Kobach, Marshall, Lindstrom debate health care, coronavirus response in GOP Senate race
Health care was supposed to be the focus at Wednesday night’s Republican primary debate for the Kansas U.S. Senate seat, but contenders also sparred over masks, policing and spending.
The hour-long debate at Century II in Wichita featured three of the four candidates on the Aug. 4 ballot: Rep. Roger Marshall, former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and Kansas Turnpike Authority Chair Dave Lindstrom. Businessman Bob Hamilton did not attend.
Kobach criticized Marshall for missing a vote on a $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill, which he called a “boondoggle.” The bill was backed by Democrats and would have bailed out state governments. Kansas Rep. Sharice Davids, a Democrat, voted against it.
“He didn’t show up to vote ‘no’ because he was here in Kansas doing a photo op,” Kobach said. “Look. If you want to be a doctor, be a doctor. Go for it. But the people of the First District hired you to show up and vote.”
The congressman from western Kansas, an obstetrician and gynecologist, said he was volunteering in a southwest Kansas emergency room.
“I would always choose helping patients over going to D.C. and watching a vote that was all show, a big parade,” he said. “I will always choose helping patients and taking care of people.”
“I guess this is just about as low as you can get, for a failed candidate to attack me for helping take care of Kansans.” Kobach lost the 2018 gubernatoral race to Laura Kelly.
On health care, Marshall said he is working with Democrats on legislation about surprise billing and drug pricing, as well as other policies.
“But really every day I’m afraid we get further and further apart,” he said. “We want to give you more choices. We want to empower the patient. They want the federal government to control your health care.”
Lindstrom, a businessman and former Kansas City Chiefs football player, said he supports protecting those with preexisting conditions and allowing people to stay on a parent’s plan until age 26.
This was the second debate for the 2020 Republican primary for the U.S. Senate seat held by Sen. Pat Roberts, who is retiring. A previous debate in Manhattan focused on agriculture. Wednesday’s contest was hosted by the Kansas Republican Party and moderated by KSN-TV reporter and anchor Craig Andres.
‘Mask shaming’
Candidates were asked whether they wear masks and if they expect others to do so.
“People ought to have the right to wear a mask if they want to,” Lindstrom said. “If they don’t want to wear a mask, they shouldn’t have to wear a mask.”
Kobach attacked “mask shaming.”
“No, I haven’t been wearing a mask for at least a week,” he said. “If I were to travel on a plane, sure, I’d put a mask on. If I had some reason to go on a New York subway, yeah, I’d put a mask on at that point. But no, I believe that we should have the freedom to make the choice, and I don’t like the mask shaming that is going on on the left.”
“I have learned, by the way, that if I go participate in a riot, I can not wear a mask and I won’t have any risk at all from COVID-19,” Kobach said. “Now if I go into a church, apparently, and don’t wear a mask, then I’m going to be in trouble. ... This lunacy from the left has to be rejected, and rejected firmly.”
Marshall said he opposes any federal mandates on wearing masks and that it should be up to the individual.
“I think that a place of business should have the right to say that we need you to wear a mask,” Marshall said.
Candidates used their opening statements to address social unrest following the death of George Floyd after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck. Floyd was Black and the officer, who has been fired and charged with murder, is white.
“America is being destroyed from within,” Lindstrom said. “People don’t feel safe in America ... we need to protect our citizens from radicals trying to destroy America. The tragic incident in Minnesota should be universally condemned. The left, however, is using that incident to create fear, create panic, create chaos.”
Kobach said he agreed 100% with Lindstrom, adding that he will fight “to ensure that we return law and order to our streets.”
“I believe there is a battle for the American soul going on right now,” Kobach said. “And the answer is for us to double down on our conservative values to preserve American history, preserve American monuments and preserve the American dream.”
Marshall said Americans have the right to protest, but condemned vandalism and theft. He said as the son of a police officer, he is opposed to defunding police.
He said does want to cut spending on health care and social programs, though. The comment came after Kobach spoke on the federal debt.
“I don’t think he’s serious about cutting spending,” Kobach said of Marshall, citing votes against bills that would have cut spending.
