Kelly, Pastore go head-to-head in debate for U.S. House seat

From the outset of an hourlong debate Tuesday, incumbent Republican Rep. Mike Kelly tried to frame the race for Pennsylvania's 16th District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives not as a choice of party, but of policy.

Kelly, the Butler County car dealer who's seeking a seventh, two-year term in Congress, excoriated President Joe Biden's administration and the "one-party rule" of Democrats, who hold majorities in the House and Senate, for a range of pocketbook issues, laying blame on the party for high gas and grocery prices, "shutting down" domestic energy production, and a loss of "trust, confidence and faith in the way we vote."

"Forget about the politics of it," he said. "And start thinking about the policy. Is it good for the American people?"

When Kelly's Democratic opponent Dan Pastore took his turn Tuesday, he sought to make the debate a referendum on Kelly, who Pastore said has put his party over the people of the 16th District, especially when Kelly filed a lawsuit after the 2020 presidential election attempting to void millions of mail-in ballots.

Pastore profile:In 16th Dist. race, Democrat Pastore: Kelly sues to stop mail-in ballots, 'disenfranchises' voters

Kelly profile:Seeking 7th term, U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly details priorities, responds to controversies

"Mike Kelly tried to take away the vote of his own constituents and overturn the election results here in Pennsylvania," said Pastore, the co-founder and CEO of the online retailer FishUSA. "After he lost that lawsuit and just hours after the Jan. 6 attack on our Capitol Building, he still voted against certifying the election results here in Pennsylvania. I found that so unacceptable and un-American that I decided to run."

With two weeks to go before the Nov. 8 general election, Kelly and Pastore went head-to-head in a debate organized by WQLN and Erie News Now, which first aired the taped debate Thursday night.

ENN anchors Lisa Adams and Ethan Kibbe peppered the candidates with questions about inflation, energy, the economy, the cost of college, crime and abortion, allowing them 90 seconds to answer questions and 30 seconds for rebuttals.

Filmed at WQLN's studio, the debate was the first and only between the two candidates.

A global problem, or Biden to blame?

The first half of the debate was spent discussing inflation and energy production.

Kelly blamed the $9 trillion of spending by the Biden administration over the last 20 months as one cause for the largest uptick in inflation in 40 years. But he focused mostly on Biden's policies on energy.

"We've also decided that producing energy domestically is not a good idea," said Kelly, citing Biden's decision to reject a key permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline on his first day in office. "The president shut down our domestic energy supplies and nobody can figure out why then would you go to the worst actors in the world and say, 'please, please, we've shut down our supplies but we want you to supply it for us.'"

Energy prices have caused the cost of living to skyrocket, putting Americans in the "untenable" position of choosing between "fuel and food," Kelly said.

"Am I going to heat or eat this winter because the cost of living has gone off the charts," he said. "There's a reason for all of that and it's called policy."

Pastore, calling inflation the biggest concern for people in the district, pushed back. He said the issue, however, has to be put into perspective.

The Keystone XL Pipeline would not have played a factor in current energy prices regardless of Biden's actions, Pastore said, and the cause for the spike was due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.

"This is a global problem, happening across the world, not just here in the United States," he said.

In his words:Abortion, inflation, voting, energy -- U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly answers voter questions

In his words:Abortion, inflation, voting, energy -- Dan Pastore answers voters' questions

Pastore also said the "facts don't bear out" Kelly's claim about energy production. It was in 2020 under the Trump administration, he said, when domestic production hit a low point. Production has increased over the last two years.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, domestic energy production was relatively flat between 1994 and 2004. In 2005, production began a slow uptick, mostly from natural gas and crude oil, which continued over the next decade.

In 2016, production dropped, especially in coal production. But during Donald Trump's three years in office, domestic production rebounded and continue to increase until 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic halted travel as businesses and schools were closed. But Americans resumed travel in 2021, when the COVID-19 vaccine became available, and domestic production returned to post-COVID-19 levels.

Kelly also pinned his claim about domestic energy production on regulations.

"There's nothing more obtrusive to the success of America than a government that overreaches, over taxes and over regulates you," he said.

Both candidates agreed that Pennsylvania, the nation's second-leading producer of natural gas, can play a critical role in reducing the country's reliance on foreign energy imports, but Pastore noted that Western Pennsylvania also should be at the forefront of developing renewable sources, like wind, solar, hydrogen and battery technology.

"We have to continue to develop our natural resources, our oil and gas, here as we transition to a clean-energy economy," said Pastore, who added that he would support a temporary freeze to the federal gas tax.

Kelly, though, said the Biden administration has decided that "fossil fuels have no place in our future."

"They talk about all-of-the-above, but forget all that is below," he said.

Later Kelly added, "This all started with the inauguration of this current president and this man (Pastore) supports every policy of his," Kelly said. "It's untenable."

Safety net programs

Pastore also said driving down the cost of prescription drugs is key to bringing down inflation, and he criticized Kelly for voting against the Inflation Reduction Act, which, among other things, will allow Medicare to negotiate the cost of prescriptions and which capped insulin for Medicare recipients at $35.

"Not only did Mr. Kelly vote against that, but the Republican plan is that if they take control of Congress they're going to repeal that provision."

Pastore cited recent reports that GOP leadership plans to use debt-ceiling negotiations to seek cuts in Social Security and Medicare and to privatize the latter if the party regains control of the House.

He also said Kelly didn't address a question about tax cuts for the wealthy, "because that is what they plan to do."

