And as you can see, there is a plexiglas divider between them. We are following cdc recommendations. Here are the rules for tonights debate. Candidates will have 1 30 for opening and closing statements. The candidates will have 1 15 to answer a question. When a question is posed to both. The candidates can request a rebuttal if they are named or attacked by the other candidate in their answer. If that request granted is granted, they will have 45 seconds for rebuttal. They will have a u 15 for a response 1 15 the other candidate will have 45 seconds for comment if they choose to, then rebuttal rules about a direct attack would go into effect. Again, the candidates are david perdue and john osoff. You both have 1 30 for opening statements. Senator perberd due, you won the coin flip, so lets start with you. Thank you, mike, and thank you to wtoc for hosting this tonight. You know, my mom and dad were Public Schoolteachers. I grew up working on our family farms. I worked my way through georgia tech and became a fortune 500 ceo and created tens of thousands of american jobs. I never wanted to be in politics. But when bonnie and i decided to get involved, we wanted to help try and change the direction of the country and get real results for georgia. And from deepening the port to rebuilding our military, to Disaster Relief for our farmer, to getting real covid relief during the crisis, i think weve done just that. In contrast, john osoff has said hes always wanted to be in politics. Hes pushing a radical socialist agenda. Hell be nothing but a rubber stamp to chuck assume or. He says one thing in Chuck Schumer. And he says one thing in atlanta and another to the rest of georgia. If you believe me, if you look at what he has said in the past, or you can see thats evidently the truth. Tonight listen to his words. He will not tell you why he wants to support defunding the police, open borders, sanctuary cities or why he wants to close two military bases in the state of georgia or why he thinks its a good requested to take away private Health Insurance from our ownte employers. The only reason that bonnie and i are e running for reelection is to continue to help change the direction of the country and get real results for georgia. All right. Thank you, mr. Perdue. 1 30 for, you have your opening statement. Well, typical partisan false accusations from the senator. But listening to the senators opening statement, here with his opportunity to address the people of the state about the direction o of leadership for te state, you wouldyo not know, listening to senator perdue, that we are in the midst of a pandemic that has taken a quarter of american lives. He has not even acknowledged that we are in the midst of a crisis that has touched every family. Weve lost parents, grandparents, neighbors. So many have been forced out of work, so many lives have been uprooted. We long for normal lu. We long for leaders normalcy. We long for leaders who are honest about threats to our health at a moment when so many of us need government that serves us by empowering Public Health experts, m. D. E call doctors and scientists to lead theo Public Health response ina Public Health crisis. This virus that is accelerating across our country, hospitalizations increasing, nearly a thousand americans dyingly per day with us withs does missed as no deadlier than ordinary flu. He told us the risk to our health was low, the impact on our economy would be little and this evening you will hear david perdue talk about everything but this crisis that has torn this country apart. He will seek to deflect with the false accusations but it will not acknowledge the devastation being reached across this country or present a plan to contain his virus. Moderator thank you both for being here tonight. It is our hope and expectation that you can show voters in georgia and our families an example of what civil discourse is like and how to engage in passionate yet respectful debate. We thank you both in advance of that. We are joined by a live panel who will ask questions. It is made up of journalists stations that serve viewers all across georgia. The Panel Includes don baker, barbara gotche, Richard Rogers, eden schultz, and jim wallace. We want to go for our first question. Lets go to dawn baker. Dawn the first question goes to both candidates. Despite america having far more time than china and other countries to prepare for the coronavirus, the covid19 virus has taken a greater toll on her to look at what is happened and virus. What is your analysis of americas response and to look at what is happened and see a serious this virus can be would you change anything . Moderator mr. Ossoff. Mr. Ossoff protecting American People as a core function of our government and nurses and doctors like my wife who Practice Medicine in Metro Atlanta and have been doing their jobs to save lives and keep people safe. Epidemiologists and scientists who know what they are doing in a crisis like this have been giving their best advice to political leaders to save lives and control the spread of this virus but senator david perdue and others in washington, d. C. Systematically ignored, downplayed, and dismissed the best medical expertise. The senator said it was no deadlier than the flu. What we need to do is empower Public Health experts and medical experts to lead on the response, and we have to do it now because this virus is not going away. It is accelerating into the winter months, killed nearly 250,000 americans and we will lose hundreds of thousands more unless political leaders step up, stop politicizing and downplaying the response and let