While most of us are fixated on the race for the White House, control of Congress is also on the line.

On Election Day, I'm Dr. Prasanth Reddy to save America?

We must act now.

There are a lot of things that I've been able to do that I think people have appreciated this hour.

We bring you David's verses ready from the studios of Kansas City, PBS.

It's the Kansas Third District Congressional debate co-presented by the Johnson County Post and KC.

You are news.

And now here's your debate moderator Nick Haines.

Hello and welcome.

You've seen the yard signs, you've seen the political ads.

Now it's time to see them debate.

Should we see, David, some presents ready?

With us in what will be the most unscripted hour of this entire campaign.

In fact, this is the first and only time these two candidates will meet before election date.

And if you've heard the expression two heads are better than one, how about three heads?

We're pleased to be partnering with the Johnson County Post and KCUR news.

In presenting this debate, The Post's Kyle Palmer is with us to question now candidates, as is KCURs Lisa Rodriguez.

Now, though, let's meet the candidates.

For the last six years, Democrat Charlie Stavins has represented the Kansas third District in Washington.

Does she deserve another two years on Capitol Hill?

Dr. Prasanth Reddy says no.

He's a medical oncologist from Lenexa and the Republican candidate in this race.

Politics is what have you done for me lately?

Kind of a job.

Congresswoman Davids, you've been in it for the last two years.

What have you done for us and what are you going to do for us if you're reelected in November?

You have 60 seconds.

Well, thank you.

I'm Sharice Davids, and I'm proud to serve as your representative in Congress.

You know, my brothers and I were raised by my mom.

I worked my way from Johnson County Community College to Cornell for law school and served in the White House and when I was growing up, Kansans came together to solve tough problems.

And the tough problems are what I focused on, like finally giving Medicare the right to bring down drug costs and creating jobs while reducing inflation and protecting our democracy and our rights.

You know, my opponent has different ideas.

He has aligned himself with extremists who want to cut Social Security and Medicare, want a national ban on abortion with no exceptions.

And he's even opposed bringing down prescription drug costs while taking money from big pharma companies.

And the third District want something different than that.

The third District wants someone who's going to work across the aisle to get things done for this district.

My record is clear on that.

I'll always work with anyone.

My name Sharice Davids, and I'd be proud to earn your vote.

Thank you so much, Dr. Prasanth.

But you've never run for elected office before.

Why this race and why now?

And what would you bring to this office that your opponent doesn't?

Thank you for having me.

You know, I'll start with, you know, my mom, right?

Unfortunately, my dad and myself who have been taking care of my mom, we lost her in September at my home in Lenexa.

And she told me when as a little child, a handful of things focus on trying to help people do the best that you can.

Ignore the noise.

And that's what I'm trying to do.

And that's what I've tried to do my whole life.

I've served this community as a cancer physician, taking care of thousands of patients, and I've helped thousands of patients not only this district, but across the country.

I've done the same thing in military service, post-9-11.

I joined the Air Force.

I'm a lieutenant colonel at Whiteman Air Force Base, proudly serving as a military physician.

And again, all of these things are challenging topics national security, cancer.

But I've never run away from a challenge.

I'm always here fighting for the people, and that's what I expect to do when I get elected to office.

And so it'd be my honor to earn the folks votes in the third District.

Again, I'm personal indeed.

We got lots of questions for you, starting with Kalpana.

This question.

We'll begin with Dr. Reddy.

Everyone is feeling the sting of rising prices from grocery essentials like eggs and hamburger meat to the cost of housing.

Can you give us one specific policy you would support in the upcoming Congress that would lower the bills of your constituents in the third District?

You have 60 seconds.

Thank you, Carl.

So that's easy.

You know, I'm a Harvard Business School grad and I've had over 15 years of experience in small business and larger business managing budgets.

So I know a little bit about this topic.

And so what I'll tell you is that we got to control the source of inflation, and that initially starts with spending.

So when we look at the Inflation Reduction Act, it's done nothing but generate tremendous amounts of inflationary pressure that we're talking about an extra thousand dollars a month of extra inflationary cost that's hitting the voters of Kansas and including the third District.

So the first thing we got to do is cut spending.

And so separate from that, we've got to think of other policies, for example, like energy policy.

Right now, I'm for unlocking American energy independence.

If we don't do that, we're going to create a situation where it's impossible to bring in goods into this country.

And that is certainly also contributing to this record inflation that we're still seeing today.

Thank you very much, Sharice Davids.

Thank you.

I look, I I'm glad we're talking about this.

This is one of the things that I hear from folks about a lot that, you know, people like my mom who are on a fixed income.

She just retired not that long ago.

She raised me and my brothers by herself.

And I know that that anxiety and fear about whether you're not going to whether or not you're going be able to afford your groceries or utilities every month is real.

It's why I was proud to I was actually proud to support legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act that brought down prescription drug costs for almost 74,000 Kansans or seeing savings of almost 80% because we finally got Medicare the right to negotiate these prescription drug costs.

It's concerning to me that my opponent has called that unconscionable.

And by the way, the Inflation Reduction Act also made a $179 billion payment down on the National debt, something that saves us millions of dollars a month.

Thank you very much, Dr. Reddy.

Our rules allow you to have 30 seconds to rebut.

Would you like that time?

I would love it and I would love it.

So, you know, to my opponent, what I would say is that, you know, the Inflation Reduction Act is a measure of wavering 100% with the Biden-Harris agenda.

