Sen. Cantwell, opponent Raul Garcia talk opioid epidemic, housing, abortion and more in unusually civil debate

The first debate between Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell and Republican challenger Dr Raul Garcia elicited civil disagreements and a fair amount of agreement for what may be expected in modern polarized politics.

The two met at Gonzaga’s Myrtle Woldson Center on Tuesday to give their positions on some of the top issues facing the state and country, including the economy, abortion, health care, the opioid epidemic and conflict overseas.

Hosted by The Spokesman-Review in partnership with Gonzaga University, KSPS-TV, the Black Lens and the Washington State Debate Coalition, and moderated by the newspaper’s Washington, D.C., correspondent Orion Donovan Smith, the hourlong debate was the first of two scheduled ahead of the general election.

Cantwell, who is running for her fifth term, touted her experience working in a bipartisan manner on issues important to Washingtonians for much of the debate. She pointed to legislation aimed at bolstering domestic manufacturing, lowering prescription drug costs, increasing affordable housing stock and immigration reform.

Garcia, who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2020, pitched himself as the change in federal representation he said Washington voters are ready for, and highlighted his more liberal views that are in contrast to those held by the majority of his Republican counterparts.

The candidates’ moderate perspectives led to some overlap on policy positions. On education, both candidates said they would be supportive of student debt forgiveness programs for job fields considered a public service, as well as increasing apprenticeship opportunities.

On health care, both said they would protect Social Security and Medicare and, to an extent, abortion access. Garcia differed from Cantwell in saying he would support a bill that enacted federal protections for abortion rights while still allowing states to instill some limits.

Garcia argued he may make more leeway “than a Democrat” in helping his fellow Republicans understand why access to abortion is important as a longtime emergency physician and medical director of Astria Hospital in Toppenish, Washington.

That response elicited a smirk from the senator, who said there are already physicians and Republican senators who support abortion rights she works alongside in the Senate who have been unable to change the minds of their GOP colleagues.

The candidates also agreed climate change is an existential threat and gave their thoughts on efforts to address it. Garcia is interested in bolstering nuclear power and bringing manufacturing back to the U.S. where lawmakers can regulate it, whereas Cantwell is supportive of a wide sweeping approach that includes building up the needed infrastructure for a mass transition.

Despite the similarities, the debate also highlighted the fair share of contrasts between Cantwell and Garcia. The most apparent differences between the two are in their plans to address high costs of living, homelessness and the opioid epidemic.

Garcia was critical of Cantwell’s support of the Inflation Reduction Act, saying it has not led to relief for most Washingtonians. He said the federal government needs to conduct audits to cut ineffective programs and provide tax relief to citizens, which he said will help stimulate the economy.

“Economics 101 tells us that if we have more money in our pocket, we are going to use it in our community, and growth is going to happen,” Garcia said. “And that is a solution that I think, scientifically, would work for our state.”

Cantwell countered that the act has helped drive down prices, especially for prescription drug costs for Medicare recipients. If re-elected, she said she would advocate for those benefits to be extended to nonrecipients, and drive costs down elsewhere, like the grocery aisles.

“A global pandemic caused major inflation by cutting products and services that were no longer provided,” Cantwell said. “And now that we’ve climbed out of that pandemic, I want to make sure that we don’t ever see that again, that we are bringing the supply chain back to the United States of America and lowering costs.”

The two differed on how to combat the opioid epidemic, with Cantwell arguing in favor of low-barrier, community-based treatment programs. She said a University of Washington study of a similar program on their campus showed a 68% decline in overdose deaths.

Garcia said those models only exacerbate the issue, and instead would like to sponsor legislation that would mandate involuntary rehabilitation treatment and place felony manslaughter charges on the books for drug dealers.

“It has to be involuntary,” Garcia said. “Everybody that has succeeded in treatment has always come back and said, ‘Thank you for making that decision for me when I couldn’t make it for myself.’ ”

Garcia extended his views on addressing the opioid epidemic to the housing crisis, arguing rehabilitation and mental health treatment should come before a focus on getting an affected individual into housing. He said a “housing-first” model, as it’s often referred to, does not lead to long-term fixes.

“We are telling addicts, here are the needles, here’s the pipe, here’s the foil, here’s low-barrier housing so you could do your drugs,” Garcia said.

Cantwell responded that “it’s a mischaracterization to think that everybody who’s homeless is on drugs,” before emphasizing the lack of housing supply locally and nationally. She said the focus should be on building more affordable housing, which studies show help keep rent prices from climbing.

“We need to build more supply,” Cantwell said, referring to a housing project in Spokane led by Catholic Charities in partnership with Gonzaga University and Gonzaga Prep. “Spokane knows this, and that’s why places like Gonzaga Haven and other affordable housing projects are done.”

Questions about the United States’ role in the ongoing overseas conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine elicited similar responses from both candidates. Both said the U.S. should be working to broker peace in the Middle East, with Cantwell giving a more definitive answer that she supports a two state solution for Palestine and Israel.

On the conflict in Ukraine, Garcia said he supported U.S. aid to Ukraine, but stressed his support to the cohort of Republican lawmakers looking to audit the money the U.S. has provided the country.

“As a government, to earn the trust of all our citizens who are seeing all this money go out when we have so many problems, such as fentanyl, in our backyard, we need accountability and transparency,” Garcia said.

Cantwell said that argument, championed by her Republican colleague Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, is only in service of desires to have the U.S. isolate itself from foreign conflict. She said the U.S. “must stand up to Putin and his aggressions” and believes the focus should be on having other powerful nations like China and India join in sanctions of Russia.

“We are not only protecting Ukraine, we are protecting Europe, we are protecting our NATO allies,” Cantwell said.

The candidate elected to the Senate in the Nov. 5 general election will serve a six-year term. The Spokane County Elections Office will begin shipping out ballots to area voters this week. A recording of the debate can be found at The Spokesman-Review’s YouTube channel.

Cantwell and Garcia will face off again at noon on Oct. 17, in a televised debate hosted by KIRO-TV and the League of Women Voters in Seattle.