With three weeks to go until the primary election, the top four candidates for California’s open U.S. Senate seat met again on the debate stage to make their cases for representing the nation’s most populous state — and the world’s fifth-largest economy — in the Capitol.
Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff of Burbank, Katie Porter of Irvine and Barbara Lee of Oakland as well as Republican ex-Dodger Steve Garvey spent the evening discussing hot-button issues like immigration, housing and the economy. Their answers were passionate, but their tone was strikingly civil as the majority of their time was dedicated to highlighting their own platforms as opposed to tearing down those of their competitors.
On the border crisis, all candidates agreed with an urgent need for change, but their proposed plans of action were divided along partisan lines.
Garvey, the sole Republican candidate on the debate stage, squarely pointed the blame for the state of the border at President Joe Biden.
“The president opened the floodgates and created a crisis in the United States,” said Garvey. “He should be the one to step up and close the border; he should be the one that stops the infiltration of the cartels and stops rampant drugs coming into this country from China.”
The Democratic candidates, meanwhile, criticized the approach of former President Donald Trump and Republican governors toward the migrant crisis.
“I don’t agree with draconian solutions. I don’t agree with Mr. Garvey, who is promoting Donald Trump’s border wall,” said Schiff. “That doesn’t work.”
Instead of ramping up efforts to keep immigrants out, Schiff called for an increase of immigration judges who can process asylum claims. Porter, meanwhile, said she supports deploying more resources and personnel to the border, including technology that would make it easier to detect fentanyl and other illegal goods.
Lee criticized Republican governors who have sent immigrants to cities with…
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