The opinions expressed are the writer’s and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Collegian editorial board or the university.
We’ve all seen the ads — “She’s too liberal for Kentucky,” or “A marine and a mom.” However, on Oct. 13, we got to see these two Senate candidates go head-to-head on topics they only spoke of in their campaign advertisements.
The debate went through typical discussions of this sort — healthcare, discussion of the role of the majority leader and other issues, but when the debate came closer to the end, topics relevant to our daily lives began to arise.
Police funding and racial inequality came up and neither candidate knew how to tackle the topic head-on. Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell began to blame the rioters for the disruption of the country rather than the police officers, and Democratic candidate Amy McGrath discussed how the police were important but should be kept in check.
Neither were able to discuss the injustices of the Breonna Taylor case in any depth, but at least McGrath wanted to hold someone accountable. McConnell, as during the rest of the debate, only wanted to point fingers rather than find any real solution to the injustices we are facing.
They also discussed COVID-19 relief. When McGrath challenged McConnell on the lack of relief funding coming from the Senate, McConnell laughed it off.
McConnell chose to laugh in the face of millions of Americans dealing with COVID and the 210,000 Americans dead from the virus. He blamed Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and her Democrat allies for the lack of progress. He blamed them when the only thing he could own up to pushing forward was vaccination funding, rather than funding for victims of the virus.
This debate was obviously not as jarring as the last couple of debates we have seen when leaders have chosen to shout over each other, but this one should get under the skin of anyone who watched it. McConnell expressed no empathy for the Kentuckians he claims to help.
The “clout” he claimed to have throughout the debate is only for power, not for helping anyone in Kentucky. He does not want to help us. He only wants to keep the position of Majority Leader within his grasp.