the Public Health experts lead to keep us healthy, safe, and contain this virus. Moderator senator perdue. Sen. Perdue again, we hear idle comments we have heard before. Almost a dozen people in the state of georgia, 8000 people in the state of georgia. We all know them. This has been a tragedy of immeasurable proportion. It is easy to look back at the question, but one of the things we have to recognize in this virus is the earlier responsibility. China was responsible for this, and we have learned a lot about the virus, who is most vulnerable, what we need to do to protect them. What we have to do is hold china accountable. Jon ossoff will not be the one to do this. In the last two years, he has been working for a Company Owned by the communist chinese government, and in the last debate, he denied that. The question tonight is moving forward, instead of looking back, we have got to get a vaccine, accelerate it, and we have done this. We put money behind this accelerating treatment regimens and get the money back into the state. Democrats are blocking the aid we want to bring back to the state in addition to what we have already done. Moderator you were named in that jon ossoff so you get a rebuttal. Mr. Ossoff how about taking personal responsibility . Senator david perdue told us this virus was no deadlier than the ordinary flu. Senator, everybody has been able to watch in real time as this president , this administration and his allies have systematically misled the people about the threat to our health. Take some personal responsibility for what the whole country and a world can see is an abject failure of governance. Step up, acknowledge what is being done wrong and chart a course forward, empowering medical experts, putting the cdc based here in atlanta in charge. Let Public Health experts lead, not politicians. Moderator mr. Perdue. Sen. Perdue again, he did not answer the question or the issue and the real issue is did he work for a company for two years and failed to tell people in his primary filing and turnaround admitted later . Did he work for that company and will he hold china accountable . In the first debate, he acknowledged he did not work for them. Lets step up. Did you work for that Chinese Communist company, tccw is a Media Company that is owned by the chinese government. The question is, that is on top of working for al jazeera. Moderator jon ossoff i will let you answer that. Mr. Ossoff as predicted, senator perdue does not want to talk about covid19, a pandemic that has killed nearly 250,000 americans. He will spend this entire debate deflecting from a substantive conversation about the most serious Public Health crisis in generations. He will launch false attacks, make outlandish allegations, repeat the same six words over and over again because it is what his handlers in washington, d. C. Trained him to do, avoid responsibility and avoid a substantive discussion of where we go now to contain his virus. Put medical experts and Public Health experts in charge, not failed and disgrace politicians. Moderator we will move on to the next question. Sen. Perdue i think i get a response. He talks about taking responsibility but will not do that. He misled the people of georgia. This is really important here, because it goes to trust and judgement. If you want someone to represent you in United States senate, you better hope you can trust them. He misled everyone in the primary. He refiled after the primary was over and now told the legal document he filed he worked for that company even though before he said he did not. If that is confusing, go to my website and you will get that cleared up and you will see why he is not answering the question. Own advicet take his responsibility. Moderator we will move on to our next question, edan schultz. Edan good evening, this question is for both candidates as well and we want to get back to the pandemic. It has been hard to balance the health and safety concerns with the economic impact. What do you say to businesses and workers struggling, they need to get back to normal because their livelihood is at stake . Moderator senator perdue. Sen. Perdue that is a great question, my answer would be to call every democrat because they are blocking the next round of aid for our cares act. We put 2. 9 trillion at work. We brought 47 million here to georgia. Another 15 billion for a ppp program that saved 1. 5 million jobs in this state and yet jon ossoff opposed the ppp program and still does. He would have voted against that. In the United States senate, we have bills waiting to go on the floor that the democrats are blocking that would bring more aid. We need a couple of months of immediate helps for the Smallest Companies that average 103,000 per loan in the state and only 10 employees. These are people that would have lost their businesses to be saved 1. 