Abortion and our immigration system. Hampton sydney college. I think the most important issue in this election cycle is National Security. I feel as though we have problems with orders and foreign threats. I feel thats important. My name is alex. I think the most important issue in the election is the economy. To me, the most important issue for a candidate to address would be Constitutional Rights and those values like Thomas Jefferson held. Voices from the road on cspan. The u. S. Senate race in california has two democrats running to succeed Barbara Boxer. Its the first time a republican did not qualify to be on the ballot. Are come oliveira sent loretta sanchez. They faced each other in a debate this week in los angeles. This is an hour. Tonight, abc numeral seven cents the california u. S. Senatorial debate. Hello and thank you for joining us for the u. S. Senate debate sponsored by abc 7. I am marked down from eyewitness news. Its the first time in the only time these candidates will be facing each other on the debate stage. Lets bring them out right now to your applause. [applause] mark we want to welcome the panelists. Here it is an overview of the format. We will begin with a longform question. I will ask that question. The person to whom that is addressed will get 90 minutes to answer. They will think it one minute to respond. If the candidate so chooses, they will get 30 seconds after that. We will begin with a question will get aer and you chance to respond to that. Then, we will begin the second half of the debate with a mix of rapidfire questions that the candidates will be able to answer plus the longform questions from the candidates as well. Each candidate will have 90 questions at the end. We begin. Yours is the highest profile race since california voters adopted the election system in 2010. You are both democrats. A lot of members of other parties say they are considering sitting out the election. Many are undecided. What can you say to convince voters to vote for you . We begin with mrs. Sanchez. Rep. Sanchez first of all, my thoughts and our thoughts should go out to sergeant owens, who was killed this afternoon. Our thoughts go out to them. The first time in 20 years that the state chooses a new United States senator. I believe i have the experience and do the day one job. I have the experience of a californian, growing up in a working class family, the daughter of immigrants. It. Ow how to do iraq war, no on the bailout that took away our homes. I believe im the only one on the states that has military and National Security experience. I am of Voting Member of the nato parliament. I have been to iraq and afghanistan and the horn of africa. I am married to a retired colonel from the u. S. Army. My youngest son is in the army. I know what it takes to defend this country. Im ready for this job. I believe you should vote for the person who can get the job done. Att. Gen. Harris i appreciate the point that the congresswoman made about the sheriff deputy sergeant. I was happy to speak with sheriff mcdonnell about that tonight. In terms of this election, i agree, it is one of the most important that californians are ing at. I am a proud daughter of california. I believe that when we talk about this issue in the context of what it means to be a democrat or republican, frankly, most issues that californias care about are not bipartisan, they are nonpartisan. I have traveled up and down the state as attorney general general of the state. I have never met anyone who is concerned about the things they are concerned about when they wake up at 3 00 the morning in the context of whether they are registered with the democratic or the republican party. When they wake up, there can read about whether their children are getting the education that they want and deserve. When students wake up, they are concerned about whether they will be able to pay off their loans. People wake up at 3 00 in the morning wondering if they will have a roof over their head. They wonder if they are getting a return on their investment. Aboutake up wondering Climate Change in the future of their family. They want a leader that knows how to get angst on. Mark i next question from adrian alpert. About the i this is by police officers. Would you support a federal policy or guideline on the release of such videos. Att. Gen. Harris as you know, i have been a big proponent of making sure we have transparency in long force. I run the cal California Department of justice my department of justice, we lawess an extreme amount of enforcement data. I decided to bust open the data in the California Department of justice understanding there was a crisis of confidence between Law Enforcement and the communities we protect. There is a need for truth. I was proud and am proud to create the first in the nation procedural training, understanding that we have to take seriously what is happening in terms of disparity in the criminal Justice System, the reality of racial profiling and the need to improve the work you are doing. I am in favor of adopting technology in a way where we are more transparent, including the use of body cameras. Mark mrs. Sanchez. Rep. Sanchez i want to begin by saying, we all know that there is a problem out there, the trust factor has gone down. Looking fories are leadership on this. Of course, when we discuss body cams, my opponent was absence. Absent. There was a bill before ponent lets talke to add, we are doing. In my district, just one sunday know,many people do not but my husband and i attended predominantly african convocation and we brought in the Santa Ana Police force to service with our church and then we broke bread. Is the loveneighbor thy neighbor. Mark ms. Harris, 30 