Democratic Sen. Patty Murray and Republican challenger Tiffany Smiley met in a combative debate Sunday night, with Murray highlighting achievements from a three-decade career and tying Smiley to national Republicans, while Smiley blamed Murray for crime, inflation and Washington, D.C., bureaucracy and promised to be a new voice for the state.
Smiley repeatedly went on the attack, raising her voice at times, insisting Murray and her long tenure are responsible for many of the ills that plague the nation.
"Crime's out of control; Patty Murray is to blame," she said. The war in Ukraine, she said, is because "Sen. Murray and Joe Biden have shown extreme weakness on the world stage." And Smiley, who has said her campaign was inspired by her husband's military service, pointed to Murray for problems with the Veterans Affairs agency "that you've been in charge of for the last 30 years."
Murray, a longtime member of the Senate veterans committee, often cited specific legislation in defending herself, and asserted a record of accomplishment. On crime, she cited the American Rescue Plan, the COVID recovery bill passed by Democrats last year that includes $350 billion for local governments, much of it spent on police. Regarding veterans, she named the 2011 Hire Heroes Act, that encouraged hiring veterans; legislation to aid veterans' caregivers; and this summer's PACT Act, for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits.
The debate, at Gonzaga University in Spokane, covered topics national — immigration, Jan. 6, climate change — and local — the Snake River dams and cleanup of the Hanford Nuclear Site.
While Smiley attacked throughout, Murray sought to link her opponent to national Republicans — she cited Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell, former President Donald Trump and former Trump administration Education Secretary Betsy DeVos — especially on issues on which their positions are unpopular in Democratic-leaning Washington.
On abortion rights — which Murray has made a centerpiece of her campaign since the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade — Smiley said, as she has before, that she is "pro-life" but would vote against a national abortion ban.
"I hear my opponent over there saying, 'I'm 100% pro-life, don't worry,'" Murray said. "I've got to tell you, I was in the Senate. I saw Supreme Court nominees come in front of us and say to us, 'I'm pro-life, don't worry.' And look what happened."
Murray accused Smiley of being willing to repeal the Affordable Care Act, after Smiley spoke critically of it.
She said Smiley used a "whole slew of Republican talking points" when, responding to a question about climate change, Smiley talked about unleashing natural gas production and oil pipelines.
Smiley didn't directly answer when asked if humans were contributing to climate change.
"I grew up on a farm," she said. "There's no better stewards of the land than farmers."
Asked again, she said: "We need to protect our environment and our climate; we all live on this planet."
In perhaps the most heated moment of the debate, the candidates were asked for their thoughts on the Jan. 6 committee's findings.
Smiley described watching the attacks on the Capitol on television and describing them to her husband, who was blinded by a suicide bomber in Iraq.
"Do you believe that me and my family are a threat to democracy, Sen. Murray?" she said, asking Murray to "disavow your campaign's dangerous rhetoric."
Murray, whose campaign has pointed out Smiley's often ambiguous responses when asked about the 2020 election (Until recently, Smiley's website said the "2020 elections raised serious questions about the integrity of our elections"), did not back down.
"No one questions her belief in our democracy or her husband's fight for our country, ever," Murray said. "But do not conflate that with misconstruing about the intent of insurrectionists who are using their brute force to overtake the peaceful transfer of power."
The debate came as voters across the state have received their ballots and as Washington's most competitive U.S. Senate race since 2010 enters its final stretch.
Smiley's campaign has spent more than $10 million promoting her as a fresh face for voters struggling with inflation, worried about crime and fed up with Murray's three decades in office. Murray's campaign has spent more than $17 million touting her as a fighter for affordable health care and reproductive rights and painting Smiley as a vote for a McConnell-led Republican Senate majority.
Murray has led in every public poll of the race, but the margin has tightened in recent months.
Smiley, who has pushed for more debates, clearly saw Sunday as an opportunity to shift the race. Her campaign sent out 24 news releases during the hourlong debate. Murray's campaign sent out 11.
On the debate stage, Smiley blamed Murray and D.C. bureaucracy for problems at the Southern border, where, she said, "China is pumping components of fentanyl across."
"It's killing our kids," Smiley said. "Every state is a border state."
When Smiley suggested that perhaps Murray had never visited the Southern border, Murray shot back that she had and sought to link Smiley to Trump.
"I went because the Trump presidency was separating our children from their mothers at the border," Murray said.
The debate was moderated by Spokesman-Review reporter Laurel Demkovich and sponsored by The Spokesman-Review, League of Women Voters, KSPS-TV and the Washington State Debate Coalition.
