Good evening and welcome to the special election 2020 debate between u. S. Senate candidates. This is the only live debate between these two candidates. It is a joint effort brought to you by the Election Commission and media organizations. Im the host and managing editor of arizona horizon. Joining me tonight is a political reporter with the arizona republic. We are broadcasting live from the studios at arizona pbs and the Walter Cronkite school of journalism in downtown phoenix. Tonights debate is being. Ivestreamed on a website topics were chosen by journalists from the four participating media outlets. Questions from the public as solicited by the commission are also included. The ground rules are as follows. Once we ask a question, both candidates will have 90 seconds to answer without interruption. The candidates will get 45 seconds or a rebuttal without interruption. Then we will have up to two minutes for an open discussion on the topic. At the end, each candidate will have one minute for closing statements. You may have noticed the set up looks different. We have taken a number of precautions to keep everyone safe. Anduding increased distance plexiglas barriers. Covid tests for everyone involved and a request for no physical contact like handshaking. Lets meet the candidates. Martha mcsally is a republican appointed after john mccains death. She is a native of rhode island and was the first woman to fly in combat in iraq. Mark kelly is a democrat who served as a naval aviator. He piloted Space Shuttle and is married to former congresswoman gabrielle giffords. Earlier, we tossed a coin to see who goes first. Senator, the president s covid19 diagnosis calls into question the way the administration has handled the pandemic. He has been recorded as downplaying covid19. He said it was a hoax and given himself in a great. A great. How do you think the administration has handled covid19 . Our prayers are with the president and first lady. All of those affected, this reminds us that the pandemic doesnt care if you are democrat or republican and we all need to be vigilant and do our part until we defeat the virus. I have been fighting for arizonans to get relief for Small Businesses, to workers at hospitals to fasttrack the vaccine and treatments and cures. I voted for additional relief a few weeks ago to help Small Businesses a few weeks ago. I opponent said he would not vote for that. What we dont need is another lockdown. Thats what would happen if joe biden and mark kelly are in charge. You have seen a lot of slick ads over the last few months. My opponent claims he is not a politician but that is counterfeit. He is bought and paid for by Chuck Schumer. Over the last decade, he led one of the most radical Political Organizations raising over 57 million in order to help elect some of the most extreme leftwing politicians in power. Decideection is going to the Senate Majority and the direction of the country. You have a choice. Are going to we have you respond. 90 seconds for your answer on how the administration has handled the pandemic. Thet didnt take long for senator to attack my patriotism. I thought after two years, we would see a different senator. The same one has shown up. I am a combat veteran. I served in the u. S. Navy for 25 years. I spent 15 years at nasa. I dealt with the chinese directly. Senator mcsally likes to make false accusations. We have a Public Health crisis which spurred an economic crisis. Both of these things have been made worse by a crisis of leadership. Over and over again, we have been a step behind. We shut down the economy and the administration and the senator did not come up with a plan on what to do next. To, innt to get back more detail, how you think the administration could have handled the pandemic debtor. The president and the white house that they have done a great job. 200,000 dead americans is evidence we do not that washington, this administration and the senator did not do a great job. We have 4 of the worlds population. We have 21 of the deaths from covid19. The administration knew in february that the virus was deadly and airborne. Senator mcsally said she was briefed on this at some point whether it was in january or february. She told people to go on spring break. Shortly after, when it was recommended that large gatherings like fundraisers be canceled, she did a large fundraiser. When infection rates were on the rise, she goes to a big political rally. That is not leadership. We need independent leadership focused on solving this problem. It is challenging, but if we listen to the Public Health officials and dont ignore the science, we can beat this. Senator, your response . At the end of january, the president made a Decisive Action in order to stop travel from china. That was highly criticized. Mistakes were made at all levels, but we are in this together and we should be moving forward. We have learned a lot. This virus came from china. They destroyed samples and blamed it on the u. S. Army. We need to hold them accountable. While i am standing up to china, my opponent starting in 2003 while in the u. S. Navy over to china on an all expense paid junket by the calmest party to help influence elites in america and he went back into thousand four 2005 and said it was the most meaningful thing in his life besides going to space. This is what china does. They tracked influence the elite. Senator, at what point were you briefed on the virus . What did you do with that information . The task force was created and we have had multiple briefings. Dr. Fauci and others, they were sharing information. We didnt know because china covered it up. Their advice at the time was the risk was low. At the same time nancy pelosi was telling people to celebrate the Chinese New Year