So when I see that, I worry about the implications to voters in our district.

And I can tell you for a fact that, you know, on the false and misleading ads that are out there, I'll ask my opponent.

Name one pharmaceutical company that's given me a cent.

You have 30 seconds to rebut Shirley statements.

Yeah.

Look, I want to make sure that everybody knows what my record is.

I'm the only person in this race who has actually voted to reduce our dependance on foreign oil.

I can tell you Kansans would rather get energy from the Kansas Wind with all our wind potential than get Saudi oil.

And I'm going to keep pushing for policies that are going to make sure that we're not just producing our own energy here at home, but also saving people money when it comes to their prescription drugs.

You're going to go first on our next question, shall we?

Statements, which comes from Lisa Rodriguez.

Turning to jobs, a new report out this week claims corporate layoffs are unusually high right now.

In fact, the most layoffs for any September since the pandemic.

Should we be worried?

And what does a member of Congress can you do about it?

Yeah, I mean, I can tell you peop people are worried.

And when i hear the concerns of the constituents here at home, it's around how much things cost.

It's around making sure that their kids have the same kind of opportunities and rights that they had growing up and i can tell you that the way we're going to make things happen here is by working in a bipartisan way.

It's the bipartisanship that we see here in our state that got us the Panasonic plant that is going to produce 4000 good paying jobs, in addition to all the construction jobs that are happening out there right now.

And we need to continue to focus on these things, like making sure that we're building more stuff here at home.

A piece of legislation I supported that was bipartisan is doing just that and making sure that at every single step, we're looking for these pragmatic solutions in a bipartisan way.

Dr. Reddy, your 62nd response goals now?

Yeah.

Thank you.

You know, where I would start is trusting in people.

And so I believe in free market and I believe in people and I believe in cutting regulation and supporting small business.

My opponent, you know, got essentially an F rating from the Small Business Association, from NFIB.

And what I'm saying is that I want to be able to support folks in being able to deliver on the innovative needs and services that are going to make the lives of our our constituents in this district better.

And so that's where I would start, is cutting regulation, allowing for more opportunity.

And that's what I'm going to fight for in D.C.. Would you like 30 seconds to rebut Sharice Davids?

Yeah, look, I'm just I'm I'm happy to get the chance to tell folks about the bipartisan work I've done to not just boost domestic manufacturing.

In fact, Jerry Moran and I were on the negotiating committee for the Chips in Science Act that's doing just that.

But also the bipartisan infrastructure bill that we were able to get done that's investing in our infrastructure to address some of the things that like supply chain issues that we know need to be addressed.

30 seconds to rebut that.

There is no doubt, you know, as a scientist and a physician, as a business person, as a military officer, I understand the importance of infrastructure.

I understand the importance of jobs.

What I would tell you is that we got to be smart about our policies.

So, of course, I'm wondering, work across the aisle to help move the interests of this district and move the interests of our nation forward.

I will say this my opponent, after six years, has not authored a single piece of legislation that has been passed.

Let's move to the issue of crime.

Dr. Reddy, your website claims you will give law enforcement, quote, all the resources they need as the Kansas City metro faces record crime as it's local cities that fund police departments, mainly through property taxes.

What role, if any, would you play in Congress to help police solve murders and prevent crimes?

Look, the first thing I'd say to that question is for me, this is not a transaction, you know, core to having safe societies.

You know, safe cities, you know, safe municipalities is ensuring safety, public safety.

So for me, of course, I'm going to be supporting law enforcement.

We should not be encouraging bad behavior.

We should not be encouraging illegal behavior.

And by the way, one thing I would say again, my opponent in May of this year, there was an opportunity to find common ground, which is what we're talking about.

And essentially, that act, which would have made it illegal for anybody to assault a police officer that is here through amnesty status or any other immigration status, they would be immediately deported.

My question to my opponent is, if we can't find common ground on that, I'm an immigrant, folks.

I am pro-immigration.

Let me be clear on that.

But if somebody is breaking the law, if we can't find common ground on that, where are we going to find common ground?

Should we statements?

Can you repeat the question?

Yes, the question was, which was really directed to Dr. Reddy's website about law enforcement putting resources towards law enforcement, helping reduce crimes.

How would your approach be different?

Should we statement?

Yeah, absolutely.

Thank you.

Well, first of all, I want to make sure that folks know that in my view, in my opinion, no one should be scared to take their kids to school, to go to the grocery store, or even to go to a super Bowl parade.

What we need is to make sure that our local law enforcement has the resources they need.

You're right.

There's not a ton of space in the federal role for that.

But I have found ways to bring resources back home.

In fact, I've secured $27 million for our local law enforcement agencies for everything from hiring more officers to getting the safety gear that they need and to make sure that they're embedding mental and behavioral health care specialists in their department so that they're not having to deal with every single crisis.

And, you know, to hear my opponent, it just sounds like he hasn't actually looked into my record.

Would you like to rebut?

I'd love to.

And again, I appreciate, you know, the congresswoman's position to support law enforcement.

And I would do the same.

The difference, the why the contrast here is that it's not a transactional thing.

Of course, we should be supporting law enforcement.

The question is this should we in which should we be encouraging policies where crimes are given a pass?

And we cannot allow that.

And so that is the difference here, is that I want to support law enforcement for a why issue, because we need to do everything in our power to make sure we not support illegal behavior.

