>> Ted: Next on Arizona horizon, we debate between democratic candidates for the sixth congressional district and it's next on Arizona horizon.

Welcome to the special election 2022 edition of Arizona horizon.

Tonight, we feature a debate between candidates for congressional district six and this is between Arizona PBS and the AZcentral.com and joining me is Mary jo Pitzel.

>> These are the candidates looking to present an Arizona district and we reached out to a third candidate and they declined and let's get started and we begin with Daniel Hernandez.

>> Thank you for having us.

I'm Daniel Hernandez, the son of a construction worker and Mexican immigrant and ever since I was young, I wanted to help people because I was taught a simple lesson and an idea if you don't speak Spanish, putting in your grain of sand and that each of us have a responsibility to add our grain of sand to make the world a better place.

A shooting happened in Tucson, Arizona and my life and the life of so many people in Arizona changed and I was working as an intern and I followed Gabby Giffords and served as someone of the governing board and a member of the Arizona state house and thank you so much for having us.

>> And next, to Kirsten Engel.

>> Thank you very much and we're at a critical time and people in Arizona are reeling from inflation, high gas prices, drought, wildfires and attacks on their voting rights and now, the very real prospect that we, as well, will lose the authority to control our own bodies, our own healthcare decisions and it doesn't have to be this way.

I have solutions that I want to work on with in Congress.

I am a mom, I'm a law professor and I'm an environmental and law attorney and ran for elected office to fight for funding for my daughter's public school and I'm a former legislators elected three times in this very congressional district.

Thank you so much for watching this debate tonight and I want to be your advocate in Washington and I look forward to the discussion.

>> Ted: Thank you both and Daniel, let's get started with the most pressing need of this district and the pressing needs, and have they not been adequately addressed so far?

>> One of the important things as I've spent the last six years representing the district in the legislature and more so, going on and exploring this, because the district has grown and Anne has done a good job as has the former representatives that have served this district and what I'm hearing is access to healthcare not addressed and having healthcare insurance is not enough didn't you need healthcare infrastructure so you don't have to drive to Tucson to seek the care you need and infrastructure and jobs are things invested in but not to a significant amount and the money fromment Biff came through and we have a long way and infrastructure and jobs to people can stay and live in these rural communities.

>> Ted: Kiresten, have these things not been adequately addressed?

>> They have not and there's a lot of frustration and the things I'm hearing about, I'm hearing about inflation and high gas prices driving here, gas was at $4.69 a gallon and there are things we can do.

Looking into whether or not we're looking into price gouging, you know.

There's a lot of record profits right now by the oil and gas industry and yet, prices are going up and concern about water.

And you know, the Colorado river and in a shortage and people are very concerned about that and also this our rural areas, overpumping of groundwater, talking to ranchers and real estate developers and everybody is concern.

>> I wanted to stay on inflation and first of all, Daniel, do you hear that around the district and what would you advocate doing about inflation?

>> I think that's why I talked about the economy and jobs because it's tied together.

One of the big things is when your gas is over $4.50 to just get there, the goods you're buying will go up in price and looking at things like a temporary gas tax holiday, including republicans in the legislature to lessen the prices and how do we invest long-term in the future of Arizona and America's prosperity to not have to rely on the ups and downs in foreign oil prices and that means making sure we're investing for clean energy.

And that doesn't solve the immediate problem.

>> Ted: Why is inflation at a generational high and why are we here?

>> We have a lot of problems and a lot is left over from Covid and we still have not adequately addressed Covid.

You know, we've now surpassed a million deaths and 30,000 just in Arizona and we are still, that is still a drag on our economy and a drag on getting people back to work and so I do fault or state government in not taking the pandemic seriously enough and making sure that everybody gets vaccinated and everybody stays safe that we can get workers back to work and a lot of people are frustrated with their jobs and we have to provide true opportunity, career advancement to people.

As an educator, I'm in a good position.

>> Ted: Handing out money, are they wrong?

>> There are real families in need and that was a life line.

During the pandemic, I worked hard on the eviction issue and I can tell you that that money was slow in getting out to a lot of our renters who were behind on rent.

But when we got that money out there, it was a life line for them.

And so, this has been critical and I think that is misplaced, misplaced pointing fingers.

>> Ted: Because there are economists and more than a few and is the Biden Administration somehow to blame for this?

>> There are several factors taken in.

It's too soon and gas prices are still spiking.

We'll need time to figure out what exactly caused all of the inflation that's going on and I think we need to understand that during Covid, having people who were unable to work, these things were an important and critical life line to make sure they could stay in their homes because there were a lot of concern about people losing their homes and putting food on the table.

There are seniors who haven't gone out for two years because of the pandemic and the immediate things we can do is something that has been talked about, releasing oil, petroleum reserve to lessen prices because that won't have an impact on people's daily gas but will help with buying goods and we need the supply chain issues and that didn't start under Biden but trump during the beginning of Covid.