5 million jobs. He would have voted against it because he is nothing but a rubber stamp for Chuck Schumer. He does it all the time. He is saying things that will disguise his real radical socialist agenda. Moderator mr. Ossoff. Mr. Ossoff well, its nonsense. I have been advocating for months for renewal of the program, which senator perdue allowed to expire in august. Listen to his answers. It is always the other partys fault, somebody elses phone. Fault. No sense of personal responsibility. Lets talk about who is hurting right now, because its not senator perdues donors. Working parents who cannot figure out how they will afford the house payment and their health care because one of them is out of work. The senate has not delivered relief for georgia families for Small Businesses since august. They have been rushing through a Supreme Court nominee who they hope will help them overturn the Affordable Care act and reveal repeal protections for preexisting conditions. That is senator perdues priority right now, not Financial Relief for ordinary people. Senator perdue has been hard at work pushing through a judge in hopes she will roll on a lawsuit she supports to take Health Care Away in the middle of a pandemic and you voted four times to repeal protections for preexisting conditions. Sen. Perdue can i get a response . I am proud of the fact we voted Amy Coney Barrett in as the ninth justice of the Supreme Court. He would have voted against her just like every single democrat did this week on monday night. That is why i say he will be nothing but a rubber stamp for Chuck Schumer. If you want results, you need to focus on the people of georgia. 9 of the 10 he has raised in the Third Quarter came from outside the state of georgia. Who will he be accountable to, the people of georgia or the people of california and new york funding this race . Moderator 45 seconds. Mr. Ossoff the question was about Economic Relief for the people of the state. Lets talk about results. Where are the results . Can you answer that question without blaming the other Political Party . Where in august, look, i was speaking to a young woman just the other day who started a car parking business near mercedesbenz stadium. She was just getting this business off the ground, making good money, beginning to save. She is now out of work, car business is gone, she cannot make the car payment, the house payment. She fears homelessness and she cannot get ppp relief because you let it expire months ago and turned your attention to a judicial process. Sen. Perdue the reason it expired is your compatriots up there, the democrats wouuld not mr. Ossoff there you go again. Sen. Perdue lets take accountability. We have put bill after bill on the floor that would help give additional aid. That couldve happened in july and you guys voted it down every single time. We also voted for a judge, but that was our responsibility. You voted against Amy Coney Barrett. What is happening right now is on the other side of that, we had people like marissa, an Ecuadorian International saved your business. Friendlys restaurant would have lost their business without that help. We need both parties in washington, d. C. To come together to get things done. Moderator lets go to barbara, wvtm. On behalf of your constituents in columbus, i would like to welcome you. Thank you for answering our questions. My question is for both candidates, health care is a key issue, especially in a pandemic. How do you plan to ensure everyone, regardless of income, job, or preexisting condition, has access to Necessary Health care . Moderator a minute, 15 to mr. Ossoff . Mr. Ossoff this is the most important issue in the midst of this crisis. How could we ensure every georgian has health care they need at a price they can afford . My wife is a doctor. She and her colleagues across the state see every day how many georgia families struggle to afford health care. It is a source of constant stress for so many georgia families, the outrageous insurance premiums, the outrageous cost of prescription drugs and now, in the middle of a pandemic that is worsening, a pandemic senator perdue would told us would be no deadlier than the ordinary flu, in the middle of this historic Public Health crisis, senator perdue is still supporting a lawsuit to repeal the Affordable Care act, to repeal protections for georgians with preexisting conditions. That means those of us who have asthma, diabetes, Heart Disease, or family members recovering from cancer, they would stand to lose their Health Policies or be denied coverage if senator perdue has his way. It is wrong. You should put georgia families ahead of the Insurance Companies you work for. Moderator senator perdue. Sen. Perdue ive never worked for an insurance company. Lets talk about accountability and responsibility. The reason part of this is in such a mess is before the Affordable Care act in georgia, half of the counties are now limited to one Health Care Insurance provider. We have a bill before the senate, i cosponsored it that would give us protection for preexisting conditions in the event the Affordable Care act is determined by the Supreme Court to be unconstitutional. The other thing we have got to do is work on surprise billing and drug costs. That is also a trade issue. We have been working on that. There are solutions to be had. When i come back to in the middle of this pandemic is we have got to hold accountable the people that helped create this pandemic, the country of china. Communist china today is one of our biggest threats. Deserve is a serious discussion, Economic Relief for georgia families, and how we will protect coverage for preexisting conditions. Sen. Perdue what georgia needs is a senator that will not lie to them and work for al jazeera, the mouthpiece of terrorism, and communist china. Moderator lets move on to our next question, jim wallace in albany. Gentlemen, you both support the Second Amendment. Mr. Perdue, you say that you would like to enforce current firearm laws. Mr. Ossoff, you say you support banning the sale of semiautomatic weapons, assault rifles. Can you both explain your stance on gun laws and curbing gun violence in america . Moderator senator perdue. Sen. Perdue a similar question today, thank you. First of all, i believe in the Second Amendment, the first amendment. The nra has given me an a rating. They have given jon ossoff an f rating. While he is all