US Senate candidates faced off in first debate of season

DURHAM — The two major party candidates in North Carolina’s highly competitive U.S. Senate race touted their platforms to voters in the first televised debate of this election season Wednesday.

Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., and state Speaker of the House Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg , met at the UNC-TV studios in Research Triangle Park  to challenge their opponent’s positions on health care, immigration and education spending.

The tight race has received increased national attention compared with past congressional elections in the state — and may prove to be crucial in deciding which political party will control the Senate for the remainder of Obama’s term. Nearly $30 million has been spent by the candidates and outside groups thus far, the second-most of any state this cycle.

Hagan has maintained a slight advantage over Tillis in recent polls, with a late August Suffolk University-USA Today poll showing Hagan leading Tillis by 2 percentage points — well within the poll’s 4.4 percent margin of error.

Teacher pay came up multiple times during the hour-long debate, with Tillis trumpeting the average 7 percent pay raise for teachers that passed the state legislature this summer.

Tillis said the pay raise makes the state regionally and nationally competitive.

But Hagan said the pay raise does little to benefit senior teachers and is not enough to stem the exodus of teachers leaving the state for higher paying teaching jobs.

“North Carolina is 48th in the nation on what we spend per pupil, and Thom Tillis is bragging about that?”

Hagan also criticized Tillis on his support of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision in June, which deemed that closely-held corporations cannot be required to offer contraception if it goes against their religious beliefs.

Tillis said he supports corporations’ reli gious freedom, as well as the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ idea to increase contraceptive access by offering oral contraception over the counter without a prescription.

“Religious freedom is a bedrock principle of our country,” Tillis said. “Taxpayer funding is different from access.”

Tillis, in turn, attacked Hagan for her and Obama’s claims that families and doctors could keep their previous health insurance policies under the Affordable Care Act.

The Charlotte Republican frequently tied Hagan to Obama and his policies, calling her a “rubber stamp.”

The President’s popularity has languished below 50 percent since April 2013, according to Gallup, and Tillis took aim at Obama.

“The President considers the three branches of government to be the executive branch, his pen and his phone,” he said of Obama’s immigration policy.

Hagan attempted to distance herself from Obama by highlighting her votes against trade deals that hurt the state’s economy and referred to herself as the most moderate senator, according to the Congressional Quarterly.

Mitch Kokai, policy analyst for the right-leaning John Locke Foundation, said presidents and their political parties often suffer in the sixth year of their tenures, and N.C.‘s Senate seats often switch parties.

“The flip side is that even though the historical factors are going against Kay Hagan, all the polling has shown her even — or slightly ahead of Thom Tillis,” Kokai said.

Kokai said the debate offered the candidates an opportunity to reach voters beyond the campaign ads.

Libertarian candidate Sean Haugh was not invited to participate in the debate.

Earlier in the day Haugh tweeted, “Seriously, if my Democratic and Republican opponents are afraid to face little ol’ me, how can they stand up to our enemies?”

The debate was the first of two sponsored by the North Carolina Association of Broadcasters. The second debate will be held on Oct. 7.

state@dailytarheel.com