seconds. Att. Gen. Harris i think the congresswoman, when she talks about someone being absent should looke at roll call in d. C. She is number three most truant and failing to attend meetings. When we talk about accent, if you get is important that you show up. Of Law Enforcement, i think we need to be smart on crime. Att. Gen. Harris she is talking about my rep. Sanchez she is talking about my attendance. I would like to rebut that back. You each an give additional 30 seconds. Rep. Sanchez for the first 18 years in congress, i have a 95 attendance record. Come on, guys, that is a solid a. Boxer you know , something democracy has got to give. I have never missed a close, crucial vote. Mark we will try to be very strict with time now. 30 seconds for ms. Harris. Att. Gen. Harris the record shows that the congresswoman missed over 70 of the Homeland Security meetings in the United States congress. Now, your question from a sanchez. Talk about the need for competence of Immigration Reform. What changes to the Current System would you currently support . Att. Gen. Harris competence of comprehensive Immigration Reform is the moral paradigms of our time. The hispanic caucus, which has me on the and put task force for reform. First started working on this one Ronald Reagan signed a she started filling. Ut that paperwork we would be filling out the forms of people lined around our block because we were helping people come out of the shadows. People who were our friends, her students. What would i do . On, we have done enough border control. Now, we need to give immediate status to those members who are part of our community. They are Little League coaches. If some status and put them on a pass, if they so choose, to be a citizen. Mark your time has expired. One minute, miss harris. Att. Gen. Harris california has in thisde stake conversation. We have the largest number of immigrants than any state in this country. It is time that congress act. Congress has failed to act. Congress must act in a way that creates a pathway to citizenship that also includes our dreamers, that includes thinking about our farm workers. It is about thinking about what we need to do, in terms of having a pathway for our unaccompanied minors, work that i have done throughout my career as attorney general, recognizing these children must be provided a safe place, and we must provide a place in this country. Im very proud to be supported huerta, she and i years. Rked together for this work must be done and congress has failed to act. Im proud to also have the support of your time has expired. Ms. Sanchez, 32nd. Rep. Sanchez the other cochair of the Hispanic Task force is luis gutierrez, and he has endorsed me. He knows that i was the one who fought for you. We put together a six page menu of things that could happen once we lost opportunity to push through a reform. We went to the president and said, this needs to be done. That is how these projects came out. Mark your time has expired. Your question for mrs. Harris. Proposition 64 on the california ballot legalizes marijuana despite the fact that the federal Drug Administration classifies all marijuana as a schedule one drug. As a senator, how would you propose to resolve this contradiction between state and federal marijuana laws . Att. Gen. Harris the reality is i believe the voters will pass that initiative. On the federal level, what we have to do is move it from schedule want to schedule too. We have incarcerated a large number of predominantly africanamerican and latino men in this country for possession the least one of dangerous of all the drugs in the schedule. We need to change it on the schedule and and mass incarceration of young people for the use of marijuana. I will also use that to talk about the work that i have done for a long time the smart on crime. Onneed to stop the focus action when the crime occurs instead of reaction. For the most part, when we see that young people and up in the criminal Justice System it is because they are high school job bouts. That is why i have done work to kids and making sure they have resources. The war on drugs has been a failure in this country. It should be treated as a Public Health issue and we should give kids the resources they need. Rep. Sanchez again, some people talk about doing things, we ask a do things in my district. I have been on the forefront of ensuring that medical marijuana, once it passes, would actually have some regulation to it. I have been a fighter in the congress to get marijuana off of schedule one. Id been a fighter because, you know what, if you have a dispensary, it is all a cash business because banks are afraid to take your money because we still have a conflict between the federal and the state level law. I have told president obama, stop it already, let california get this right. In the city of santa ana, we eliminated 119 is legal dispensaries, shut them down, put in 19 legal ones, we collected 1. 