Kelly called the claims "a distraction from the real facts." He said he's a "Medicare champion" and has received rewards to prove it.

"We can talk about it all we want," Pastore clapped back, "but his actions speak louder than what he's saying here today."

Abortion

On abortion, Pastore reiterated that, if elected, he would vote to codify Roe v. Wade, which the U.S. Supreme Court in June overturned. It marked the first time in U.S. history where constitutional rights were "rolled back" for women, he said.

"I trust women to make their own decisions," he said.

Kelly noted that he is "not abashedly pro-life." But he again said Democrats are using the high court's ruling to "deflect" from the economic issues facing the country. Pennsylvania's abortion laws, Kelly noted, remain in place and all the court did was rule that it had "overstepped" its jurisdiction in 1973 and put the decision back in the hands of the state.

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Dan Pastore: A small business owner running to protect jobs, cut costs, solve problems

"They said 50 states have the responsibility and jurisdiction to decide on this," he said. "Do I believe in life? Absolutely."

"To say that this issue is a distraction is really an outrage," Pastore responded. "This is one of the most important issues in this upcoming election, whether politicians like Mike Kelly should be deciding what's right for women here in Pennsylvania and across the country."

Pastore chided Kelly for seemingly taking contrasting positions on how abortion rights should be decided.

He asked why Kelly would say that the high court's decision was about states' rights to decide the abortion issue while also pushing for a national abortion ban that would prohibit the procedure once a fetal heartbeat is detected, usually around six weeks, and make no exceptions for victims of rape and incest.

"This is the typical Democrat, try(ing) to get away from the real issues," he said. "It's about inflation. It's about the economy. It's about the police and crime that's taking place right now."

Crime, college

The candidates on Tuesday also addressed a range of other issues, including how to drive down crime in big cities and how to prevent school shootings.

Pastore would have backed the recent bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which expanded background checks for 18- to 21-year-olds but included no new gun ownership regulations. The legislation was backed by Republican Sen. Pat Toomey. Kelly, however, voted against it.

"I understand this is a difficult issue and opinions are divided, but I'm a gun owner. I respect the Second Amendment and I understand people have the right to own a gun for their personal safety or for sport and we shouldn't be regulating guns themselves," said Pastore, who would support universal background checks.

Kelly said most of the young men responsible for school shootings suffer from mental illness. More funding needs to be invested in this area, he said, so that people who suffer from mental health issues can get help and not simply "self-medicate." He said he liked some of the provisions of the Safer Communities Act but he feared other sections infringed on a person's Second Amendment rights.

"Some of this legislation is so overreaching," he said.

Pastore pressed Kelly on what aspects of the legislation he supported and what he didn't. He noted that the bill included funding for mental health treatment. Kelly, he charged, provided no answer on how to reduce gun violence.

On crime and violence in general, Kelly said police need more support to do their jobs. And he touted endorsements from police unions and other law enforcement groups.

"My opponent hasn't been endorsed by one of them," Kelly said of Pastore.

Some of the gun control legislation proposed by Democrats is "chilling."

"They don't like any guns," he said.

"That's certainly not my position," Pastore, an outdoorsman who serves on the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission, said. "I've owned guns all my adult life. I have a tree stand in my yard and a gun case in my house."

Pastore wants to provide law enforcement more resources and said he opposes "defunding the police."

On Biden's executive order to forgive up to $20,000 of student loan debt for millions of Americans, Kelly said the move was unconstitutional and a political ploy used to "buy" votes ahead of the midterm elections.

Pastore, on the other hand, said that inaction by Kelly and members of Congress created the problem of high student loan debt and that if a court strikes down Biden's student loan forgiveness policy he would support it legislatively.

The Trump debate

The conversation eventually turned to former President Donald Trump, the 2020 presidential election and the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol Building. Adams asked the candidates if Trump should testify before the House Jan. 6 panel that's investigating the attacks and if they respect the panel's work.

"No one is above the law," Pastore said about the committee's subpoenaing of Trump. "Congress has the right to investigate this. It was an unprecedented attack on our Capitol Building. Some people want to downplay the significance of it but we need to know what happened."

Pastore said the committee has proven that Jan. 6 wasn't a random attack, but that a lot of planning went into it. He then accused Kelly of undermining the voting rights of Pennsylvania and spreading misinformation about the election being stolen.

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"What is the result of spreading this misinformation to people in America?" he asked. "We watched it unfold on Jan. 6. We have to stop that. Our politicians need to speak the truth."

Kelly, however, said the House committee's investigation is a "sham" because it includes all Democrats and two "anti-Trump" Republicans and there is no cross-examination.

He added that the investigation is a "shameful" and "one-size-fits-all attack on Trump." Democrats, he claimed, are using it to distract from the country's "real problems." He called it a "relentless pursuit" of Trump and cited the FBI executing a search warrant of Mar a Lago in August to recover classified documents.

"I understand and fully agree that Jan. 6 should have never happened," Kelly said, "but when you look at some of the people who are still in prison with no way of getting out you have to ask yourself, is this really America?"

Pastore cited previous statements made by Kelly, who in July said he wasn't paying attention to the committee hearings.

"A vast majority of the witnesses who have testified at those hearings were either Capitol police or actually Republicans," Pastore said. "What does (Kelly) propose? That we sweep it under the carpet?"

Matthew Rink can be reached at mrink@timesnews.com or on Twitter at @ETNRink.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Pastore, Kelly face off on policy, politics in Congressional debate