Debate between Trump and Harris: Here are some issues that matter to Missourians | Opinion
Will they debate? Won’t they debate? The question has been going around and around over whether our leaders and their opponents will verbally duel.
In Missouri, other than the brief and highly odd impromptu verbal sparring match Republican Sen. Josh Hawley stirred up with his Democratic challenger Lucas Kunce at the Missouri State Fair, there haven’t been debates scheduled. Missouri Republicans recently were reticent, while Democrats committed to debating. Gubernatorial candidates Mike Kehoe and Crystal Quade agreed to debate shortly after the Aug. 6 primary. Kunce has said yes. We’ll keep you posted when they decide.
However, there is an important debate this week. It took a while, but the debate time and format were settled between former president Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, both vying for president of the United States.
A no-audience debate with opponents’ microphones muted during responses is scheduled for Tuesday at 8 p.m. Central. The debate will appear on ABC and live-streamed on ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu.
Check local networks for CBS, FOX and NBC, which may carry the debate as well.
Should you watch?
If you are not sure whether to watch other than for the sheer entertainment of it, here’s a reason: See if anything they say affects your life.
Let’s call it ballot bingo.
Every election, we get to elevate candidates, and with them, their platforms, but occasionally we get to vote on issues called ballot initiatives. This year in Missouri, there are exactly eight. (We already voted on two in the August primary.)
On Tuesday, what if you watched the debate and listened to what they said through a lens of local issues? The eight are listed here, but Amendments 3 and 7 rise to the surface of talking points you may hear from Harris and Trump: abortion and voting rights.
From the Missouri Secretary of State’s office:
Amendment 3 would allow voters to amend the Missouri Constitution to:
Establish a right to make decisions about reproductive health care, including abortion and contraceptives, with any governmental interference of that right presumed invalid.
Remove Missouri’s ban on abortion.
Allow regulation of reproductive health care to improve or maintain the health of the patient.
Require the government not to discriminate, in government programs, funding and other activities, against people providing or obtaining reproductive health care.
Allow abortion to be restricted or banned after fetal viability, except to protect the life or health of the woman.
Amendment 7 would make the state constitution consistent with state law by allowing only citizens of the United States to vote. (This is unnecessary, as there is no provision for noncitizens to vote now.) The rest of the ballot language actually speaks to ranked-choice voting and would:
- Prohibit the ranking of candidates by limiting voters to a single vote per candidate or issue; and
- Require the plurality winner of a political party primary to be the single candidate at a general election.
Both candidates have talked about abortion and voting rights, and their opinions certainly influence our U.S. and state legislature. Let’s see what they have said in advance of Tuesday’s debate.
Where the candidates stand
- Harris on abortion rights
I’m frustrated that Harris hasn’t laid out a comprehensive platform of issues on what is still a fundraising website, kamalaharris.com, but that’s what reporters are for.
Harris is clearly for reproductive rights, no wavering about it. She told the crowd at a rally in Atlanta, “When Congress passes a law to restore reproductive freedoms, as president of the United States, I will sign it into law.”
In her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, she said there are injustices in “reproductive and maternal health care” and blamed it on “structural racism.”
And while she didn’t talk about it in her interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, her running mate Tim Walz did:
“I won’t apologize for speaking passionately, whether it’s guns in schools or protection of reproductive rights. The contrast could not be clearer between what we’re running against. The vice president’s position on this has been clear.”
- Harris on voting rights
Harris likely would disagree with the face of Missouri Amendment 7, based on previous comments. Again, noncitizens currently can’t vote, but Harris has kept an eye on laws that appear to suppress the electorate.
She outlined a voting rights strategy in February that included fighting voter suppression laws by challenging discriminatory laws in court via the U.S. Department of Justice.
Harris didn’t speak directly on this at her DNC speech, but she clearly believes in voting rights based on her passion for its history:
“This week marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment. And we celebrate the women who fought for that right. Yet so many of the Black women who helped secure that victory were still prohibited from voting, long after its ratification.But they were undeterred.”
She told an audience of students at her alma mater, Howard University, in 2021:
“Your vote matters. Your voice matters. Your will matters. Your desire for yourself and your families matters, and regardless of who you are, where you live or what party you belong to, your vote matters. Your vote is your power, and I say don’t ever let anyone take your power from you.”
- Trump on abortion rights
Where to start? How about with NBC’s timeline on his many views on reproductive rights, from 1999 when he said, “I am very pro-choice,” to 2011 when he said, “I am pro-life” to most recently when he said he was proud to have chosen the Supreme Court justices who sent the issue back to the states by overturning the precedent of Roe v. Wade.
He made a video announcement on his Truth Social network in April: “Many states will be different. Many will have a different number of weeks, or some will have more conservative than others, and that’s what they will be.”
Most recently, he called Florida’s six week abortion ban too strict, but then said he would vote no on the initiative to overturn the ban after taking heat from supporters.
- Trump on voting rights
Missouri’s Amendment 7 aligns with Trump’s platform as well as his 2020 presidential memo to omit undocumented immigrants from the census count. Trump said in the memo that it would be the “policy of the United States to exclude from the apportionment base aliens who are not in a lawful immigration status under the Immigration and Nationality Act.” The Supreme Court blocked the introduction of a citizenship questionnaire on the census.
Why does this matter? This plan of omission would go into deciding how many members of Congress are apportioned to each state, which in turn, would affect representation.
His platform, Agenda 47, includes: “Secure our elections, including same day voting, voter identification, paper ballots, and proof of citizenship.”
Now you know. And while the candidates haven’t been specific about other ballot initiatives — such as gambling — their opinions on other issues could make a difference in what you think about them.
So, get out your ballot bingo, listen and watch Tuesday. Will it change your mind? Surveys say it’s not likely, as many of you have your minds made up. But, you never know. Open your minds and see if hearing from the candidates makes a difference.
