SPOKANE, Wash. — With ballots going out this week, candidates vying for seats in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives faced off against each other Tuesday night at Gonzaga University.
The two debates on Tuesday night featured incumbent Senator Maria Cantwell (D) facing Republican challenger Raul Garcia of Yakima, and Carmela Conroy (D) and Michael Baumgartner (R) battling each other for the 5th Congressional District seat.
Tuesday night's debate comes one month out from the election.
Tuesday began with the race for the Senate seat. Cantwell is trying to keep her seat, and Garcia is trying to take it.
Topics ranged from the War in Ukraine, abortion and the removal of the Snake River Dams. The homeless crisis also came up.
"The first step is drug rehabilitation," Garcia said. "The second step is mental health, and the third step is housing, not housing first."
"We need to build more supply," Cantwell said. "Spokane knows this, and that's why places like Gonzaga Haven and other affordable housing projects are done."
The afternoon stayed civil between the candidates, and both say they're pleased with how it went.
"I'm really pleased that I got a chance to talk to Spokane," Cantwell said.
"It was a civil discord between worthy opponents, instead of attacking each other," Garcia said.
The debate series ended with candidates Baumgartner and Conroy.
They're running for the empty 5th Congressional district seat after Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers announced she wasn't seeking re-election.
Questions ranged from inflation, student loans and abortion.
"I definitely believe that the Congress of the United States should restore, with national legislation, the right of women to make choices about their own bodies," Conroy said.
"When I read the Constitution, [it] clearly says that [the] things are not prescribed in the Constitution belong to the States. I, frankly, just don't think that abortion was thought of by the founders," Baumgartner said. "I don't think it's the Constitution. I think it's a state issue."
This isn't the first time the two faced off, and it won't be the last.
"It's two different versions of what is on offer to the people of Eastern Washington," Baumgartner said. "But [at] the end of the day, if either of us does get to Congress, we're gonna have to work together in a bipartisan fashion."
"We definitely have policy differences, and I think it's a great opportunity to flesh those out so that people know what they're getting or not getting," Conroy said.
Election Night takes place Tuesday, November 5.
The Spokesman Review hosted Tuesday night's debates. They also sponsored the event, along with Northwest Passages, KSPS-PBS, Gonzaga University, The Black Lens and the Washington State Debate Coalition.
KSPS aired the Senate debate earlier Tuesday night, and the Congressional debate will be aired on Thursday, October 10 at 7 p.m.