North Carolina Senate candidates debate in Wilmington
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WTVD) -- The fireworks continued in Wilmington Thursday night as the candidates for Senate in North Carolina squared off in their final scheduled debate before the election.
Challenger Thom Tillis went after incumbent Senator Kay Hagan early on the issue of her attendance on the Armed Forces Committee. Tillis has charged Hagan missed a meeting where the threat of Isis in the Middle East was discussed in order to attend a fundraiser.
Hagan responded that she is well informed on the threat of Isis and pointed out the Charlotte Observer called on Tillis to resign because he missed so much time as Speaker of the House at the General Assembly to attend fundraisers.
Tillis shrugged that off Thursday, calling the Observer a "liberal" newspaper that's wanted him out since he took office.
Hagan called Tillis "spineless" on the issue of the Middle East for not saying what he would do to fight the Isis threat - including if he would put American boots on the ground.
Tillis shot back that Hagan is "shameless" for attending a fundraiser during an important meeting.
Libertarian Party candidate Sean Haugh joined the two major-party candidates for the debate. Haugh - of Durham - hasn't appeared in the two previous televised debates by Hagan and Republican rival Thom Tillis because he failed to meet polling qualifications.
The issue of same-sex marriage was also addressed by the candidates. Senator Hagan said she opposed Amendment One that banned gay marriage in North Carolina and was approved by voters in 2012. Tillis announced earlier in the day that he and Senate leader Phil Berger have filed a motion seeking to intervene in legal challenges to the amendment - despite a decision by the US Supreme Court that appears to pave the way for same-sex marriage in the state.
"Speaker Tillis is wasting your taxpayer dollars," said Hagan of Tillis's decision to keep up the legal fight.
"The citizens voted 62 percent for this law and that's why I'm doing my job," Tillis responded.
Haugh says he supports same-sex marriage.
"It should be totally up to you," he offered.
As in previous debates, Tillis continued to try to link Senator Hagan to President Obama - saying a vote for her is a vote to rubber stamp White House policy. He painted himself as a fiscal conservative.
"I've fulfilled my promise to cut spending and regulation," he said of his time as Speaker of the NC House.
Hagan called herself a moderate and charged Tillis has cut important education spending and killed a bill that would provide equal pay for women.
Haugh said he's opposed to all war and said we "should stop spending money we don't have."
On the issue of fighting the spread of the Ebola virus, Tillis charged Hagan has no plan. Hagan said the federal government will screen passengers coming from areas where the virus is spreading. But Tillis said he would ban travel from those zones.
In his response, Haugh said senators don't have that much power.
"We're not given some magic wand to wave to ban things we don't like," he said.