>> I think there are things do to help people in their pocketbooks.

>> We know in the United States, people are paying three times what they're paying in other countries and so, this is something we should tackle.

We should finally give Medicare the authority to negotiate the price of prescription drugs that will go -- that will impact the prices even for people not on Medicare and this is something concrete that we can do right now to help.

>> You wanted to jump to a current topic, abortion with the leaked draft from the Supreme Court.

And what is your position on should there be a federal law that allows reproductive rights and what will that look like?

>> When we're talking about abortion rights, so much more.

We're talking about economic issues.

We're talking about those bread and butter issues because when we talk about this, we're talking about bodily autonomy and I'm a planned parenthood staffer and I've been a champion and fighter and we need to codify Roe at the federal level.

We're seeing the extremist laws passed in places like Arizona and they say you as a person raped must carry the child of your rapist and wrong and working to try to protect the reproductive rights and I think, one, we need to codify Roe and then, two, we need to make sure we are read to fight back because the extremist laws will not just stop with abortion.

>> I feel personal about this, a mom of a teenaged daughter and I am, frankly outraged that we now could be facing the loss of control over our own bodies as a result of this, our own healthcare decisions.

Abortion is healthcare and this is something that is so important to our next generation.

Just today in Tucson, there was a walk-out by high school students, lead by high school girls who are really concerned about what they are facing, what their generation is facing as result of this.

A criminal law that could go into effect in Arizona.

As Daniel said, not just abortion, but the basis of Roe and Casey was the right to privacy and the right to contraceptives, the right to raise your children.

>> Reproductive rights not just regarding abortion but regarding contraception, birth control and is that something best done on the state level or federal level?

>> I think one of the things from republicans because they don't want to own in Arizona, because child incest, they would are to bear the child of incest and rapist and send it back to the states but when you have a patchwork of laws similar to guns, you have some states where easier to have this and we cannot have the patchwork of laws.

The federal level codify Roe because it is healthcare and something crucial and we need to make sure that regardless of whether you live in Tucson or Florida.

>> Ted: Do you think people in congressional district 6 agree?

>> Doctors and women make these decisions and we don't want politicians in our bedrooms, our classrooms our uteros?

>> Do people agree with the idea that Roe should be codified?

>> I think so because I have been hearing about this nonstop since the draft decision was leaked and, yes, I agree, these are personal rights I can't think of anything more personal than a risky personal.

That should be made by the person themselves, with their doctor, minister, and should be made by them and not by politicians should pass a law in Congress.

If we can't get that done, you know, I support this effort to put it into the state constitution.

>> And to your point, do the district 6 residents believe this?

Yes, that Roe should remain the law of the land.

We want to make sure people have autonomy over their bodies and the abilities make those decisions.

>> Ted: Kirsten, does Arizona have an immigration problem?

>> No.

It's not just this administration, but it's the past administration.

We need to secure our border.

We have issues of drug trafficking and human smuggling that have to be addressed and certainly not walls.

Walls are 13 century solution to a 21st century problem.

I mean, let's look at what's going on here.

We have people, migrants coming who want to make a home in our country.

And, you know, these people are like our ancestors coming here and that is -- that's the crisis.

That's a humanitarian crisis.

And what we need from Washington is help having an orderly asylum process.

That's national law, international law and we have to get that done.

And we need comprehensive immigration reform and we have to help our dreamers.

>> Ted: There are 234,000 encounters 30,000 more than April of last year and do we have a crisis at the border and how is this addressed, especially from Washington, where it has to be addressed?

>> I have to disagree with my opponent.

I represented the border for the last six years and different county, but same issues across the U.S. and people don't feel safe where they're living and even though we're seeing this is an issue time after time and we have politicians that drive down to the border, take their photo-op and leave and nothing gets done.

When you get the chamber of Congress and they agree immigration reform is the top priority, this is no longer a Partisan issue.

We need to solve this by one, making sure people feel safe at the border and an adequate presence of trained officers and making sure we're utilizes technology like drones and sensors.

You don't just need a law.

That won't solve this problem.

You need technology and leverage the personnel that you have and I think additionally, we need to actually get something done on immigration reform and some of that has been representing the border for six years.

I talked to people who agree, we need to bring people out of the shadows and bring them onto a pathway of citizenship and dreamers have a pathway to be successful, not just in the short-term.

>> Ted: Respond, please.

>> We need a federal presence at the border and I do think that the security that we can accomplish through technology and manpower, more custom's agents and more folks to process those asylum claims.

So we need process to allow people to seek to enter our country.

>> You made the point a lot of people are trying to find a better life and people coming across bringing in drugs and coming in with -- >> Absolutely.

>> How do you control that?