Before we move on to a fresh issue.

You have the final word on this, Sharice Davids.

Yeah, I mean, my record is is clear.

I have supported not just our local law enforcement agencies, but our federal law enforcement agencies, especially when it comes to things like addressing this fentanyl crisis.

I am the only person in this debate that has actually voted to send more resources to our federal agents to make sure that our border is secure and that we have the technologies we need.

Thank you very much.

And I'm the only person in this debate who allow us to say that as much time as you have on that question.

We're going to move on to a fresh topic with Carl Palmer.

Let's move to immigration and we'll start this question with Congresswoman Davids.

The U.S. Border Patrol says monthly encounters with migrants illegally crossing the southern border have fallen steadily this year after hitting record highs in the early years of the Biden administration.

Still, many of our nation's biggest cities continue to struggle with accommodating migrants.

And Republicans routinely blame the policies of the Biden administration for this crisis.

What's your response?

Thank you.

Well, first of all, the immigration system is is broken.

We need bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform.

This is actually an area where I have pushed back on on the Biden administration because I'm willing to push back on on any policies or approaches that I think are not good for the state of Kansas.

And I think that what we really need to do is come together in a bipartisan way.

There was an opportunity in the Senate where some conservative Republicans and Democrats came together to hammer out the details of a package that was immediately killed by President Trump because he wanted this as a as a campaign issue.

And I was disappointed to see my opponent fall in lockstep with him on that, because that was our first real opportunity to actually address this issue.

And it was killed for purely political purposes.

Q You get to respond present ready, folks.

To be clear, I'm not in Congress.

I hope to earn your votes so I can be in Congress to vote on these issues.

So with that said, there was an opportunity to look at, you know, securing the border.

It was hard to and there was nothing in that bill that I my opponent voted against for that is a bad thing, which included just what we spoke about, which is giving resources for law enforcement officials supporting drone technology and building the wall.

The one thing I will tell you is in the bipartisan bill that my opponents just discussed, we're talking about basically 5000 people a day as a quota being allowed into the country.

You do that math and you're talking about an additional 2 million people every year.

We've already allowed in the last three and a half years voluntarily through the Biden-Harris agenda, essentially 11 and a half million people plus to enter this country.

And now we're talking about 2 billion people a year with this, quote, bipartisan bill.

Now, I can tell you on that, you can get back to that in your rebuttal, but it's your turn for 30 seconds.

SCHULTZ David's yeah, I look at the initial bill that my opponent is referencing was a partizan bill.

It was one that was filled with purely partizan and what I would consider to be political gamesmanship provisions.

The Senate bill that former President Trump killed for purely political purposes is is the particular bill that my opponent has indicated he would he would not have supported.

So he has indicated he would not support the bipartisan effort very much.

The last word goes to you, Dr. Reddy.

Well, folks, if this is a bipartisan effort, if every single piece of H.R.

two, which is supporting law enforcement with dollars drone technology and building a wall, gets into the bipartisan bill, what part of the original bill would you not support?

That'd be my question.

Right?

Whereas, in my view, allowing 2 million people to come in across the border when we already have 11 and a half million is not a near-term or a long term solution.

We need to secure the border.

And then after we secure the border, we can talk about additional policies as a legal immigrant on how to ensure that immigration.

Q Thank you.

That's the time you have.

You're watching the Kansas District congressional debate here from Kansas City, PBS.

The next question comes from Lisa Rodriguez.

In case you want to use Dr. Reddy, you're running a TV ad blasting your opponent for mischaracterizing your position on abortion.

You say you do not support a federal ban and that the issue should be left to the states to decide.

If that's the case, would you refuse to vote on any abortion related issues if you're elected to Congress?

It's what I pretty much done for my whole life, which is I start from a place of empathy for patients.

And so I can tell you the ads that are airing right now are false.

They're misleading.

They're essentially lies.

And that is not good political discourse.

If we want to have good political discourse, I'm happy to talk about that.

But this isn't political discourse.

I am not for a national abortion ban.

I'm saying it directly to folks that are watching the show.

I am, for exceptions and I don't believe in federal dollars going to, you know, to fund abortions.

And so the short answer there is that is my position.

I feel confident in that.

And it's sad that we're dealing with misinformation and this election.

Congresswoman Davids, has Kansas already struck the right balance when it comes to abortion, or would you support a change in in Congress to make Roe v Wade a federal law?

Well, let's start with how scared people were when Roe was overturned, and rightfully so.

We've seen attack after attack on on this.

Right.

Since Roe was overturned.

And, you know, my opponent has indicated he wants state level politicians inserting themselves in this process.

I'm telling everyone right now, I don't think any politician should be involved in this process, not at the state level or federal level.

That is something that is out of step with the Kansas third and the state of Kansas.

I also think that the people of Kansas, in a bipartisan, nonpartisan way, came together and said that they don't want this extreme stuff.

You know, and my opponent has frankly made himself untrustworthy on this by accepting the endorsement of Kansans for Life, who want a national abortion ban and push that constitutional amendment.

You have 30 seconds to rebut, Dr. Reddy.

Well, first of all, Kansas for Life did not endorse me.

So let me correct the record.

So that is not accurate.

So separate from that, I can tell you that we are living in an era where misinformation is critically damaging the electoral process.

We don't have to worry about Russian or Chinese misinformation when it's happening right here.

And that is what I think we need to be careful about.