8 million worth of taxes, we hired 30 new Law Enforcement officers, and by the way, we unionized the dispensaries. Att. Gen. Harris i believe we need to look at the congresswomans record on the issue. She voted on mandatory sentences for juveniles. Mark adrian out of it your question from a sanchez. What do you support to protect citizens from acts of International Terrorism in the United States . Or ifrrent law sufficient not what new ones are needed . Rep. Sanchez when we look at, from an intelligence perspective, when we look at our , we look at the short term in front of us and what we see in the long term. The shortterm one, i believe, is the lone wolf issue. That are being piped in. What should we do . One, we have to a limit isis. Decapitateing to leadership, find its finances, and shut it down. There are a lot of issues that we need to work on. Ental health we still have not been able to really get it out there. Guns and thisk at country and we have to put it so we sense gun control the use ofown available gun. We need a Muslim American communities and help us to get some of this coming in from isis. Mark you have one minute. Att. Gen. Harris we have to be smart and tough as a country. We have to do it in a way that recognizes the emerging threats in the United States. Those include cyber security, controlneed to do to cartels. Then, there is the issue of Climate Change which is a real threat to National Security. On the issue isis, there is no question, we have to go to where isis exists, which means going to syria, libya, iraq. It also means addressing it on the domestic level. That means not playing into the hands of isis propaganda and the recruitment tools. Which, in particular, the helped,woman has calling 20 of muslims inclined terrorism. Cts of mark maam your time has expired. 30 seconds, ms. Sanchez, if you choose. Rep. Sanchez first of all, that is completely false. Over 20 years of doing all types of interviews, radio, tv, debating in the congress, i have learned that your words can be used in three ways. One, sometimes you Say Something that you wish you could take back. Sometimes you Say Something that in wish you would have said a different way. Sometimes you Say Something that usedopponent purposely against i you and misconstrued. That is what mrs. Harris has been doing. When you drive through the Central Valley, you will see signs blaming leaders for water problems in farming areas. What you have to say about water policy in the Central Valley . Att. Gen. Harris water is one of the biggest issues challenging our state. I was just speaking with farmers, when you drive throue having an extensive conversation throughout the day. What we know is this. We, as california, can be the leader on this issue of water globe. Nation and our that means taking it to a national scale, what we need to andround storage water desalination. We are doing that work here and we need to do it as a nation. This is a matter of Public Health. We require water to drink. Of federalan issue money. Lets bring money back to of fel money. Our state. Thatwill build up infrastructure. Third, this is a matter of National Security. Right now, wars are being fought over oil. In a short amount of time, they will be fought over water. We understand that we must have more re reliable and sustainable sources of water in our state. You know, when my opponent was asked, what is your water plan for california . She said one word, conservation. Period. When they asked her, what about would you be for . She said, i dont know what you are talking about. Let me tell you about my water plan. Water is the economy in california, especially in the Central Valley and here in southern california. We have taken the brunt of what is happening. How about water recycling . The largest water recycling plant in the world sits in my district. New projects, of course, we have ,o store water when it comes underground and above. Desalinization, which we have done in carlsbad. Mark your time is up. Ms. Harris, 30 seconds if you choose. Att. Gen. Harris i think there is no question that california can be a leader on this. We have to accept a false choice, either be in favor of a fish or a farmer. He can do both. Andeed more reliable sustainable sources of water. The Orange County is doing great this issue. Mark it is time now for the from a viewer, mary bedford. You will you check one minute to respond. My son was first 19 when he committed his first and only crime. The Justice System has failed him in a number of ways. No one seems to want to correct the problem. Proposition 57 is on the ballot. Havingthe california prison sys broken. How do you feel about proposition 57 and what are your thoughts of fixing the overcrowded prison problem jack mark due to a technical problem, our candidates could not hear it. They could not answer. I will paraphrase it. This is from mary bedford who has a son, 41 yearsproposition r thoughts of fixing the overcrowded prison problem jack mark due to a technical problem, our candidates could not hear it. They could not answer. I will paraphrase it. This is from mary bedford who has a son, 41 years old now. He was 19 when he committed his first and crime. Senate bill 261, passed only in january 2016 and now prop 57 is on the ballot. The system is broken. It is called rehabilitation, but that is not happening. What are your thoughts on fixing the overcrowded prison system . Att. Gen. Harris im in favor of doing whatever we need to do as a general policy around the criminal Justice System and understanding we cannot have a onesizefitsall policy. We need to make a distinction between violent and low level offensive. As it relates to lowlevel offenses and nonviolent crime, we need another approach. I created a Model Initiative for the country, a Reentry Initiative focused on lowlevel offenders focused on getting them jobs and counseling. We turned their lives around and reduce the likelihood that they offend. I wrote a book back in 2008 called, smart on crime. On can buy it for 2. 99 amazon. Your time has expired. Rep. Sanchez i am against proposition 57. My opponent wrote the summary of it that we are reading as voters. She said it was about nonviolent felons getting out of jail. That is not true. She talked a good story on gun control, but did you know, if you give guns to gangs, you can get out of jail for free if this proposition passes. If you do a driveby shooting, you can get out of jail for free if this proposition 57 passes. If you discharge guns