Contenders in Kentucky’s closely-watched 6th district congressional district race met for their one and only joint appearance ahead of the November elections. Viewers of the Kentucky Educational Television square-off witnessed the two frontrunners sticking close to their established campaign strategies.
The debate – which has, until now, been waged via nonstop dueling TV ads – got real Monday night as the candidates tussled over healthcare, taxes, and tariffs face to face. But peppered throughout the hour-long appearance were pointed skirmishes over those TV spots.
"Congressman Barr loves to take my words out of context," McGrath started, with Barr quickly shooting back.
"This is a positive campaign, calling me a liar?" he responded.
After a brief pause, the Democrat asked, "Are you done?"
The longest clash occurred over McGrath’s stance on healthcare, with Barr casting the Democrat as a closed-door supporter of socialized medicine and calling her preferred public option idea “single-payer on a delayed fuse.” To that, the former fighter pilot again said the congressman was twisting her words.
"We already have a system. It's a complex system that works for some people and it doesn't work for others," she said. "Let's get people... into Congress who want to fix our system."
In his final remarks, Barr rolled off a list of the results he said Republicans are delivering for Kentucky, from tax cuts to deregulation to "the work we're doing on medical research and fighting the opioid epidemic and rebuilding our military, giving our troops their first pay raise in a decade.” The closing argument: "America is back. The American people are better off now."
McGrath used her final minutes to issue another call for voters to chart a new course.
"I really believe we need to have leaders who step up from all walks of life and be folks that our kids can be proud of and look up to," she concluded. "I think that's the most important thing that this country needs right now."
Libertarian candidate Frank Harris found himself frequently edged out of the debate, eventually resorting to directing viewers to other resources where they could find out more about his policy positions.
"They're not getting to the heart of the real core problems that are going on in this country," the libertarian later told reporters.
Harris and Barr both took questions following the debate.
Voters now have a week to decide before they head to the polls.