By the way, in the pharma world, which I've gotten $0 for, I can tell you that my opponent's outraised me by a lot and is spending 10 to 1 on negative TV ads attacking my positions that are not true.

We got to do better.

Fix you.

Last word, Congressman Davids.

Yeah, I would encourage folks to look up the Kansans for Life endorsement for themselves.

The other thing I will point to is my opponent's alignment with some of the most extreme voices in the U.S. Congress.

And it is hard for me to believe that he would been would have been the single no vote on these national abortion ban attempts that were made at the beginning of this Congress.

Frankly, I haven't seen anything from him that indicates he'd be willing to push back on his own party on this or any other issue.

Thank you very much.

We move to a new issue now.

Presidential candidate Kamala Harris wants to term limit the Supreme Court backing a plan by President Biden to limit how long justices can serve to 18 years, which means a sitting president is going to be able to appoint a new justice every two years.

The first step in making that constitutional change is to win a two thirds majority vote in both the House and Senate.

Sharice Davids, would you be one of those yes votes on that change?

I'm sorry.

I'm chuckling at the idea of getting a two thirds vote in the Congress right now.

I will say that when it comes to trust in government, trust in these institutions, the Supreme Court included, I do think that there's a lot of work to do.

We need to beef up things like ethics and transparency provisions in our in our laws.

Something that I supported immediately when I got to the Congress was increasing ethics rules for the for the Congress.

Now, when it comes to making changes to the U.S. Constitution, I do think I would have to see some very specific provisions at this point.

I'm not willing to I'm not I'm not willing to say what I would or wouldn't do on a constitutional amendment that's not before the Congress.

Would you be one of those yes votes on term limits for the Supreme Court if you're elected already?

That's an easy one for me, right?

I've loved studying history and, you know, government, you know, and I can tell you that that would not be a good idea.

And the original intent of having the Supreme Court have a lifetime appointment was to ensure freedom of thought and not, you know, caving to the whims of, you know, the mob, if you will, when we need to change.

In fact, minority rights throughout the history of our country have been protected because we have judicial independence and we're not swayed by polls.

And instead we are allowing those folks to make the right moral decisions based on constitutional jurisprudence.

So I do feel strongly that we should not do that.

Now, on the other hand, Nick, I'm all for politicians who, by the way, I'm not really a politician.

I'm in favor of instituting term limits for every other political office, both for the presidency, which we have, but of course, the legislature as well.

Shall we statements?

Have you asked and answered this question or do you need 30 seconds to rebut?

Yeah, actually, I would.

The only thing after hearing my opponent's response to this is it's concerning to me that he would call any of the questions that you all are posing today.

Easy ones, because the job of being a legislator and serving the third District requires a level of thoughtfulness that I that I haven't seen from my opponent on on this topic and a few others.

And I think it's something that the Kansas third has come to expect.

Thank you.

Last word to you, Dr. Reddy.

Look, folks, I've taken care of thousands of cancer patients and my life has been about thoughtful decisions.

I do not come in and rush in and think about things and just on a whim, make a decision.

That's the way I would do it in Congress.

In fact, you know, I would encourage folks in Congress to read bills because half of the bills that are passed are our congressmen and women don't even read.

And that is not acceptable when we're trying to fight for the will of the people and doing right by Kansas voters and voters across this country.

Kyle has the next question.

Both the Harris and Trump campaigns have offered a number of promises on taxes.

Harris, for instance, has vowed to expand the child tax credit and raise taxes on corporations and wealthy individuals.

On the other hand, Trump wants to lower the corporate tax rate and eliminate taxes on Social Security benefits for some 30.

What tax policies would you support in Congress?

Yeah, so for me, again, going back to my life experience, what I would tell you is that we absolutely have to cut spending.

There is no department across this country that should not have scrutiny to be able to cut spending.

That includes the DOD, by the way.

And I am a strong supporter of national security.

There is no way we should be spending $70 for a bag of nuts and bolts.

And so what I'm telling you is, on tax policy, my general principle is less taxes are better.

But of course, that doesn't mean no taxes.

And so we need to have reasonable tax policy.

But the fix to this and college student and econ one on one would be able to tell you this is that it's not just expense or it's not just, you know, tax policy which is bringing in revenue, but it's also expense.

And if we are not careful, we are going to hurt young people.

And for me, this election is about young people and having policies that are going to protect young people in the future.

Congresswoman Davidson.

Look, my mom raised me and my brothers by herself on an enlisted army salary, and it turns out it's not that much money.

So I got to see firsthand what it was like to see her work super hard.

And I need every bit of wiggle room that she could get.

When it comes to tax policy.

I am a supporter of the child tax credit.

I think that it is something that really does help families, especially when they're trying to figure out how to buy everything from gas to groceries.

I also am supportive of provisions like the research and development tax credit for small businesses.

You know, that's something that I have been working in a bipartisan way to try to get across the finish line so that our small businesses are able to thrive.

These are the kinds of things that we need to be working on in a bipartisan way.

Thank you.

You have 30 seconds to rebut, Dr. Reddy.

Thank you.

So, again, I'm all for working in a bipartisan way to fix these complicated issues.

The first thing that I would tell you there is we have got to control spending, $35 trillion national debt, $1,000,000,000,000 a year in interest, that we're paying $250,000 plus per American citizen that we're carrying.

If we're being serious about protecting the future of this country, protecting the future of business, but protecting the future of young people, adults have to stand up.