“More fake news from the failed, desperate candidate,” Marshall responded. “I have voted 98% with President Trump. Ninety-eight percent of the time. And the handful of times I voted against him was I didn’t want to spend as much money.”
“This country does need to go on a diet — a spending diet. We cannot continue to spend all this money that we are on social programs. And one of the great opportunities to decrease spending is in health care.”
Lindstrom suggested docking congressional pay when there is a budget deficit. He also advocated for imposing term limits and ending congressional pensions.
Questions about an affidavit
Marshall frequently alluded to elect-ability concerns about Kobach, whom many GOP insiders are leery of after his 2018 loss to Kelly. Democrats are hopeful they can flip the seat if Republicans select a weak nominee and state Sen. Barbara Bollier, a Johnson County Democrat, maintains her lead in fundraising.
Marshall has the support of establishment Republicans and has been endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Kansas Farm Bureau and Kansans For Life.
Lindstrom and Kobach both attacked Marshall over a story from The Wichita Eagle and The Kansas City Star detailing how Marshall’s 2008 criminal conviction for reckless driving was erased and replaced with a traffic violation. He has refused to release an affidavit detailing the law enforcement investigation.
“I’ve had enough of wannabe career politicians who conduct shady backroom deals after being charged with and prosecuted for reckless driving and battery,” Lindstrom said.
Kobach said Marshall should release the affidavit in the criminal case so voters “can find out now rather than later when it’s too late and Barbara Bollier brings it up.”
“You know that The Wichita Eagle and a lot of papers have said some pretty nasty things about me,” Kobach said. “And they’re going to continue to say nasty things about me in the Senate. I don’t care. Because I know I work for you.”
Marshall did not address the comments, which were made during closing statements for the health care debate, and focused on the coronavirus response.
He said voters will have to decide which candidate “has helped me, helped my family through this virus and who is best prepared to protect our health and bring us back to prosperity.”
Marshall said earlier in the debate that he has been working with President Donald Trump since January to “bring testing and PPE to our communities, making sure our doctors and nurses had everything that they needed to take care of us.”
Kobach said the federal government should allow states to choose their own paths and “experiment,” pointing to South Dakota as a good example. Lindstrom also said states should be in control of the coronavirus response.
“The federal government’s response should not be to shovel more money at the problem,” Kobach said.
Trump has suggested a second, “very generous” stimulus package could be in the works.
Affordable Care Act
Candidates were asked how the government can best fight the virus and its disease, as well as its economic impact.
“We would all like to see a vaccine,” Kobach said. “But of course, that vaccine should not be mandatory.”
He said the most important economic action to help the coronavirus economy is to “ensure Americans are first in line for those jobs” instead of seasonal workers. He claimed H-1B and H-2B visas “have been used to displace American workers,” including in Wichita’s aviation industry.
He criticized Marshall for supporting the program for temporary workers, which Trump suspended. Business advocates, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said suspending the visa program will stifle the economic recovery.
Marshall called Kobach “fake news” and said he has voted 100% for Trump’s immigration policies. Though he signed a letter urging Trump “to refrain from imposing any further restrictions” on the program, he later tweeted that he supported the president’s executive order, which exempted seasonal farm workers.
When asked about the future of the Affordable Care Act, which also known as Obamacare, all three candidates said the health care law should be repealed.
“You all need to know that the ACA is on its last leg, and that last leg is about to get kicked out,” Kobach said, referencing a GOP-led lawsuit that will be heard by the Supreme Court this fall. “... The Supreme Court is almost certainly going to say Obamacare is gone. And that means that we Republicans will have an opportunity to replace it with something much better.”
Lindstrom said he wants to replace the health care law with “something that’s accessible, affordable, transparent and, most importantly, market-driven.”
Marshall said Republican leadership has asked him to lead the writing of a replacement bill. He said the president has told him “whatever you do, take care of preexisting conditions.”
“Everyone needs to realize both Democrats and Republicans want the end to the ACA,” Marshall said. “The Democrats want to replace it with Medicare for All, versus Republicans like myself want to give patients more choices.”
“The biggest nightmare of my life was implementing the ACA when I was helping run a hospital and a doctor’s practice.”
Contributing: Bryan Lowry of McClatchy.
This story was originally published June 25, 2020 at 12:35 AM.