and joe biden was having rallies. For the scientists, it was around mid march that they were realizing the impact when the stayathome orders started. The president took action in january and that was highly criticized. Do you agree with the president s december decision to ban travel from china . You guys did step one of the emergency procedure and nothing else and that is a colossal failure. When the president thanked china on behalf of the american people, senator mcsally did nothing. We have 4 of the worlds population and 21 of the deaths in covid19. It is because this administration did not handle this as a Public Health issue. They dismissed the science. I cant think of one occasion where senator mcsally has stood up when the president has made a mistake or the governor did something that wasnt exactly right. Thats not leadership. We need independent leadership focused on solving hard problems, not somebody who is going to stand there when the leader of her Political Party is making some mistakes. When the president called did you publicly say anything in response to that . What i was doing was fighting to get relief to arizonans. We passed the cares act. We saved 85,000 Small Businesses in arizona and one million jobs. My opponent criticized the ppp loan. While his company was secretly getting the loan and taking advantage of it. We passed the relief to stimulus checks. Families were struggling and investing in the treatments and testing and cures to get the relief out the door to have people hang on. We voted on additional target relief a few weeks ago. Support the schools, get kids back to school safely. More support to Small Businesses. My opponent says he would have blocked the relief. What was wrong with that built that you wouldnt support the targeted relief to help arizonans . Even the president commented commented it was too stingy. Now, we are in a situation where Mitch Mcconnell sent everybody home. Four vacations. We have 420,000 arizonans who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. Ony are now trying to get by 240 of unemployment per week. Senator mcsally went on vacation. Thats not leadership. We need independent leadership putting Arizona First not more of the same from washington. Lets move on to the Supreme Court. Mr. Kelly, you will have 90 seconds. President trump nominated judge Amy Coney Barrett. Do you support moving forward on her nomination or any others before the election . I do not. Passed itce ginsburg was a tough day for our country and for me personally. Especially for my wife. We are less than 30 days away from the election. This should be given some awful consideration. The next president regardless of , whoever is elected to the senate, this decision should wait until january. This was a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court and to rush it through, it is important to recognize why is it being rushed through right now . The reason is, there is a Supreme Court case in november that is about the Affordable Care act. Senator mcsally has worked incredibly hard over the last five years to eliminate or undermine protections for preexisting conditions through legislation that did not work. She paved the way for this lawsuit that is going to be heard on november 10. That lawsuit would take away those protections for 2. 8 million arizonans. One million would probably lose their insurance. The other 1. 8, it could start costing a lot more. That is not the leadership we need. Later, talk about this but senator mcsally takes a normas amount of corporate money into her campaign. I announced i will not take one dollar of corporate pack money. To take did you vote away funding for preexisting conditions . Of course i did not. I will always protect people with preexisting conditions. Democrats and republicans agree on that. About the Supreme Court, the constitution is the guide. This is not about Amy Coney Barrett who is an amazing role model, the top of her field, the first woman with schoolaged children on the Supreme Court. The constitution says the president gets to nominate and the senate gets to confirm. When the party has been the same, they have moved forward with that. What mr. Kelly wants is to get liberal activist judges on the bench. When they dont get their way, they want to take away your freedom from activist judges who legislate from the bench. We are one vote away from losing our individual right to bear arms. We are one vote away if you look thethis actually took away ability for those in nevada to go to church while they could still go to casinos during the lockdowns. Joe biden wont release his list of who he would nominate to the Supreme Court. I want to know if mark would call on joe biden to release the list . You dont get to pick the timing. Would you vote for judge Amy Coney Barrett . We are inside of 30 days from the election and trust arizonans to make a choice. Through this nomination under the circumstances doesnt make a lot of sense. We have 420,000 arizonans who are unemployed through no fault of their own and are trying to get by on 240 per week. Why isnt the senate dealing with that . Thats my question to senator mcsally. This is a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court. It should take thoughtful consideration and i think voters deserve to have a say as to who is going to nominate the next Supreme Court justice to replace justice ginsburg. Another example of trying to say nothing to get elected. You know very well, the winner of this race could be seated as early as november. You dont get to decide the timing. Would you vote yes or no on judge burke . I would vote no. This should wait until january when we have a new president and a new senate. We are within 30 days of the election and senator mcsally wants to rush through lifetime appointment. Caseeason is, it is the about preexisting conditions and the Affordable Care act which through legislation even after voting four times to eliminate those conditions, that didnt work. Now, this is her them could lose their Health Insurance because of the. Elected, you could be sworn in as soon as the votes are certified. If you are in the senate, would you support a filibuster to delay the nomination . Sen. Kelly this whole thing indicates how broken washington is. The discussion of the filibuster. Old senate rule. It is important for everyone to understand that when it came to passing a 1. 