Sestak, McGinty, Fetterman take the gloves off in debate for Dems in Senate race
The three Pennsylvania Democrats running for U.S. Senate engaged in their sharpest clash yet Tuesday night, their first broadcast debate reflecting the rising stakes as the race enters its final three weeks.
The three Pennsylvania Democrats running for U.S. Senate engaged in their sharpest clash yet Tuesday night, their first broadcast debate reflecting the rising stakes as the race enters its final three weeks.
Katie McGinty was the aggressor in trying to draw clear contrasts, quickly accusing front-runner Joe Sestak of supporting cuts to Social Security and Medicare. Sestak, a former Navy admiral and former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, said she was distorting his record and relying on negativity.
The scrap between the two at the top of the polls mirrored a fight that McGinty initiated Monday as she tries to catch Sestak.
Braddock Mayor John Fetterman assailed his rivals for relying on poll-tested positions, and accused McGinty of lying about her support from the oil and gas industry. She said his claims hinged on "baseless" information.
The debate, held at the studios of Pittsburgh's WTAE-TV, was the first of three scheduled for broadcast television ahead of the April 26 primary. The Democrats are vying to take on Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) in a fall race critical to deciding control of the Senate.
Until recently, the candidates have largely avoided attacking one another - but that changed the last two weeks, with McGinty allies taking aim at Sestak, while Fetterman has derided both opponents.
Tuesday was the first time the candidates addressed the charges face-to-face.
McGinty, Gov. Wolf's former chief of staff, has cited Sestak's praise for the 2010 Simpson-Bowles plan's broad deficit-reduction blueprint, an outline that includes cuts to Social Security, to go after him on that issue.
"My parents retired on Social Security, we couldn't have made it without it - that's the wrong choice and wrong for working families," she said.
Her campaign noted that in a January speech Sestak cited the plan as a template for raising revenues and addressing "the proper reform of entitlements."
Sestak did not let that stand.
"Katie, you're wrong - here's why - you should remember, as I do as a Catholic, the Eighth Commandment," he said, citing the order to not bear false witness against a neighbor. He said he has publicly advocated that "we should never raise, never, the age for our seniors to retire."
Sestak also said he voted 41 times as a congressman to protect Social Security and Medicare.
"Katie, I just wished you had kept it on a positive level," he said later.
Republicans, sniping from the sidelines, pointed out that McGinty's campaign chairman, former Gov. Ed Rendell, has often praised the courage of lawmakers who have embraced the deficit reduction plan she is now criticizing.
Another difference came on minimum wage: Sestak said he would support an increase to $10.80, with inflationary raises to eventually bring the floor to $15 an hour.
McGinty and Fetterman both back a $15-an-hour minimum.
Fetterman noted that McGinty pushed for just a $9 minimum while running for governor in 2014. "The cynic in me would suggest that [$15] probably polls better in 2016 than it did in 2014," he said.
McGinty said numerous groups pushing for the $15 minimum wage have endorsed her (most prominently a bevy of labor unions).
The fight on fracking resurrected a clash from early in the race, when McGinty said she had received no campaign contributions from the oil or gas industries.
She has taken some donations from executives either at oil and gas companies or in closely related businesses, such as pipelines - but she has said no money has come directly from oil or gas firms or their political arms.
"I do not have a penny from an oil company, a gas company," she said, while noting several endorsements from environmental advocates.
McGinty has worked in key environmental protection jobs throughout her career, as well as privately in the energy industry.
"Stop splitting hairs," Fetterman fired back. He urged her to "embrace these things that you've done in your career."
Fetterman has said her oil and gas donations run into the six figures - citing a broad range of contributions from law firms, lobbyists, and many others, some with only loose ties to oil and gas. One donation he cites is from a lawyer who opposes fracking.
McGinty argued that Fetterman, by his broad standard, has accepted similar donations.
@JonathanTamari