‘Dishonest,’ ‘can’t trust her’: Kansas candidates spar over honesty in first House debate
Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids and Republican Amanda Adkins called each other dishonest and untrustworthy in their first televised debate, amid a tight contest to determine who will represent Kansas’ 3rd Congressional District for the next two years.
Around five minutes into the debate, the two came to a head on an argument about abortion rights that has been simmering between their two campaigns over the past week.
In answering a question on abortion, Davids said Adkins would support a federal ban on abortion — a stance Adkins had just refuted — based on the fact that she supported a budget plan by a group of Republicans that contained provisions supporting a federal ban on abortion.
“The issue isn’t the specific stance that she is pro-life, it’s that we really can’t trust her on these issues,” Davids said. “She, on her website, supports an agenda that would lead to a total ban with no exceptions, not for rape, not for incest, or the life of the mother. And your answer seems to change depending on who the audience is.”
Adkins accused Davids of a misleading attack, saying she’s been clear where she stands on a federal ban.
“Your comments are dishonest and deceptive,” Adkins said. “I am a pro-life candidate, I have been pro-life my entire life, but I have been very clear. I have now been interviewed almost 15 times in media on this issue, and I have said the federal government does not have a role and I therefore do not believe that the federal government should push a congressional ban on abortion.”
It kicked off a night where the candidates highlighted their opponent’s connections to a number of surrogates to tie them to the more extreme elements of their respective political parties.
Davids brought up Adkins’ ties to former Gov. Sam Brownback and Sen. Ted Cruz. Adkins served as a campaign manager for Brownback during his 2004 Senate race and served as chairwoman of the Kansas Republican Party when Brownback was governor. She has campaigned with Cruz.
When Adkins said she believed the 2020 election wasn’t stolen, Davids brought up Cruz, who was one of the Senators who attempted to overturn the results of the election, and her endorsement from Johnson County sheriff Calvin Hayden, who has promoted criminal investigations into elections without substantial evidence.
“She has aligned herself with extremists who call the integrity of our election into question,” Davids said.
Meanwhile Adkins repeatedly mentioned President Joe Biden, whose approval rating is hovering around 41.5%, placing the blame for inflation squarely on Biden’s shoulders, even though economists have largely pointed to a number of factors, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, supply-chain issues and the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I guess you don’t identify strong leaders because you cite Joe Biden as a really good one,” Adkins said when Davids criticized the former secretary of state’s praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin as Russia readied to launch an invasion of Ukraine.
The debate — hosted by Kansas City PBS, KCUR and the Shawnee Mission Post — moved quickly through a number of topics, from foreign policy to immigration to social security, education and healthcare. But through each question, Adkins and Davids largely returned to two corners: Adkins criticized Biden, and Davids criticized Adkins for using Republican talking points.
Davids attempted to present herself as a moderate, highlighting a number of bills that have passed with bipartisan support through the Democratic-controlled Congress over the past two years. Adkins focused her attention on the economy, arguing that Davids had supported legislation that helped drive up inflation and high gas prices.
But when asked what she would do to resolve the issue — one that is difficult for Congress to solve despite their attempts to pass bills with titles like “The Inflation Reduction Act” — Adkins said she would work to balance the federal budget and eliminate the national debt.
Republicans in Congress have signaled that, should they win control of the House, they would be willing to use negotiations over whether to raise the debt ceiling in order to force spending cuts to the country’s social security and medicare programs.
As Adkins tried to place the focus on her business background, she twice used quotes from former President Ronald Reagan, the long-held standard bearer for the Republican Party. She did not mention former President Donald Trump, who has spent the past six years reshaping Reagan’s Republican Party in his image.
Trump’s name only came up once, when Davids’ said she went to the table to help pass Trump’s attempts to restructure the country’s trade agreements.
“My concern is that my opponent is not going to take a bipartisan approach,” Davids said.
The debate only briefly focused on student-loan debt, when Adkins said people in the district did not support Biden’s plan to forgive up to $20,000 in student-loan debt for some Americans. The debate was pre-recorded, so it took placed before a federal appeals court put a stay on Biden’s plan.
The two will debate a second time on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in a debate hosted by Fox 4 and The Kansas City Star.
This story was originally published October 21, 2022 at 9:57 PM.
