WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) – Election Day is in just under two weeks. The two candidates for New York’s newly created 24th Congressional District met face to face Thursday for their first and only debate of election season.
“I’ve worked very hard as a small business owner, also as a member of Congress to try to bring and deliver relief to the people in our communities,” said Republican Claudia Tenney, who currently represents the 22nd Congressional District.
“I did four deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan during my over 20-year career in the United States Army. Our democracy is in peril right now. I’ve seen what’s happening in other parts of the world, and I never thought that I would see it here,” said Democratic candidate Steven Holden.
Tenney and Holden debated for an hour in WWNY-TV’s studio and covered a variety of topics. At the forefront of many voters’ minds this year, have been inflation and the rising costs of goods.
“Energy is going to be an important part of bringing our supply chains back and also bringing down inflation, as that is the biggest driver right now is inflation. The cost of supply, the cost of energy just to get our goods to and from where they need to go,” said Tenney.
“What is causing inflation now here in the United States, is that you have multinational corporations, such as Exxon Mobil, P&G Proctor & Gamble, and Nestle who are raking in trillions in dollars in exorbitant profits, while they’re sticking it to you at the gas pump, and at the grocery store,” said Holden.
Other topics discussed included military benefits for soldiers both active and retired, crime in the north country, and reproductive rights. While the two candidates did not see eye to eye often, one topic they did agree upon is congressional term limits.
“I support term limits. I know it’s not a popular thing to hear from career politicians,” said Tenney.
“One of the biggest problems we have in DC is that people have been there for a long time. It takes away our population’s trust, our voting population’s trust, and those people who are actually there to get the legislation done of the people,” said Holden.
You can watch the debate in its entirety Thursday at 7 p.m. on WNYF Fox-28.
Copyright 2022 WWNY. All rights reserved.
