Senate candidates debate issues at Edwards Hall

Photo by Anna Meassick | A large crowd gathered on Oct. 20 to hear from Robert Flanders and Sheldon Whitehouse who are running for a spot in Senate.

United States Senate candidates for the state of Rhode Island sparred over issues including health care, immigration, climate change and President Donald Trump in the University of Rhode Island’s Edwards Auditorium last Saturday.
Robert Flanders, a former Rhode Island state Supreme Court Justice is running as a Republican, and Sheldon Whitehouse is the two-term incumbent Democrat who has held the seat since 2006.

Since taking office, one of Whitehouse’s primary focuses has been climate change. However, Flanders confronted him early on in the debate for not taking a clear stance on the issue of a power plant potentially being built in Burrillville, Rhode Island. “While he talks a good game, his lack of a clear stance on the issue is another example of him being totally at odds with his actions,” Flanders said.

Whitehouse has also been accused by his opponent, both during the debate and previously, of having a singular focus on the issue of climate change.

“It’s not the first time that people [made] stuff up in politics,” Whitehouse said. “I’ve tried to run a race that’s on the issues. I’ve yet to insult my Republican opponent and I don’t intend to start now.”

A question was asked regarding sexual assault and what they would do in Washington, D.C. to address the problem. Whitehouse, as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was one of the senators who questioned both Justice Kavanaugh and his accuser Dr. Christine Blasey Ford during the Senate hearing held a few weeks ago.

Whitehouse spoke of Rhode Islanders who have reached out to him to share their own stories of sexual assault and said that the investigations into Dr. Ford’s allegations were a “sham.” He also specifically called out his opponent by saying that, in addition to Republicans, Flanders “did not want to even give her a hearing…my Republican opponent didn’t even want to give her an investigation.”

Flanders said that those claims from Whitehouse were false. “There needs to be corroboration, and I wasn’t seeing any corroboration,” Flanders said. He added that he was willing to go cooperate and applauded the week given for extra background investigations.

On the other hand, Flanders responded to the question during the debate, saying that, “Sexual assault, of course, is a problem, but at the same time we can’t forget that there’s still a presumption of innocence,” in which the burden of proof falls on the accuser.

Another hot topic was the Trump administration’s take on foreign policy. Both agreed that the death of U.S. journalist Jamal Khashoggi was intolerable and tragic, with Whitehouse saying that “we absolutely should be” tougher on Saudi Arabia in the wake of it, and Flanders agreeing by saying that we must do this “even though they’ve been our strategic ally.”

Whitehouse also mentioned that he felt Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki was “more than inadequate, it was disgraceful.”

While he stated his support for Trump enacting better trade deals with all of our trading partners, Flanders criticized President Trump’s rhetoric as well as the meeting with Putin. “I wish his rhetoric would be toned down a little bit but I support the idea that he wants to be an America-first president,” he said.

In terms of immigration, Flanders said that he believes in the rule of law and federal law has more power than state law. He added that the Constitution gives immigration authority to the federal government. He doesn’t support sanctuary city or state ideas but does say that bipartisan immigration reform, while mentioning DACA and border security, is needed.

“In a post-9/11 world we can’t let an unvetted mass of people come in here…many of whom seek to do us harm,” Flanders said.

Whitehouse disagreed, saying that he had already worked on some bipartisan immigration reform that was not brought to a vote in the House of Representatives. Additionally, as a former prosecutor and U.S. Attorney, Whitehouse shared his experiences prosecuting gang cases. “If you want to do gang cases in Rhode Island, you have to make sure that people in those communities will talk to you,” Whitehouse said. He went on to explain that if they feel as though their citizenship is threatened, they’re less likely to talk. While Rhode Islanders honor the power a warrant holds, he feels as though “the people to listen to on this are the police chiefs.”

Financial issues including healthcare, federal tax cuts and student loan debt were also brought up. Flanders said that he thinks “everyone, including the students here,” are benefiting from recent federal tax cuts in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and that while he thinks a lot of for-profit colleges are what is putting people into student debt, he thinks “we do need some more oversight and regulation in this area.”

Whitehouse has been an outspoken opponent of the aforementioned tax cuts and said at this debate that “the tax bill was bad for Rhode Islanders,” and caused some Rhode Islanders to actually have to pay more taxes.

In terms of healthcare, Whitehouse is a proponent of moving towards a single-payer system, and that he’s heard from Senator Mitch McConnell himself that Republicans want to cut Medicare and similar programs. Flanders accused Whitehouse of trying to scare voters with this and said he “absolutely does not” support single-payer healthcare systems.

Each candidate had a clear response when asked why they’re the best candidate for college-aged voters. “College-age Rhode Islanders are going to inherit a lot of the problems that this generation fails to address,” Whitehouse said, citing climate change and student loans as two of those problems. “Every single added democratic voice that we can get in Washington will help us move forward where Republicans have completely fallen down.” He hopes to pass student loan reform if given the chance.

Flanders said that “there’s nothing more important than getting a good education,” and that in order to succeed, you have to “do two things: you’ve got to work hard and you’ve got to get a great education.” He added that he “was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to be successful, [I’m] the living embodiment of the American dream.” Flanders worked as a garbage collector to pay his way through college.