U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-8th District) and GOP challenger Rob Bresnahan (Official photo and campaign photo)
U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright and Republican challenger Rob Bresnahan faced off on Tuesday evening for the lone debate in Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District in one of the closest watched congressional races in the nation.
The two candidates vying for Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District, situated in Northeast Pennsylvania, touched on several pressing issues during the nearly hour long debate hosted by WVIA.
Immigration
For the first question after the candidates’ opening statements, WVIA News’ Borys Krawczeniuk asked what policies the candidates favor for dealing with the southern border; whether they favor building a wall, their thoughts on a pathway to citizenship for undocumented migrants, or if they support the calls for mass deportation from former President Donald Trump, the GOP presidential nominee.
“The truth is, we do have a broken immigration system in this country right now, and it needs to be fixed,” Cartwright said.
Cartwright said he backed a bipartisan border proposal introduced by GOP U.S. Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), describing it as “a tough but fair path to closing the border and getting a hold of immigration,” although this bill ultimately failed. He pinned the blame on U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) for it not getting across the finish line.
Cartwright, a member of the House Democrats for Border Security Task Force said he’s differed with the White House on this issue. He said he’s voted against sanctuary cities, voted to increase criminal penalties against immigrants who commit violent crimes, or who assault police.
Bresnahan said he’s visited the U.S. southern border on two occasions, saying he’s seen the “crisis, the trafficking, and what’s taking place” personally.
“Yes, we need a physical barrier. We need to supplement it with hybrid technologies,” Bresnahan said. “But the narrative needs to be changed that the border is closed.”
Bresnahan also accused Cartwright of voting against funding the border on seven separate occasions and criticized him for voting against the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act or the “SAVE Act” which aims to prohibit states from “accepting and processing an application to register to vote in a federal election unless the applicant presents documentary proof of U.S. citizenship.”
Cartwright defended opposing the bill, citing the Bipartisan Policy Center’s opposition to it.
As Cartwright noted, it is already illegal under federal law for noncitizens to vote in U.S. elections.
Abortion
Both candidates said they would oppose a national abortion ban, but offered different views on which level of government should address abortion policies.
“I want to make it absolutely crystal clear, I support reproductive freedom for women,” Cartwright said. “The Dobbs decision was a jolt. It was a jarring decision for American law.”
Cartwright said that legislation is needed at the federal level to reinstate Roe v. Wade, while criticizing Bresnahan for supporting the Dobbs decision.
“I do not believe abortion belongs in the federal government,” Bresnahan said.
Bresnahan said he believes the best policies are what other states are doing by placing it as a ballot initiative and allowing the voters to decide what’s best for their specific state.
Bresnahan criticized Cartwright for previously calling himself “pro-life.” Cartwright responded by saying he and his wife are practicing Catholics, but never said he’d vote to take away women’s reproductive rights, calling it “foisting one’s own religious beliefs on others. That’s not an American thing to do.”
Abortion is legal in Pennsylvania up to 24 weeks of pregnancy.
Ukraine and Israel
Both candidates also addressed their support for Israel, although expressed different views on the way the U.S. has provided funding for the war in Ukraine.
Cartwright mentioned meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a recent visit to the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant and called him the “Winston Churchill of Eastern Europe, standing up for democracy, standing up for freedom.”
“It’s a tough world out there, and they’re watching what we do,” Cartwright said. “If we don’t stand strong for Volodymyr Zelensky and freedom in Ukraine, they’re going to think we’re weak.”
He also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not stop at the Polish border, if he were successful in Ukraine, which he views as another reason to support Ukraine in the ongoing war. He pointed to local jobs the war effort has created in the region, too.
Bresnahan called the situation in Ukraine “absolutely tragic,” and added that he’s “all for providing them the resources so they can fight their way.” But, he said there’s a “war going on at home,” with people struggling to pay bills.
“I’d love to have some accountability of that existing $178 billion that was sent there,” Bresnahan said. “It just cannot be an open checkbook and just keep sending, filling satchels of cash and sending it around the planet.”
He also used the example of the U.S. funding going towards building bridges in Ukraine, while there were bridges that are structurally deficient in the district.
Throughout the debate, each candidate also pledged not to be a “rubber stamp” for their respective parties and said they support policies that will help address inflation.
Cartwright, who was first elected to Congress in 2012, is the only Democrat serving in the state’s congressional delegation who represents a district that former President Donald Trump won in 2016 and 2020. The district also includes President Joe Biden’s hometown of Scranton.
The contest between Cartwright and Bresnahan is also the most expensive for any of the state’s 17 U.S. House districts. Entering October, Cartwright and Bresnahan’s campaigns have raised a combined total of $11.55 million, which is more than any other congressional race in the commonwealth this cycle and according to AdImpact, the race has seen the most total ad spending for any other U.S. House race in the nation.
As was the case with previous cycles, it is expected to be a close race.
A pair of national ratings outlets, The Cook Political Report and Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball, rate the race for the 8th Congressional District as a “toss-up.”
The deadline to apply for a mail-in or absentee ballot ballot in Pennsylvania is Oct. 29. The general election is Nov. 5.
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