And we need to, as a people, think about how we fix our broken fiscal policy for young people.

Thank you very much.

Last word goes to you, shall we?

Statements.

Yeah.

Thank you.

I am.

I look, I'm excited to get the chance to continue to serve the people of the third District and that's on everything from, you know, getting the child tax credit done to the research and development tax benefits for our our small businesses.

At the end of the day, the thing that's not going to get us there is aligning with the most extreme people in our Congress getting the support of the most extreme people in the Congress who would rather shut the government down than actually solve problems.

Thank you very much.

And Lisa Rodriguez has a new topic for us.

What is the biggest change you are willing to support in the next Congress to lower the cost of renting or owning a home?

Congresswoman Davidson That's a I mean, that's such a good question, especially because of the number of people.

And this isn't just young people.

It's, you know, parents and grandparents who are concerned about whether their kids are ever going to be able to afford a home and afford the rent.

And I'm not just saying that because sometimes people want kids out of the basement.

I also know that there are bipartisan effort.

There are bipartisan areas of agreement here in fact, when it comes to addressing housing issues, I know that Jake La Turner and I have have been able to find some common ground on this, but that's not enough.

What we need to do is make sure that we're making everything as affordable as possible for people.

And that starts with investing in good infrastructure.

It's making sure that people have jobs that pay well and it's making sure that people have the opportunities that they need to succeed.

And that's what I've been focused on.

Thank you very much.

Present.

Ready?

Yeah.

Again, a great question, right?

I think homeownership is important.

It's part of a legacy of how you build wealth, generational wealth.

And so I think it's critical that we support policies for homeownership.

Renting is great is a short term, but it's not going to bring generational wealth.

So we should think about economic policies that recognize the will of the people, the talent of people to be great business entrepreneurs.

And by the way, this is true across the world, and it's certainly true in our third district across our country.

People can be successful businessman and businesswoman if they're given an opportunity.

We need to get out of the way of letting these men and women take control of their lives and give them opportunities to start their own businesses.

That is going to drive, you know, innovation and which, by the way, I know a little bit of R&D.

I ran, you know, multiple R&D shops that have helped cancer patients in this district across the country and across the world.

I'm supportive of innovation and support.

Thank you.

30 seconds to a battery statements.

Yeah.

Thank you.

And I do want to mention a effort that's going on in the Congress to stop some of these private equity companies that are buying up housing stock and making it unaffordable for so many people to be able to to be able to afford to not just buy, but also rent.

And you had asked what's what's a specific policy that I that I'd be willing to vote for?

And, you know, we'd have to see the actual bill.

But but making sure that people can actually if you have a specific policy, you can actually mention in the last 30 seconds on this topic percent rating.

Look, one of the things we're just looking at source materials and we'll talk about construction.

We've got to do better.

I mean, right now in this inflationary environment, this is not conducive for homeownership.

Let's start with the basics.

Let's start, you know, how can we lower interest rates?

How can we get them more reasonable so that homeownership can take up again?

Those are things that we can do today.

And we need to do everything in our power to to make that American dream, the one that I've had the luxury of living a reality for future generations.

Thank you so much.

College.

A lot of courts have blocked several Biden administration efforts to forgive student college debt.

If you're picked by voters in November.

Would you support a congressional bill to cancel student loan payments?

Dr. Reddy And if not, how would you rein in the burdensome cost of college for young people in this district?

You're going to be representing.

So want to k state?

I went to CU.

I got a great, tremendous college education.

You know, I'm triple boarded in internal medicine, hematology, medical oncology.

I've a matches in public health from the niche.

I'm a Harvard Business School alum and I believe education policy is existential to this country.

If we get it wrong in a negative way, if we get it wrong, that's our future leaders in business, in the military and in politics.

So the problem that I have is why they cost me an honors engineering a K state $5,000 a year.

But now it's costing people, you know, even in our high school districts approximate me four times that much.

We're doing our children, our nephews and nieces or grandchildren a disservice.

We got to do better for them.

So we got to focus on how we get these dollars into educational programs, teach them the skills that they need to be successful for the future.

Those are all leaders of the future.

Should we statements?

Yeah.

I mean, as someone who is still paying off student loans, I know there's a lot of folks at home who are who are having to deal with that.

I'm I'm blown away by the cost of education.

I think my opponent spoke to that actually.

I also have to say that this is an area where I push back on my own party.

I indicated when President Biden took this approach that it's not the approach I would have taken.

I do think we need to do things like, you know, expand the Pell Grant, which is vital for so many people to be able to access education, but not just for a four year degree.

We need to make sure that folks can get access to that if they're going to a trade school, if they're, you know, learning a trade.

Those are the kinds of things that we need to be pushing.

And, you know, I'm going to continue to work on.

I'm going to continue to work on making higher education and any education more affordable for folks.

Dr. Reddy, 30 seconds.

Well, I tend to agree with Congresswoman Davids.

I mean, I think we got to do better for, you know, for education.

So, you know, again, what I would say is that my frustration is, you know, with all due respect, Congresswoman Davids, you've had six years to bend that needle.

And we haven't seen that that that that cost curve bend.

If anything, it's only continue to explode.

And that's my frustration.

Again, we have to do better.

I appreciate what you're saying, but I wish your actions led to those those good policy changes.

Well, you get to defend yourself, Sharice Davids.

Yeah.

This is one of those areas where it's it's actually not the place of the federal government to be dictating to our state level schools, whether it's K State or CU, how they operate.

