Pappas, Leavitt fight over campaign stereotypes
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Oct. 25—U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas and his Republican challenger Karoline Leavitt respectfully disagreed over policies during their second debate Tuesday and fought hardest over the ways their rival campaigns have portrayed them.
Throughout a close campaign, Leavitt has said Pappas has been a partisan tool for President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, voting for a reckless spending spree that made U.S. inflation worse.
Pappas has countered that Leavitt, of Hampton, is the "most extreme" GOP nominee in the 1st Congressional District in decades, denying the results of the 2020 election, supporting privatizing Social Security and embracing legal restrictions on abortion.
"As far as I know, Joe Biden is not a member of Congress and Speaker Pelosi rarely votes. The fact is I have challenged both of them when they were wrong for New Hampshire," Pappas said in the one-hour debate before the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College.
Pappas pointed to pushing the Biden administration to approve more visas for foreign workers, opposing a Treasury Department move to gain more information on individual bank accounts, and helping to convince the president to support suspending the federal gas tax.
In turn, Leavitt, a press aide in the Trump White House, said her views were in the mainstream because families are struggling with rising costs, excessive federal regulation and an educational system that is too bureaucratic and not parent-centered.
"My opponent continues labeling me as an extremist. Frankly, I think that is laughable," Leavitt said.
"It is not extreme to stand up for the hard-working families of this district. It is not extreme to want to unleash the might of our economy."
Both agreed they were the product of their experiences working in small businesses. The Pappas family owns Manchester's Puritan Backroom Restaurant, and Leavitt worked at the trucking sale and repair business her parents own in Plaistow.
Leavitt said if sent to Washington, she would seek to end irresponsible deficit spending by Republicans and Democrats.
"I have broken with my party throughout this campaign in fighting for a true balanced budget," Leavitt said.
A familiar theme
Leavitt continually attacked Pappas for supporting the Inflation Reduction Act last August, maintaining its $750 million in spending only made inflation worse.
"Everybody knows you can't spend more money to reduce inflation; that's not how our economy works," Leavitt said.
Pappas said the spending bill would reduce the deficit by $1.9 trillion over the next two decades.
He defended the measure, saying it includes additional staffing for the Internal Revenue Service that brings the agency back to 2010 levels.
"We are going after wealthy individuals and big corporations that aren't paying their fair share and skirting the law; that's the right thing to do," Pappas said.
On energy, Leavitt said Pappas toed the Biden line in opposing more domestic energy production, which has contributed to soaring prices for gasoline and home heating fuel.
"It is very convenient for you to start chanting about increasing domestic energy production two weeks before the election when you have supported decreasing it every step of the way," Leavitt said.
Pappas said for months he has pushed for more energy lease permits but argued oil and gas company owners were most responsible for higher prices.
"They want to keep prices artificially high so they can reap record profits at our expense," Pappas said.
"We need the private sector to step up to the plate, sacrifice some of their profits and stock buyouts."
Leavitt said inflation has gone from 2% to 8% while the price of gas has shot up from $2 to $4 a gallon since Pappas took office in 2018.
"We literally cannot afford another two years with Chris Pappas in Congress," Leavitt said.
Pappas said Leavitt has her conservative slogans down pat, but in this race she has offered few solutions to help families as the country heads into a likely recession.
"We need more than just political talking points, we need more than just an extreme agenda," Pappas said.