9 trillion tax cut for the wealthiest americans and Big Corporations that senator mcsally voted for, the senate was ok to go to 50 votes. They abolished the filibuster to try to eliminate the Affordable Care act and the projections protections for preexisting conditions. Senator mcsally is ok with that, too. If this comes up as a discussion, i will give it thoughtful consideration and i will do what is in the best interest of arizona and the country. Mr. Kelly, you have been a candidate for more than a year. Be would you would you able to hit the ground running on day one . Sen. Kelly absolutely. We do not know if this will come up even for a discussion. If it does, i will give it thoughtful consideration and i will do what is in the best interest of arizona and our country and out the Republican Party or the democrat party. Very important to note that parties are not in power for very long traditionally. It goes from one party to the other. Whatever decision is made, youll have to live with it from being on the other. I understand that and i will give this thoughtful consideration. Not what is in the best interest for democrats but what is in the best interest of arizona. When they blocked the nomination in the last year of president obama . All 29 times, the president not rated. When the parties were nominated. This is about they want stall tactics in order to get their liberal, activist judges on the bench they want to pack the court. The fact that counterfeit kelly cannot even answer the question, will you vote for Chuck Schumer . Of course, he will vote for Chuck Schumer. He said, we will not waste this majority if we get it. He will not answer honestly to you, arizona. Chuck schumer is trying to buy this election and you will stop that from happening. Who do you need to hear from to form an opinion on the filibuster question . Sen. Kelly i will need to hear the opinion of arizonans. When i make that decision, i will let arizonans know. This is something that might not even come up for discussion. If it does, i will spend some time thinking about it. I will make a decision based on what is right for arizona. I do not know how many people could even follow what she was talking about. Washington is broken. This highlights how broken it is, that we are having these fights over old senate rules. What we need to be focused on, Peoples Health care. We have a lot of individuals and families that have lost their health care due to this pandemic. The economy these are the issues that arizonans care about. Lets move to the subject of china. Many National Security officials consider china to be our most important adversary. How would you go about the relationship with china . Has the president made light of it by mentioning the chinese flew . The chinese flu . Sen. Mcsally i have been involved in National Security my entire adult life. They have been helped by political leads by joe biden, who has outsourced jobs to china. They are stealing our technology. Becauses are awaken they unleashed this virus on the world. We wereelying relying on china for our ppe and pharmaceuticals. I am standing up to china to held hold them accountable. Mr. Kelly2003 went over on this Chinese Communist funded trip. To bring elites into their orbit. It was so meaningful to him, and 2006, he had a chance to go to space, the astronauts who were supporting me, one of them was an apollo 16 after not. You get to bring a few things into space with the. He brought an american flag, this other astronaut. What mark kelly decided to bring to space was the Chinese Communist banner from this junket that was paid for i china. Of all the things he could have brought to space. He later retired and then recruited tencent, to invest in a company he cofounded. China whileg up to my opponent this is the biggest threat we have. We need somebody was going to be strong on china. Respond to those accusations. Sen. Kelly she started making china and issue this election cycle when Mitch Mcconnell physically handed her a memo and said this is the issue in your election. Im a veteran. I served the United States navy for 25 years. I lived in japan. I spent time flying off an aircraft carrier. I have known china as an adversary my entire adult life, not because i got a memo from Mitch Mcconnell. Senator mcsally is focused on this now because shes desperate to win an election. I have an opportunity to start a business here in arizona. I will never apologize for creating good jobs. Senator make sally will use false attacks make sally will use false attacks in question my patriotism over and over again. From this very podium in 2018, senator mcsally yelled trees and. Treason. Let me talk about china. China has been an adversary of ours. I recognize this in the 1980s, anywhere on the planet where we leave a vacuum, china will step into it. We need to use economic tools that are disposal to do that. Senator mcsally said nothing when the president thanked china on behalf of the american people. I dont think she had her memo yet. This is a political issue. Senator mcsally is using false negative attacks, trying to attack my patriotism again. I think arizo