And, you know, I I'll stand behind that every single day.

I will say that making sure again, making sure that we're doing things like expanding the Pell and making making the from the federal perspective, making those policies better for as many people as possible is the way forward.

Okay.

We're going to move on to Kalpona.

There are a number of ideas out there for fixing our health care system.

What is the single biggest change regarding health care you would work to implement if you are sent to Washington by voters this November?

And we'll start this question with Sharice Davids.

I mean, health care has been such a huge concern of so many people in the third District from from when I was running the first time.

And it's one of the reasons that I have focused on trying to make affordable, accessible health care a big priority.

I have been proud to actually introduce and get passed a piece of legislation around surprise medical billing because, you know, folks should not have to be stressed out about getting a surprise medical bill.

I was proud to be part of the push for and success in getting Medicare to finally be able to negotiate some of these prescription drug prices.

That's going to save 74,000 Kansans money.

I was proud to be able to get insulin capped at $35 a month for our seniors.

The work is not done.

It is.

It's a long road.

And I'm willing to continue to work in a bipartisan way to do what I can to bring down those costs to prevent.

Already, folks, I've spent my life in health care.

And there's two things I tell you we need to fix.

Ensuring innovation persists and fixing health care implementation.

Who cares about innovation if it doesn't get in the hands of the people?

And so what?

Telling you right up front is that for generic price negotiation, I am 100% for it.

I believe in, you know, not having extended patent life for insulin.

That is a no brainer question for me.

However, to preserve innovation, we need to think about other federal policies that we can support in Congress that we've failed on, including, for example, enabling clinical trials.

My master's in public health was on cultural determinants of health for African American men and why they do worse than their counterparts.

That was way before that became a cool topic.

And all I can tell you is that there are ways that we can fix that, including ensuring that the federal government does the job of the federal government, where private enterprise sometimes struggles, and that includes things like enabling through private public partnership access to clinical trials.

I'm a proponent for personalized and precision medicine to improve the lives of patients here in this district and across this country and around the world.

You got a second bite of this apple for 30 seconds, Sharice Davids.

Yeah.

Thank you.

I am.

I just.

I feel like I can't let this one go by without highlighting that.

My opponent called Medicare negotiating for prescription drug costs to be lowered for those 74,000 Kansans on conscionable.

I also think it's really important for folks he keeps asking about the pharma, about the pharma money.

This is about pharma stocks that you have refused to say you'll divest.

Thank you very much.

Let's get the final word from present.

Ready?

Look, folks, all I can tell you is that the bottom line is we need health care innovation.

And I am not opposed to generic price negotiation.

So let me be clear.

But I can give you the pictures of millions of patients across this country and around the world that I've been direct participant with.

You know, obviously teams that through medical innovation, we've led to improve lives.

It is critical that we think about a health care policy that doesn't have negative ripple effects and that we preserve innovation.

And we, for example, again, enable clinical trials.

Thank you very much.

We're going to be going a little overseas now with Lisa Rodriguez.

Thanks, Nick.

What country or global issue currently poses the greatest threat to the United States?

And as just one vote in Congress, what would you do to lessen or eliminate that threat?

Dr. REDDY Luckily, so it's a great question.

Everything starts with one.

So while people talk about challenges, I've run away, never run away from those challenges.

This is about being a reasonable voice and that starts with one.

So it doesn't matter.

I'm not going 100% agree with anybody in my party if they are not able to explain to me why.

So China to me is the largest foreign.

We have to be aware of them from a military perspective, but also economic perspective and foreign policy to be able to address the threats that China poses us today and into the future.

One thing I will share with you is I wrote a white paper in Air War College, which I finished two months ago, focused the threat of China.

My region was Indo-Pak calm and I wrote that white paper with five other lieutenant colonels really thinking about a tabletop exercise.

Really?

On what would we do using diplomatic, informational, economic and military power to ensure that we minimize the Chinese threat.

And so that's what I would do.

I could, with more time, I could go into those details.

Thank you very much.

So China was the country's biggest threat for your opponent.

What about for you, we statements?

Well, I think when it comes to the United States standing on the world stage and the way that we interact with with other countries, whether they're allies or frenemies, in some ways I or actual people were in conflict with.

I do think that our approach needs to be thoughtful on this.

I would I would categorize it in two different ways.

One is on on the economic impact.

I agree China is this is a country that we absolutely need to make sure that our dealings with them or their dealings with us are fair, that they're not impeding on our intellectual property.

I have worked with my colleagues, Republican and Democrat, to make sure that we're addressing those threats, but also to make sure that our farmers can continue to sell their goods over there.

And then when it comes to military and threats to democracy, I think Russia is probably the biggest threat.

Thank you very much.

Rebuttal time of 30 seconds for you, Dr. Reddy.

Nick, with all due respect, if we've been working on this problem, it sure as heck is not getting fixed.

And so China continues to get, you know, to become a bigger, bigger threat to us both economically and militarily.

And, you know, semiconductor impact is critical for the global markets, especially as you go to this new era of, you know, data science and artificial intelligence, which opens up a whole set of other ethical, moral questions we need to discuss.

But the bottom line is this we have to do better.

I have the experience, the business experience, the military experience to do better.

Thank you very much.

Final word to you, Sherry.

David, Thank you.

I'm not sure how long it took to write a white paper, but I can tell you that it does take time for us to build factories.

