NC Republicans seek to differentiate themselves in first US Senate debate
Three Republicans running for their party’s nomination in this year’s U.S. Senate race in North Carolina met on the debate stage for the first time Saturday.
Over the course of a little more than an hour, former N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory, former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker and Marjorie K. Eastman, a combat veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, took turns going after Democratic President Joe Biden, their opponent U.S. Rep. Ted Budd and each other, as they made their cases for why Republicans should vote for them in the upcoming primary.
Organizers of the debate, which was hosted by the conservative John Locke Foundation, said earlier this month that they had invited Budd to participate, but his campaign had not accepted. His campaign previously told The News & Observer that Budd would only consider debates after candidate filing had ended and “it’s clear who’s running and who’s not.”
That didn’t stop debate organizers from setting up a fourth podium for the congressman, who represents North Carolina’s 13th district. Throughout the debate, McCrory, Walker and Eastman all made references to the empty podium and criticized Budd for not joining them on stage.
Budd and Walker both spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, which concludes on Sunday.
“Congressman Budd is in Florida, and not here, fighting for a U.S. Senate seat that’s probably one of the most important races in the United States of America,” McCrory said in his opening statement. “It’s inexcusable.”
Jonathan Felts, a senior advisor to Budd, said in a text message that he didn’t watch the debate and believed, based on social media reaction, that the primary race was now between Budd and Eastman. A poll released last December by Club for Growth PAC, a conservative group that has been backing Budd, showed a tight two-way race between Budd and McCrory.
Candidates in agreement on Ukraine
At the beginning of the debate, moderators Donna King and Jonah Kaplan asked the candidates what the U.S. government should be doing in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“America has a role and a responsibility,” said Eastman, who served in the U.S. Army for 10 years as an intelligence officer and commander. “Number one, Putin is a thug. This was unprovoked and unjustified.”
In addition to economic sanctions, Eastman said, the United States should provide Ukraine with military assistance and call on other oil-producing countries to ramp up production and cut costs to make the global community less dependent on oil and gas exported by Russia.
Walker suggested that the U.S. block Russia from accessing SWIFT, an international telecommunications and payment system that is used by hundreds of countries. In a joint statement on Saturday evening, the U.S., Canada and a handful of European countries said they would move to block certain Russian banks from using the system.
“We have to go after Putin directly,” Walker said. “We have to make sure that we can do what we can without putting our men and women in harm’s way.”
McCrory said American corporations should also cease doing business in Russia immediately and criticized the Biden administration’s “disastrous” energy policies, which he said had only made countries more dependent on Russian oil and natural gas.
Opposition to Biden’s Supreme Court nominee
Biden announced Friday that he would nominate Ketanji Brown Jackson, an appellate judge who now serves in the federal circuit court in Washington, D.C., to the U.S. Supreme Court. If confirmed, Jackson would become the first Black woman to serve on the high court.
All three of the candidates indicated that they wouldn’t vote to confirm Jackson.
McCrory said Jackson was “very liberal” and had a record of “trying to make laws as opposed to interpret the law.” Eastman also said she would want the Supreme Court vacancy to be filled by someone who “interprets the law as it’s written” and doesn’t “legislate from the bench.”
Walker also criticized the president for previously vowing to nominate a Black woman if a vacancy on the Supreme Court occurred, without considering candidates from other backgrounds.
“When we have Joe Biden, who is selecting people to the highest court in the land based on stereotypes or predisposed criteria, I find that problematic,” he said.
A dispute on the party’s leader in the Senate
Walker said if elected, and if Republicans retake control of the U.S. Senate, that he might not back Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to continue leading Senate Republicans.
The statement came while answering a question about a possible legislative agenda put forth last week by GOP Sen. Rick Scott of Florida. One point in Scott’s framework said that “All Americans should pay some income tax to have skin in the game, even if a small amount.”
All three candidates said they were opposed to raising taxes on any Americans, but praised Scott’s initiative to propose ideas of what Republicans would do if they return to the majority. But Walker went one step further.
“I applaud Sen. Rick Scott,” he said. “In fact, I think he needs to be the majority leader instead of Mitch McConnell, moving forward.”
Walker also criticized McCrory for recently saying he supported McConnell.
“The problem is, we’re here talking about all this stuff that has to change,” Walker said. “How are you going to change something unless you put new leadership into the pipeline? You just have to call that for what it is.”
McCrory responded by defending McConnell, saying that without the Kentucky Republican’s “legislative skills” the three justices currently on the Supreme Court nominated by former President Donald Trump wouldn’t have been confirmed.
The justices appointed by Trump tilted the court’s ideological balance, and McCrory said that the new conservative majority could have ramifications for North Carolina, particularly the ongoing litigation over new political maps enacted by the Republican-controlled legislature last year.
After months of rulings and appeals, N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore said Friday that Republican lawmakers would appeal a decision last week by the state Supreme Court to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Thank God for the new majority on the Supreme Court which we might need to finally get our election going here in North Carolina,” McCrory said.
For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Under the Dome politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it at https://campsite.bio/underthedome or wherever you get your podcasts.
This story was originally published February 26, 2022 at 9:55 PM.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated how many combat tours U.S. Senate candidate Marjorie Eastman served. She served two combat tours, one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.
