road, we have made so much progress on key things that relate to our state. By the way i know our first it free, but senator has endorsed me but shes actually publicly called out my opponent for his dishonesty. So i vote with my party. It made sense pay but remember if you are not voting with the party, you are voting with schumer. Weathers on guiding our second amendment, all of the votes he tried to bring to the floor, the votes against alaska natives and the cares act and the heroes acts. These are areas that i certainly do not agree with Chuck Schumer. I keep voting whats good for alaska. Thank you. Whats of the doctor followup here. Of course i would. You know dan, he took away 160 million from the Alaska Native Corporations by think you screwed up in the cares act. You keep refer to me as a rich doctor. Dan, i bought four shares of chevron oil stock when s i was eight years old right after alaska discovered oil. Assorted two businesses one is 14, i bought microsoft in my early 20s but im proud of who i am part i worked really hard. Unlike you i did not go to billionaire voigt rich summer camp. I do not have a family of billionaires doing direct business with the communist chinese government. Civic shame on you. Specs are back to you. Monitoring social media to get questions from alaskans who are watching. Thats right. When you think overview is for engaging on us under social media platform. This question goes to both of the candidates. This is from amy on facebook. Much of the advertising available in todays media seems focus on irrelevant issues like hunting, fishing, or birthplace. He sells he topped the reasons you feel voters should be shoot you over your competitor . Be specific. Hosted the doctor for specific jobs from going to bring jobs to the state. Dan presided of the worst economy in alaskas history. He has destroyed the Permanent Fund dividend for it and going to lower healthcare costs, going to get control of covid. And im going to be a strong advocate for clean, Renewable Energy jobs which will lower the cost of energy, especially in rural alaska and promote Economic Development. Having lower healthcare costs willlt allow alaska to be more competitive and invite other businesses to move here Like Technology and information and ikfinance businesses who are better off setting up shop in the lower 48 because overhead is so much lower. The opponent does not seem to understand how healthcare fits into the economy and alaska. Its critical we fix this problem written again my opponent has voted this many times to get rid of it. Senator sullivan if you could please tells the top the reasons you feel voters should choose you over your competitor . Sure. Rwhen iran for the senate in 2014 with the first time around for anything. Second my wife and daughter said okay were going to do this heres why. We had a federal government was Biden Harry Reid and barack obama shutting down our state. Shutting down our resources. Killing jobs and hurting more families. In guiding our military. I bowed to work with alaskans to promise them to reverse them. We reversed all of those policies. We have made Resource Development a huge opportunity for jobs. The rebuilding in a huge way that obama comfort 1. 6 billion just in the state of alaska. We now have access to our lands again. We are going to build on that. But if my opponent gets power that anti alaska agenda that Chuck Schumer and biden have already announced. So that iss key. Are right, thank you. This next question only 30 seconds respond to. This onene constant kelly on facebook. Is there any action you can take to help the economy of Southeast Alaska candidates do not allow cruise ships to get through alaska get an extra . What start senator sullivan. Yes, we can work. Ive already talked to the canadian ambassador recently about this very issue. So theyre all my aching progress on that. We could also work with the federal law or we have an exemption click cruise ships actually bypass canada. Its not the jones act exemption it is a nether exemption. We have a discussion of the cruiseship industry. Heres Something Else but i want too make sure that we have a competitive Tourism Industry. My but having more taxes and it wont help our state. Civic doctor same question for you. Yes well first we need to lower healthcare costs and encourage other businesses to move to our states. Thats number one and number two and, number three. So many jobs have gone virtual because of the covid pandemic which really is just getting started. Only 2 of americans have tested positive. Weve already lost 220,000 americans as a result of the pandemic. This is going to be going on for a long time for there are a lot of opportunities for virtual jobs it would be especially great in rural parts of the state. We need to expand internet to parts and states do not have access to it. Write thank you. Its time for lightning ramp at many of yes or no questions. Others will have 20 seconds or so full response. Civic this first question will have a 22nd response. Should the Electoral College be abolished . Why or why not you have 20 answer, but start the appraise no i do not support abolishing the Electoral College. As i said before i believe working within the system to make the system better prepared i do not support getting rid of it. Civic art senator sullivan 20 seconds. No i do not support at all. But again, all these things on the table, they are looking at it youre looking at packing this report. Again all these issues are on the table. My opponent. Should oil leasing be allowed at the lake and National Petroleum reserve alaska as a Trump Administration has proposed . Senator sullivan had 20 seconds. I am just glad we are developing npr again because the bomb administration took half of it off the table. And again, thats when time up the alaska agenda. In any area that needs the high standards that we have for our entire state. I support Oil Production in the npr a. And i believe it can be done responsibly. But unlike my colleague here, senator sullivan, he has failed to deliver. With sp 21 he promised a Million Barrels of oil a day. We are 400,000 oils a day. You failed alaska damper yes or no judgment how do you plan to vote on ballot measurere one . I will definitely vote yes. Its a yes or no question so senator sullivan. No. Right sir. Our rights, one last quick question. Here. Yes or no, how will you vote on ballot measure to . Senator sullivan. N no. Doctor g . Ote yes. Alright, its time now for closing statements of the candidates. Began flipped a coin f and senator sullivan youll go first, you have one minute. Thank you laurie, mike and the is a u. S. Senator ive had the honor of working with alaskan help realize our enormous potential. As i mentioned in 2014 i promise to reverse the policies of d. C. Politicians were shutting down our economy, and jumped jobs and gutting our economy. Working for all the we kept that promise tens of thousands of alaskans i also served in the military as a u. S. Marine. We have families understand service above self. And frankly my opponent has lived the opposite creed. Self above service. Look at them clearly what a crossroads. The strength of our recovery in the Economic Future will depend on the selection. Alaskas opportunities for all the federal government as a partner we can build on the significant progress weve made. I will also continue to fight the anti alaska agenda my opponent would empower. I our best days are ahead and am honored by your vote. Doctor gross one minute. Thank you again for being here this evening. This campaign has been about one simple thing. Who can you trust to put alaska first . Ever since dan silva showed up in alaska, things have literally gotten worse. Weve lost our fairies, our universities and schools are being cut instead of growing. And now oil demand the Tourism Industry is suffering badly because of dans failure to address covid. It is had ten years in juneau and d. C. To bring jobs and Economic Growth to the state. But he has wasted his opportunity. Instead he is enabling the other corporate donors and has been trying to take away and dismantle our Healthcare System right in the midst of a worldwide pandemic. Ad its time for a change. Alaska deserves a senator who blt only understands your issues, but has lived them. So if you are ready for a doctor who cares, who will always put our state over partisan d politics, than i am your guy. Thank you. That concludes a vein for the state for 2020. Satan on facebook wife our postdebate Analysis Program hosted by rebecca. We went to thank both of our candidates for participating tonight read senator dan sullivan and doctor al gross. Tubac election day is november 3. We encourage every alaskan to get out and vote. And have your voices heard. For alaskas news source in Alaska Public Media, thank you for joining us, good night. Good night everyone. Was seven days left until election day on november 3, when Voters Decide who will control congress and occupy the white house next year. Stay with cspan, watch campaign 202020 coverage every day on cspan. Stream or ondemand at cspan. Org print or listen on the cspan radio app. Your place for an unfiltered view of politics. And tonight are 2020 Campaign Coverage continues as President Trump holds a rally with voters and supporters in omaha. He will speak at 9 00 p. M. Eastern and you can watch that on cspan