Journalists’ Roundtable: 10-06-22: U.S. Senate Debate, Abortion Lawsuit and more

It’s Friday and that means it’s time for the Journalists’ Roundtable. Joining us tonight for a look into the week’s top stories are Jim Small of the Arizona Mirror, Jeremy Duda of Axios Phoenix and Laurie Roberts of the Arizona Republic & azcentral.com.

This week’s topics include:

• The U.S. Senate Debate
• Abortion Lawsuit Filed
• Kari Lake Pivots Stance on Abortion
• Mark Finchem’s Early Voting Record
• Man Arrested for Threatening Hickman

Were there Stark Differences Between the U.S. Senate Candidates?

Jim Small: “I think it was all about highlighting those differences in the debate. They are two candidates who have been attacking each other for months now, and I think it was all on display. I think just about on every single issue you saw a pretty stark difference in approach and in attitude, and in most cases in policy provisions, whether it ranged from inflation to immigration to abortion. I think up and down the list of issues, I think voters have are going to have a very clear choice about who they want to be in U.S. Senate.”

Laurie Roberts: “This is a debate where they’re speaking to the middle. They’re speaking to the undecided, the moderate Republicans and Independents. So if inflation was your huge issue going into this, Masters probably scored some points. If your issue was abortion, I don’t think that he did. And I think that is a big issue for people in the middle and a problem for him.”

Did Kelly Score Points on the Abortion Topic?

Jeremy Duda: “I think so. For whatever Blake Masters’s position is right now, I mean, that is what his position is right now. We all saw that it was pretty starkly different during the primary.”

He is on video calling abortions “demonic” and a “religious sacrifice,” Duda said. A lot of people may have seen the debate and realized that Masters’s position on abortion may not be as extreme as they once thought, but many more will see all the ads on television playing what he once said during the primary and what his stance on abortion was back then, which will gain a lot more traction, according to Duda.