Democratic KY-06 candidates talk Iran, affordability in first public debate
Central Kentuckians got their first look at Democratic candidates for the 6th Congressional District on the debate stage Tuesday night.
Four Democrats made their case in a debate, hosted by Spectrum News, for how they’d be best suited to flip the district, which has been in Republican hands since Rep. Andy Barr flipped it in 2012, and to govern as one of 435 U.S. House members.
Barr is leaving his post as one of several candidates seeking to fill Sen. Mitch McConnell’s seat this year.
The four candidates — former state representative Cherlynn Stevenson, businesswoman and bourbon writer Erin Petrey, former Lexington councilman David Kloiber and former U.S. attorney Zach Dembo — agreed on most matters, like their opposition to the administration of President Donald Trump.
But their emphases were unique.
Kloiber hit home the concrete policy proposals he’s posted to his campaign website. Petrey played to the left of her opponents on most issues, and highlighted her business background. Dembo stressed his diverse experience as a veteran and litigator. Stevenson cast herself as the favorite with the endorsements — like that of Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman and former Gov. Paul Patton — to prove it.
Candidates criticized Trump’s record on the economy as well as foreign policy — particularly the new campaign against Iran, in which the U.S. is collaborating with Israel in a war against leadership there.
Dembo cited late U.S. secretary of state Colin Powell’s doctrine in justifying his opposition to the war.
“He said you had to have defined goals, a defined exit strategy and a vital national interest. We have none of those here,” Dembo said. “It’s unclear what the goals are, what the end game is, how we get out of this, and if there’s any plan behind this whatsoever, Congress must act to restrain this administration so more American lives aren’t needlessly lost.”
The candidates’ pitches
The candidates’ opening statements revealed how they see themselves as separating from the pack.
Kloiber said he wanted to focus on his vision for the future rather than his background, pointing often to concrete proposals he’s included on his campaign website.
Petrey branded herself as a “proud progressive Democrat” from the start, tacking to the left of the group on issues like Medicare for All and gun control, and offering the most explicit endorsements of progressive policy items.
Stevenson stuck to her branding as a “mountain Democrat,” originally from the Eastern Kentucky town of Hindman. She offered harsh criticisms of the Trump administration, but also stressed her experience in the legislature working in a bipartisan manner.
Dembo leaned on his personal story, leaving the U.S. attorney’s office when President Donald Trump took control of the White House, and facility with the issues.
“When this administration came in and they changed the mission of the Department of Justice from prosecuting corruption and fighting against the rich and powerful to enabling corruption and fighting for the rich and powerful, I knew I couldn’t be part of that,” Dembo said.
The issues
All candidates responded “yes” to a question from Spectrum News’ Mario Anderson about if they would vote to restrict funding for additional military action without congressional approval.
Petrey said she helped her professor at the University of Kentucky’s Patterson School of Diplomacy write a book about the first Iranian Revolution, which took place in 1979. She cited that experience as coloring her skepticism of the Trump administration’s actions there, instigating a conflict that has led to at least six American casualties so far.
“The unfortunate reality is that regime change will not happen without boots on the ground. Airstrikes alone will not do that, and that’s going to put more troops in danger,” Petrey said.
Stevenson and Kloiber tried to remain laser-focused on a big topic in Democratic, and American, politics right now: affordability.
Anderson asked questions on the issue, as continued inflation remains top of mind for many voters. Kloiber referred to three of his proposals on housing, wages and healthcare as potential salves for the issues.
On health care, Kloiber wants to tie grants for drug research to drug affordability. He also wants to incentivize developers to build more affordable housing and incentivize businesses that pay their workers higher wages.
“Health care costs, housing costs and wage stagnation — these three issues are the three biggest points of squeeze for people in our community, and we need immediate relief,” Kloiber said.
Stevenson continually focused on prices, and, like the other candidates, argued for fully rolling back Trump’s tariffs on imports.
“They are making everything more expensive, from housing to hamburger,” Stevenson said.
Petrey was the only candidate who explicitly endorsed Medicare for All, once a major dividing issue among Democratic presidential candidates.
Stevenson said she wanted a public option for health care, and had supported Medicare for All in the past, but expressed concern about Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. running such a program.
Kloiber focused on drug prices, and Dembo spent most of his time on the topic arguing against the Trump-backed pending cuts to Medicaid.
Anderson asked candidates if they would vote to ban stock trading among members of congress. All except Kloiber said they would — he pointed out that there’s already a ban on trading based on insider information, and said broader reforms like ranked choice voting would lessen money’s influence in politics.
Not all Democrats leaned into calls for more gun control.
“I’m not coming for anybody’s guns, because I’ve got my own. I believe that we should have some basic common sense that helps us to keep our people safe,” Stevenson said.
Dembo and Kloiber agreed with Stevenson that limiting gun access for those with serious mental health issues was a priority.
Petrey said she would support an assault rifle ban “because there’s no reason that weapons of war deserve a place in our streets.” She was the only candidate to do so.
Housing affordability was another major issue in the debate, with candidates saying they’d heard many voters—– particularly in the relatively expensive Lexington market — mention it as a high priority.
Petrey, Dembo and Stevenson all said they wanted to crack down on the practice of major corporations and private equity buying up homes. Petrey and Dembo agreed that zoning could be an issue worth addressing on the federal level to help juice housing development
Kloiber, on the other hand, was more focused on the supply side of the issue. He said the main issue was the lack of housing options, and pointed to his proposal incentivizing more home-building.
Though political debates can often get testy, with candidates challenging each other’s views, the Tuesday night event stayed tame throughout. No candidate directly called out any one of their opponents, homing their fire on Republicans as opposed to the Democrats sharing the stage.
