BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — David Valadao and Rudy Salas debated over issues voters said are of the most importance to them during a debate Wednesday night.
The two candidates met for the debate Wednesday night from the KGET studios in Bakersfield. It is the only debate scheduled between the two candidates.
Moderators Alex Fisher from NewsNation affiliates KGET and Brian Dorman of KGPE asked questions during the debate ranging from immigration, the federal minimum wage, housing and homelessness, water in California’s Central Valley, taxes on gasoline, abortion to ongoing conflicts in the Middle East.
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The debate began with a question on immigration and protecting the southern border. Valadao said he’s always been an advocate for immigration and reform because “we have a process that has been broken for a long period of time.”
Valadao said there are 400,000 people who have been convicted of violent crimes who entered the U.S. illegally. “I’d say those are the first we start with,” Valadao said when responding to a question about mass deportation. He blamed the Biden administration on current conditions at the US-Mexico border.
Rudy Salas was asked about why immigration was not listed as a priority on his campaign site. He said other issues like drug prices, the economy and women’s health were issues that were brought up to him while campaigning.
“We need a pathway to citizenship,” Salas said. He said several times during the debate that people told him they were scared about any possible mass deportations under a Donald Trump presidency.
“They’re scared about the rhetoric that comes from the other side,” he said. “They’re scared for their grandparents, they’re scared for themselves.”
The two candidates clashed on what should be the federal minimum wage. Valadao said there is no number for a livable wage to be set federally. “Each state should have the right to make their own decisions,” he said. “You can’t have a federal minimum wage when you’ve got states like Kentucky and Arkansas and others where obviously the cost of living is a lot less.”
Valadao said the costs of living is raised because California has had a legislature with a Democratic supermajority that has passed laws and regulations that raise costs. “The source of the problem is the supermajority in Sacramento that [Rudy Salas] has spent the majority of his career in and has been a part of.”
Salas attacked Valadao for voting against a raise to the federal minimum wage. “We should pay people what they’re worth,” he said. Salas also touted his work on lowering medicine prices for Californians and went after Valadao for not doing the same for Medicare as a member of the House.
Valado laid the blame overall on high costs of living on the California legislature.
“Every year our business owners have to look at and watch the news on Jan. 1 for a thousand new laws they gotta find a way to deal with,” he said.
The two clashed on the issue of abortion. Salas said he doesn’t think politicians should be making decisions for women on the issue.
“I have always believed that this decision should be left to a woman, her doctor, and within her own faith,” he said. When asked to clarify his stance on late-term abortions he reiterated that he would leave it between a woman, her doctor, and her own faith.
Valadao said he would vote no on a federal abortion ban. He said he is pro-life and supports exceptions to an abortion bans like rape, incest or when a woman’s life is in danger and supports IVF procedures.
He said both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris would not sign a law for a national ban on abortion and said it would be unlikely new legislation would be raised. “It’s a non-issue that’s not going to move forward on any national level and so I don’t think I would have to vote on it.”
You can watch the full debate in the video player above.
