Dem
53
Ties
2
GOP
45
Election Day is about 3½ weeks away, which means if voters are ever going to pay attention, now is the time. Meanwhile, early voting is, or soon will be, underway in many states. That means that it's primetime for U.S. Senate debates, of which there have been four in the last 48 hours—one on Wednesday (Iowa), and three on Thursday. Here's a rundown of how things went; if you wish to view the broadcast of the debate, click on the state's name:
Iowa: Like most of the debates this year, the central figure in this one was not the candidates, but Donald Trump. Iowa state Rep. Josh Turek (D) accused Rep. Ashley Hinson (R) of enabling Trump, particularly his tariffs and his war with Iran. She tried to counter that by arguing that Trump has done some good things (e.g., the border), and that when it comes to Iran, Congress does not need to be mucking around in the peace process, as the executive branch is more capable of handling that.
Hinson's attacks on Turek were all tried-and-true ones from the standard-issue bag of tricks. She said he misses a lot of votes in the legislature (true this year, because he's been campaigning, but not in other years), that he's a flip-flopper, and that he's basically an East Coast liberal. Turek scoffed at these claims, and said he has a long record of bipartisanship (true) that he hopes to continue in Washington (good luck with that).
Because Iowa has more than its fair share of older folks, the two candidates also argued about Social Security. Hinson, being a garden-variety Republican, wants to raise the retirement age. Turek, being a garden-variety Democrat, wants to lift the cap on taxable wages.
We'd say the (slight) winner here is Turek, primarily because he didn't have to twist himself into knots by trying to be both Trumpy and not Trumpy at the same time.
Georgia: Sen. Jon Ossoff (D) appears to be in the driver's seat here, and so he could have found a way to skip the debate ("I have food poisoning") or he could have just debated in cruise control. Instead, he came out with guns blazing, asking why Rep. Mike Collins (R) has so many ties with white supremacists. Collins appeared completely unprepared for this line of attack. That is political malpractice, since it was obviously coming, in the same way that Ken Paxton (R) won't debate because he knows the first topic of discussion will be his various grifts. We suspect that Ossoff's declaration that "you hired half the Third Reich to staff your congressional office" will linger in the minds of voters.
In contrast to the other Republican debaters this week, including the other Collins, the Representative did not really try to distance himself from Donald Trump as much as he tried to avoid answering any questions about Iran, the tariffs, etc. Collins' very Trumpy strategy was to blame Joe Biden for everything, and to interrogate Ossoff about votes he took during the Biden years. "That Bidenomics, that Green New Deal my opponent voted for, that's where this inflation came from," Collins decreed.
That is a very weak, almost desperate, line of attack. "But Joe Biden!" surely must have an expiration date, and that date is probably somewhere before November 3, 2026. In particular, is anyone who wasn't already voting for Collins going to believe that the high gas prices are due to the Green New Deal and not to, oh, the war in Iran?
Because Ossoff's white supremacist material really landed, and because Collins flopped around like a dying fish, this is the one debate among the four that was an absolute blowout. Game, set and match to the Senator. Ossoff is good at zingers, especially that what Trump really wants is to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie. That could come in handy in 2028 when he may well be on the ballot again.
Maine: This one was pretty similar to the matchup Sen. Susan Collins (D) and Troy Jackson had earlier this week; she was shaky, he was fidgety and they both brought their boxing gloves. Once again, Jackson painted Collins as a foot soldier in the MAGA army, and Collins insisted she's her own woman and doesn't take orders from Trump.
What was new the second time around is that Jackson really hammered on Iran, and said that most of Maine's problems won't go away until that war is ended. He also accused Collins of profiting off the war, though he did not specify how, nor provide any evidence, leading the Senator to demand an apology. There was also a question about term limits, which is a wee bit of an Achilles heel for Collins, since she promised to serve only two terms when she was first elected, and now she's gunning for a sixth term. She basically blew off the question.
Incidentally, several readers wrote in to tell us that Collins' shaky voice is because, as she revealed earlier this year, she has an essential tremor. She says it is benign, and that she's had it for years. We see no reason to doubt that, though it remains the case that it makes her sound very old, in a year where "old" is a liability with many voters.
As with the debate earlier this week, Jackson is your winner, but not in a rout.
Michigan: If you are looking for drama, this is probably the debate you'll want to watch, because the mud was flying. Abdul El-Sayed (D) said that former Rep. Mike Rogers (R) is "Weak. Cowardly. Won't stand up until his poll numbers drop." Rogers slurred El-Sayed as a "con man" and a fake doctor because he did not practice clinically.
Rogers' main strategy was to find ways to remind voters that El-Sayed is a Muslim. The Republican managed to work that subject into the debate at least a half-dozen times, with some of the mentions being pretty obvious dog whistles. For example, Rogers said that El-Sayed has "taken money from individuals on his campaign who openly support Hamas, Hezbollah, al-Qaeda," and that El-Sayed refused to condemn the terrorist attack on a Michigan synagogue that took place in March. The former assertion was unsupported, the latter is not true. Still, the message couldn't be clearer: "El-Sayed is a terrorist sympathizer." Oh, and if anyone did not already know, Rogers said he supports Israel, while El-Sayed noted he is pro-Palestine.
El-Sayed's main strategy was to paint Rogers as an out-of touch elitist and a flip-flopper. On the former point, there was an exchange where El-Sayed asked Rogers how many yachts he has, and then held up two fingers when the question went unanswered. It's a fair point; it's not easy to get through life without at least one yacht, but does anyone really need two? As to the flip-flopping, El-Sayed observed (correctly) that Rogers was for the tariffs on Canada before he was against them.
When the two candidates weren't insulting each other, much of Rogers' time was spent on distancing himself from Donald Trump. At various points, he expressed opposition to ICE, to the tariffs and to the Iran War. Because Rogers was on defense so much, and because he was compelled to repudiate the three most notable policies of the leader of his party, we think he was the clear loser here.
Sorry to give it to the Democrats 4-0, but we have to call them as we see them. Note that two of them (Maine and Iowa) were very close, and that the real issue is that Donald Trump is the focal point, and trying to hold him close but not too close (which the Republicans have to do) is a near-impossible task.
We know there will be two more Maine debates next week, and there's supposed to be a second Georgia debate. There may be others; they are often pulled together at the last minute. (Z)