The chips in science Act that I worked in a bipartisan way with folks like Jerry Moran on is making sure that we are building more chips here.

We saw it during the pandemic.

We cannot be overreliant on countries like China.

We are working toward making sure that we're building more stuff here.

The Panasonic plant is here.

We have a chip plant going in another part of Kansas.

There is movement happening.

Thank you so much.

Recent polling shows a majority of Americans are anxious and stressed out by the upcoming election.

Not as we hear we're enjoying ourselves.

The presidential campaign has featured heated rhetoric, name calling, multiple assassination attempts.

What will you do if elected to Congress or re elected to Congress to turn down the temperature of our national politics?

How will you personally contribute to getting over the divisions seen in this year's campaign?

And it starts with you, Sharice Davids.

Yeah, I mean, I think the temperature went up in here.

Just in your description of what the political scene has been like.

Look at folks in Kansas and I imagine in other parts of the country are tired of this.

You know, they're tired of divisive rhetoric.

They're tired of trying to demonize other people.

And and frankly, they're tired of dysfunction.

I have made it my business to ensure and make sure that everybody knows you have sent an adult to the Congress.

I will always be an adult in the room.

I will push back on my own party when necessary.

I will work with Democrats or Republicans.

If it's good for Kansas.

The only thing that we can do is make sure that we are contributing to that.

We're contributing to making sure that we're bringing the temperature down and frankly, I have been disappointed that my opponent has aligned himself and been supported by some of the most extreme people in the U.S. Congress.

Thank you very much.

How does the mercury go down with Dr. Reddy in Congress?

Make it simple.

It starts with intention.

And we can say things and we can do things.

And the other thing I tell you is it starts with trust and truth.

So as we're trying to tamp down the rhetoric, as we talked about health care, price transparency, which I'm all in favor of.

Well, that's true for political ads as well.

And I can tell you, when you're being outspent 10 to 1 on some of these political ads and it's misleading, shaping something that's false.

That is not good policy.

So when we're talking about bipartisanship, my ask of my opponent am I ask of everybody in politics is, you know, act the way that you say that you want to act.

And that starts with trust and truth.

And that's all we can do that.

And that starts with individuals.

And that's what I'll take to Congress.

30 seconds, Chris Davis.

Yeah, I mean, the only thing I can say to my opponent is.

Kansans for Life has endorsed you.

They want a national ban on abortion.

They were the primary pushers of the constitutional amendment that Kansans came together and overwhelmingly beat back.

You have the support of some of the most extreme people in Congress, including Mike Johnson, who is probably got the worst record when it comes to protecting reproductive rights.

It is not you specifically.

It's that you have except ID and are aligning yourself with the people that no one can trust on this issue.

Let's get a final response from Dr. Reddy on this.

You know, Shari's what I respectfully say is there's nobody in our lives that we agree with 100% of the time and 100% of the issues.

And that is true in my party.

And sometimes that's even true in our families.

And so the bottom line is we have to be thoughtful and we have to tell people why we believe what we do.

And that, again, starts with trust and truth.

And so those are things, as I alluded to early on, that my mom taught me, which is, you know, just control the things that we can control.

And we don't have to worry about the noise.

But what we can't control is when all of that noise is around us.

You know, it should not be misleading, folks.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Dr. Reddy.

Cal Poly, you have another question for us.

Yeah.

Moving from metaphorical temperatures to literal ones.

2023 was the hottest year on record, and this year is looking to be even warmer.

The U.S. National Climate Assessment shows that every region in the U.S. is already experiencing the impacts of a warming world, from extended droughts to more powerful hurricanes.

What, if any, role should Congress play in addressing the increasingly serious threat climate change poses to our economy and way of life?

Look, if somebody comes to the emergency room with chest pain, doesn't mean they're having a heart attack, but you better rule it out.

And that's the way of view climate change.

So we have to take this seriously.

We have to be thoughtful about our solutions.

I believe the way forward for a solution, right.

Challenge is require solutions.

That's what I've talked about earlier.

That's energy independence for America.

And that's not just sufficiently producing to more than what we ever have.

It's energy independence and unlocking American energy.

We've reduced emissions, carbon emissions with carbon based fuels in the United States by 80% over the decades, better than anywhere else in the world.

Right?

Wind and solar may suffice to account for, maybe, if we're lucky, 20% of our energy needs.

So we have to have policies that look at other green energy sources like nuclear, which I'd be very supportive of.

At the same time, I would want to support American energy independence to drive down Putin, the Ayatollah of Iran, and Xi Jinping, for making money off of energy while creating foreign policy problems all over the world.

That's what we got to do.

We got to have sane policy across foreign policy and energy policy.

Thank you very much, Elise Davidson.

I mean, the climate crisis is something that, again, the folks in the Kansas third have on a fairly regular basis brought up to me.

And this isn't just our young people, it's it's grandparents worried about whether their kids are going to have clean water or clean air.

This is about making sure that we're doing everything we can to transition in a way that's going to be thoughtful and.

I was proud to vote for the most robust piece of climate climate legislation to help make sure that that transition is is thoughtful.

You know, I also want to make sure that our Kansas farmers are the ones who are helping in that transition, whether it's in the bio diesel or ethanol that they're able to produce.

I have supported legislation and that would do exactly those things.

And I'm going to continue to work with my my colleagues to make sure we're addressing this crisis.