>> Walls will not do it and need will photo-ops, but yes, technology and manpower.

And so, absolutely, security of our border is important.

That is something that we have to do and it's the Federal Government's job.

One of the things that I will do in Congress is to advocate for more resources for border security but also for addressing the humanitarian crisis.

We cannot forget what is going on.

It's not all drug smugglers and a lot of families with little kids.

>> To say there's no crisis is wrong.

The problem here is we're trying to have one silver bullet with all of these problems and there are multiple crisis at the border, immigration which is a concern.

We've been talking about immigration reform since senator McCain was one of the leaders back in 2013.

We haven't had meaningful immigration reform in a decade.

So say it's not a crisis is wrong because there are.

We have multiple crises with multiple solutions making sure people are safe at the border, the drug issue because Fentanyl has killed so many Americans and we're seeing that rise.

>> Ted: Do you agree with the Biden Administration's plan to end title 42?

>> You know, I think this is where I agreer with the senators, both senator Kelly and Sinema, that we need to make sure if there's a repeal of title 42, that we have a plan on how to deal with the influx of migrants, because these are not people -- these are people to get a better life and we need to treat them humanely and make a plan on how to address because the people that suffer live in the communities along the border.

>> Ted: Do we keep title 42.

>> Not forever and I think we have to be realistic about that.

It is a stop gap solution and doesn't allow people to apply for asylum which is how their plan a adjudicated and under title 42, they come to the border and sent back to Mexico and 50% try to get back in.

There is no aadjudication of their claim.

At this point, I do want a plan because there's a concern there will be a lot more people that may try to come in as a result of lifting title 42.

I would like to have a plan first, but title 42 is not the answer.

>> You mentioned climate change and what would you advocate if Congress should be done given all of the other priorities and pressures on spending?

>> Well, Arizona, we are ground zero in terms of climate change.

We are feeling the heat, the drought and we are feeling the wildfires and this is an issue that I have spent my professional career working on, is energy policy and water issues and I'm prepared to tackle that in Congress and there is a lot we can do.

First of all, we should be investing in solar energy so we truly become the solar capital of the world we can.

We should be investing in EB cars and infrastructure and I think we should be getting rid of fossil fuel subsidies, you know.

Oil companies are making record profits and we're handing over $20 billion a year in terms of subsidies.

>> It's high right now.

>> That's absolutely the case.

>> But the silver lining on this is that Arizona, you know, with almost 365 days of sunshine can really benefit from solar jobs.

>> Thank you for that.

I think there are short-term and long-term solutions to be looking at.

The city of phoenix is doing innovative work putting down asphalt that will not retain heat and bounce it back.

It's little things to do in the immediate time to make sure that we're addressing it and putting in more shade and utilizing solar power as shade.

But I think what I support is a couple of months ago with my neighbors from Tucson, a package that included $500 billion of investments in new renewable resources, making sure we have the infrastructure set up so we have the short-term and long-term and we think strategically.

>> I would say we don't have time to wait about some short-term and long-term, but we were told the reality had eight more years before a real crisis.

>> You could take action at the legislature as one of the folks to make sure that people had rooftop solar to protect that investment to get hit with a tax bill and do things to do things today, tomorrow and make sure we're plan for the future and not being able do things.

>> We have to get to closing statements.

And time now for closing statements and going in reverse order of the opening remarks we start with Kirsten Engel.

>> Thank you so much and, obviously, we were just starting to really get into some of the meat of the discussion, of the issues that I know you all are interested in and who will represent you in Congress.

And so, again, I am Kirsten Engel, a mom, I'm an environmental attorney and I love talking about issues of climate change and water which are just so critical and I'm also a teacher who's been teaching young people and I have a lot of hope for their future.

And southern Arizona has been represented by some strong Democratic women from Gabby Giffords to Anne KirkPatrick and I was use my experience as a mom and environmental attorney and former legislator to represent as families in Congress so thank you.

>> Now closing statements from Daniel Hernandez.

>> I want to be yourfighter in Congress.

>> I have been fighting to get real results, whether in the middle of the pandemic, whether getting $20 million for school counselors in public schoolers, I know how to fight and win and looking at the proposals from republicans, we needn't somebody talking about ideas, but to make sure we're standing up for voting rights, access to abortion and making sure that above all, we get results for southern Arizona.

I'm Daniel Hernandez and I hope you'll join us for going to Daniel Hernandez.com to make sure we send a fighter to Washington, D.C. >> Ted: Candidates, thank you, and our next debate is Monday, May 23rd, as we host the republican candidates for state treasurer and 5:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. and you can catch a livestream.

>> And you can watch this debate again on Arizona PBS.org and you can catch all of Arizona horizon's past programming.

And you can follow election coverage on AZ central and in the Arizona republican.

>> That is it for now and I'm Ted Simons and thank you for joining us and you have a great evening.