On Sunday night, Indiana Republican U.S. Senator Todd Young debated his Democratic and Libertarian challengers on a broadcast. Democrat Thomas McDermott attacked Young's positions on abortion, federal spending, and marijuana legalization. As Young rebutted back, he stated that with President Joe Biden and a Democrat controlled Congress in place, there has been higher inflation and gas prices. This can span back to the idea that as the topic of abortion has gone down, more and more people are becoming aggravated at the "new" topic such as gas prices and the cost of many goods. The media wants to capture the "golden" issues at the time. Young takes this opportunity to side with people's frustrations and relays his message through the broadcast media.
Young was seen to be critical to the Biden administation and the Democrats as he believed they were the ones spending a lot of the government's money. The sketchy thing is that Young actually worked with Joe Biden to pass the CHIPS act which was another addition to the nation's debt. Even though Young wa seen to try and address the inflation issue, throughout the night he found himself defending his own spending. McDermott even address Young as, "the most liberal Republican I've ever met." Young can be seen as someone who isn't in the far right of the political spectrum and follows the point that he does want to appeal to the middle spectrum of the overall population of Indiana.
It should also be evident that both Libertarian Sceniak and Democrat McDermott were on the same page when it came to abortions. McDermott attacked Young saying how Young had confirmed the 3 Republican Supreme Court nominees that would later overturn Roe v. Wade. For many, it can be hard to understand Young's motives because he is all over the place. Young does think that the Supreme Court decision was the best move for the country and that the decision should be left to the states. On the flip side in a post interview he stated that he isn't on board with South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham's national 15-week abortion ban. I was thinking that Young wasn't too keen in his own political party's beliefs.
Overall, because of the elections coming up soon, there have been key differeneces between these parties and the main aim for McDermott is to get on the offense and turn the seat in Congress blue. It seemed that on the broacast, there were three parties but it felt like a two versus one. As we have discussed in class, America is usually based on a two party system. Sceniak and McDermott seemed to be on the same page which symbolizes their commonality.
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fODzCIAC5pA
https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2022/10/17/indiana-senate-debate-todd-young-tho
mas-mcdermott-go-head-to-head/69561308007/
https://fox59.com/indiana-news/indiana-us-senate-candidates-to-debate-rep-todd-young/
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