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The gloves came off in Sunday鈥檚 U.S. Senate debate between incumbent Democrat Patty Murray and Republican challenger Tiffany Smiley.

The hour long-debate was hosted by Gonzaga University in Spokane and covered everything from abortion and immigration to crime and climate change.

Suits: Murray – Smiley should be debate instead of Town Hall

鈥淭his is one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime,” Murray noted in her opening remarks. She stressed that the economy, democracy, and women鈥檚 rights are all on the ballot.

鈥淚f you send me back to a pro-choice senate I will work to pass my legislation to codify [Roe v. Wade] into law,鈥� Murray promised.

A tearful Smiley used her opening statement to re-tell the story of how her combat veteran husband was blinded in a suicide car bombing in Mosul, and how she fought the Department of Veterans Affairs and other agencies on his behalf.

鈥淚 took on big government and I won,鈥� said Smiley. “I have a record of taking on big government and winning. My opponent doesn鈥檛. She works for Washington D.C. She is the image of big government. Washington state deserves better.”

Murray’s five previous terms have been a talking point in the Smiley campaign in her ongoing effort to paint Murray as part of a bureaucracy that has failed working-class Americans.

The two candidates also covered immigration, inflation, the Hanford nuclear site, and the centerpieces of the two campaigns 鈥� the Roe decision for Murray, and Smiley’s stance on public safety and reducing crime. It was this portion of the debate where things got louder and more heated.

鈥淥ur cities are being destroyed by crime. Our police are not being supported. In addition to the crime, we have fentanyl, all over our streets. We鈥檙e allowing a humanitarian crisis to unfold right before our eyes. We’re allowing people to poison themselves to death and we do nothing,鈥� said Smiley, as she recalled Murray voting to divert police funding in June 2020.

Smiley said her plan to lower crime rates would be to attract more cops using federal funding to incentivize hiring.

鈥淚 would ensure that our police officers have access to federal grants for $5,000 retention and recruiting bonuses. I will work closely with prosecutors especially Seattle City Attorney Ann Davidson to make sure that we prosecute repeat offenders,鈥� said Smiley. 鈥淐rime is out of control. Patty Murray is to blame.鈥�

Murray acknowledged that crime was an issue and stressed it was an issue that must be addressed at the local, state, and federal levels but said that the solution to addressing crime was supporting communities as well.

鈥淭hat is exactly why we need the American rescue plan [that] every single Republican voted against, and Tiffany Smiley said she opposed. We put resources in there for our police officers so they could stay on the job and fight and our communities are using that funding now and need to continue to do so,鈥� she said.

But she slammed Smiley for missing the mark on two main drivers of crime: Guns and the mental health crisis.

鈥淚n that slew of responses, you did not hear anything about gun violence,鈥� noted Murray.

鈥淲e need to ban dangerous weapons. We need to ban assault weapons. We need to make sure that we have really good background checks and enforce our ability to make sure that those who are dangerous do not have guns. That is what I fight for because gun violence is a part of this, and the other part you didn’t address is mental health,鈥� Murray pointed out before she shared details of her own plan to try to tackle the mental health crisis.

鈥淚 am working right now, with the Republican colleagues. We hope to pass a bill by the end of this year to help with mental health resources for our frontline workers, making sure that they have beds, that they have training that they have the capability to help people with one of the most critical issues we face in this country today – mental health and substance use disorder,鈥� said Murray.

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