U.S. Senate Debate

U. S. Senator Candidates (D) Mark Kelly, (R) Blake Masters and (L) Marc Victor debate their campaigns during an hour debate moderated by Ted Simons.

Mark Kelly is the Incumbent Democratic Senator. Kelly was a U.S. Navy combat pilot and a NASA astronaut and married to former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords.

Blake Masters is a venture capitalist and first-time candidate. Masters is a MAGA candidate and endorsed by Trump. Masters has voiced support for an abortion ban.

Marc Victor is the only Libertarian whose name will appear on ballots for Arizona’s general election in November, although his party has several write-in candidates. Victors is a lawyer and has specialized in criminal law.

The debate opened with opening statements from each candidate.

The first topic discussed was inflation.

“The greatest threat to seniors’ retirement today is the massive, crushing inflation that Joe Biden and Mark Kelly caused,” Masters said.

Two and a half years ago, inflation was at one and a half percent, according to Masters. Now, in the Phoenix metro area, inflation is at 13%. Masters also brought up the point of the Democrats making energy more expensive and printing six trillion dollars, which raises inflation, said Masters.

“People are hurting right now. Inflation hurts the poor the worst. It’s a tax on everything. Why is this happening?” Victor said.

Victor stated the Republicans and Democrats can be blamed for this because of their “foolish economic policies” He said not to confuse money and wealth, and that printing more money does not make people richer.

“Two and a half years ago, we went through something unprecedented,” Kelly said, referring to the COVID-19 pandemic. He explained that the Inflation Reduction Act created during his administration helps combat what the state and small business went through while reducing the deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars, according to Kelly.

Other topics discussed in this debate were abortion, water, the current administration, etc.