Tuesday night’s Ohio Senate debate between Republican Josh Mandel and Democrat Morgan Harper became a tense and heated show of force. This was the latest explosive moment in an incendiary Ohio Senate race. Mandel was the audience member with the most savage exchange.
Mandel was asked by the moderator to comment on a previous comment in which he called Black Lives Matter “thugs”. A member of the audience responded loudly with “uhhhhuh!” The moderator attempted to calm Mandel and the other audience members, but it was unsuccessful.
Shortly thereafter, the moderator took over the meeting and asked Mandel if he considered the Capitol attackers on Jan. 6, 2021 to have been “thugs,” as he calls Black Lives Matter. However, he did admit that some Capitol attackers had committed crimes. ”
It wasn’t the only heated exchange. Mandel started to push Harper early in the discussion about student loans. Harper said that the U.S. should cancel student loans and claimed that it would benefit the U.S. economy.
Mandel responded by pointing out that student loan forgiveness is, by nature, regressive. Mandel
Harper responded, “No one is talking about”, arguing people care more about student debt forgiveness’s regressiveness than they do about corporate tax cuts’ regressive nature.
Harper was asked about her electability by a moderator. Ryan is a career politician. Mandel responded that she wasn’t in touch with Ohio and would not be able to win an election there. Harper replied with an insult about Mandel’s electability.
She described her childhood in an “abusive household” and how she “worked her tail off” to get scholarships to Princeton and Stanford.
Harper made some digs at Ryan as well, accusing him of being funded by big pharmaceutical companies, big insurance companies, and corporate interests. The debate was even more heated after Harper’s push to create “Medicare For All”.
Mandel stated that there are Canadians with heart problems who must visit the Cleveland Clinic.
Harper didn’t respond to the insult but said that Medicare for All could lower expenses for small businesses and allow people who want to own their own businesses to quit their jobs and not worry about their health.