You have 30 seconds to rebut some of the regulatory burdens that are being put on Kansas farmers is crushing.

And so this is an energy policy.

I've gone down to meet many of our farmers and our energy producers, and some of them overlap, and it's a crushing burden on them.

The other thing that I would tell you is, is that we have to do better in reaching out to voters.

At a town hall in Alaska, 200 folks were having another town hall.

I encourage you to join me.

I'd love for us to continue discussing these topics.

Final word to you should be statements.

Yeah, I promised my opponent and I didn't set me up for this, but I wanted to highlight a couple of the other things he mentioned.

Iranian oil.

I did join with my Republican and Democratic colleagues in the House to make sure that we sanction Iran.

I also made sure to work with with my colleagues to help our farmers who are growing the the corn that goes into the ethanol to make sure that they can actually sell that year round right here in Kansas.

Thank you.

We have time for one more question, and it comes from Lisa Rodriguez.

Congresswoman Davids, if Donald Trump wins the 2024 presidential election, will you accept the results and a breakdown?

Yes, I would.

And, you know, I was I was in the capital on January six, 20, 21, after Joe Biden was legitimately elected president.

I voted to certify that election.

I have experience with serving in the House as Donald Trump was president when I was sworn in.

And I would I would take the opportunity.

You know, it's not a secret to him.

And I do not agree on a lot of policy areas.

But when the opportunities came up to vote on legislation that was going to be good for Kansas that he would sign into law, I took that opportunity and again, I'm proud of that record.

I'm also I have to say this as someone who was in the Capitol on January six, there was concerning to me that you have taken so much support from Mike Johnson, who was the primary architect of pushing back on the certification of the legitimately elected president of the United States.

Dr. Reddy, would you accept a Kamala Harris win?

As long as it's a fair election, of course.

The peaceful transfer of powers is a staple of our amazing representative democracy.

And of course, we need to do that.

The one thing I would tell you is, is that we have to ensure election integrity.

Those two things can be true.

And I do think we need to do better.

For example, the SAFE Act, you know, where we're looking at, you know, election loss to strengthen election integrity.

You know, I don't fully understand why we sometimes push a push against that like my opponent has.

And so at the end of the day, you know, we have to ensure election integrity, it is the most important right we have as citizens.

And I want as many people to vote as possible and I want to win on ideas.

Let's keep discussing ideas.

And if my opponent has better ideas, I'll adopt them.

But my ask is if I had better ideas than my opponent adopts them.

And that's how we're going to make this country better together.

You've got 30 seconds to rebut if you need that time.

Should we stay?

But I think we're okay.

Thanks, Dr. Reddy.

You can have that last word.

You do not have to.

You know, the only thing I'll just add there is that if somebody commits a crime, they should go to jail.

If you committed a crime on January six, you should be behind bars.

Period.

Let me just make that clear and that's all I'll say.

Thank you very much.

Now it is time for our candidates to make their final case to the voters.

Think of this this way.

You're in self-checkout lane at the grocery store and the person standing next to you in line says, I've seen your ads, but why should I vote for you?

And in 60 seconds or less, you say blank.

Sharice Davids is.

Thank you.

So I'm in line at the Price Chopper.

Got it.

Well, first of all, actually, thank you to the moderators for hosting our debate today.

I hope that everyone at home got a chance to see what's at stake in this election.

I think that we are better working together to move forward.

And frankly, my opponent wants to take us back.

It's our commitment to working together that made that.

That's the reason that Panasonic chose us over every district in the country.

It's the reason that we're finally seeing progress on our 370 infrastructure projects in this state.

And I haven't seen enough from my opponent or anything really to indicate he could work across the aisle to get things done.

He's aligned himself with people who deny the results of elections, would decimate Social Security and Medicare and want a ban on it and want a national ban on abortion.

That's not going to move us forward and it's not going to set our kids up for success.

I'm Sharice Davids, and I'd be proud to earn your vote.

Thank you very much.

For equity purposes, you were actually at hen house.

Dr. Reddy when the person that gives you.

I've seen the ads.

Why should I vote for you in 60 seconds or less?

Look, this is a why election.

We got to go back to the fundamentals here, folks.

This country deserves better.

I've had the the the the honor of a lifetime becoming an American citizen and living the American dream.

And I want to protect that American dream.

I've been fortunate to be successful in business, in the military and medicine, trying to help people.

And what this election is, is, of course, we have challenging topics, economics, education policy, energy, energy policy, you know, crime.

The bottom line is we got to do more than just for us.

That's why I'm running.

Whether it's cancer or their challenges, I got into cancer medicine to help people.

What is the military?

It's about things beyond myself.

We need to ask ourself that question.

What are we going to do for this country?

Not what our country is going to do for us.

If all of us took that that mantra on, we would be further improving the most amazing country on the face of the earth.

And I'll do everything I can to earn your vote and, you know, to earn your trust and be transparent about why I'm doing what I'm doing.

Who should represent the Kansas third District in Congress for the next two years?

Is it Sharice Davids or Prasanth Reddy?

Only you will decide on Election Day or before with your early ballot.

I'm Nick Haines from Kansas City, PBS.

From my colleagues at the Johnson County Post and KCUR News.

and from Laura McConwell with the Bar Association doing all about timing this hour here at the Kansas City PBS studios.

Be well keep calm and carry on.

The Kansas Third District Congressional debate is a co presentation of Kansas City, PBS, the Johnson County Post and KCUR News.