U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy and his Republican challenger, Matthew Corey, clashed in a live televised debate Wednesday night over immigration, inflation, taxation, transgender rights and, most of all, what the return of Donald J. Trump to the White House would mean for America.
Murphy, 51, a Democrat seeking a third term from a blue state in a cycle that favors Republicans gaining seats in the closely divided Senate, is in a rematch with Corey, 60, a restaurateur from Manchester who does not shy from his enthusiastic embrace of Trump and his policies.
Corey politely declined when a WTNH News 8 moderator asked for specific ways in which he differs with Trump, a perceived drag on down-ballot Republicans given his losing 海角换妻 by double-digit margins in 2016 and 2020 and the probability he will do so again in 2024.
鈥淭here鈥檚 not many ways,鈥� Corey said. He smiled, then added, 鈥淚 mean, I have a better personality than he has.鈥�
The debate came three nights after a comedian at a Trump rally in Madison Square Garden made vulgar jokes about the sexual habits of Latino migrants and called Puerto Rico 鈥渁 floating island of garbage,鈥� reviving accusations of Trump鈥檚 tolerance of the casual demonizing of minorities and migrants.
Corey said the jokes, which the Trump campaign says do not reflect the views of the campaign or candidate, were seized on by Democrats and a media that would rather avoid more pressing issues, such as the nation鈥檚 lack of control over its southern border, inflation and affordable housing.
鈥淭hose statements from that comedian does not represent all the Republicans that want to fight for jobs, for not only just Puerto Ricans but for everybody in the state of 海角换妻,鈥� Corey said.
Corey, who used the rally in a fundraising appeal, said he arrived after the comedian had left the stage.
Democrats should be more concerned with the economic struggles of Puerto Rico since the end of tax breaks enacted during the Clinton administration that briefly made the island a target for investment, Corey said.
鈥淭hat was a booming, booming place. Everybody was working,鈥� Corey said. 鈥淎ll those manufacturing jobs have fled Puerto Rico. All the youth have fled Puerto Rico and came to states like 海角换妻. What was left? Some corruption in the government.鈥�
Murphy said the Madison Square Garden rally was illustrative of Trump鈥檚 campaign and character and consistent with his own comments, including a claim during his only debate with Kamala Harris about Haitian immigrants eating dogs and cats in Springfield, Ohio.
鈥淧resident Trump hasn鈥檛 distanced himself from that comment. He hasn鈥檛 criticized that comment. Why? He himself has ran a campaign trying to make us deathly afraid of people who are coming to this country to seek a better life,鈥� Murphy said. 鈥淭his narrative that Haitian immigrants are eating pets, this rhetoric that immigrants to this country are vermin. This is really disgusting. It is hateful. It鈥檚 not the America that I recognize.鈥�
Corey complained that MSNBC had compared the Trump rally to one by American Nazis in the old Garden on the eve of World War II.
鈥淗e hasn鈥檛 condemned MSNBC for that,鈥� Corey said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what rhetoric he鈥檚 talking about, but the rhetoric coming from the Democratic Party is just as bad, if not worse.鈥�
President Joe Biden stumbled in denouncing the rally, seemingly calling Trump鈥檚 supporters garbage. The White House clarified that Biden鈥檚 comments were directed at the jokes and supporters who made them, and Harris quickly distanced herself from the president鈥檚 remarks.
鈥淚 strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for,鈥� Harris said. 鈥淵ou heard my speech last night and continuously throughout my career. I believe that the work I do is about representing all the people, whether they support me or not.鈥�
The Murphy-Corey debate in the New Haven studios of WTNH was the only one of the campaign. It came after more than 400,000 votes already had been cast in the first nine days of early voting in 海角换妻.
Murphy was eager to introduce the topic of Trump, mentioning him twice in answering the initial question about the economy. For his part, Corey raised illegal immigration in a question about affordable housing, long before the two candidates were directly asked about immigration border policy.
鈥淚t didn鈥檛 help that we had over 11 billion people coming to this country illegally who took up a lot of the housing,鈥� Corey said. The of undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. is 11.7 million.
Murphy said Trump has been an obstacle to strong controls on the border, urging Senate Republicans to snub a bipartisan immigration bill Murphy had crafted with Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat-turned-independent from Arizona.
鈥淭hat bill would have passed, if not for Donald Trump,鈥� Murphy said. 鈥淒onald Trump told his supporters in the United States Senate to kill that bill because it would have been good, politically, for Democrats. Donald Trump knew that that bill would have helped to secure the border, and so he told his supporters, 鈥楰ill it, because we want chaos at the border.鈥欌��
Corey said the bill also had Democratic opposition.
鈥淪o this bill was a failure. It鈥檚 still catch and release. It is what is wrong in this country. And I鈥檓 not talking about a mass deportation, but the people that need to be eliminated from this country are the people that are committing the most heinous crimes,鈥� Corey said.
鈥淪enator Murphy, who embraces this administration, is soft on crime. Catch and release doesn鈥檛 work,鈥� Corey said. 鈥淎nd our police are handcuffed. All you have to do is look at New York City 鈥� 75% of the arrests are from illegal immigrants.鈥�
There is no such statistic derived from arrest records. Corey later acknowledged he was referring to a based on estimates from anonymous police sources that 75% of arrests in Midtown Manhattan involved immigrants in the country without legal status.
Corey blamed the spending authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act proposed by Biden and passed by Democrats for fueling inflation.
鈥淲e can see how high prices are all around. You see the job losses. We can see a lot of small businesses closing down,鈥� Corey said. 鈥淭he Inflation Reduction Act 鈥� put $7 trillion into this economy that we didn鈥檛 need, rose the prices of gas, groceries. I don鈥檛 have to tell you, you go to any supermarket, you鈥檒l see what the prices cost.鈥�
Corey said he would support Trump鈥檚 promised tax cuts.
Murphy said the cuts Trump made in his first term benefited the rich.
鈥淚 understand Mr. Corey鈥檚 enthusiasm for Donald Trump鈥檚 tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires and corporations. It鈥檚 because he believes that that money will eventually trickle down to everybody else. But that鈥檚 never, ever how it鈥檚 worked,鈥� Murphy said.
The candidates disagreed over whether transgender athletes should be able to compete in girls sports.
Corey said he agreed with Sen. Tommy Tuberbville, R-Ala., who has proposed a bill banning any governing body recognized by the U.S. Olympic Committee from allowing biological men, as he refers to transgender women, from women鈥檚 sports.
But both candidates said the decision at the high school level should be left to school boards.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think the federal government should be setting the policy for women鈥檚, men鈥檚, boys, girls sports here in 海角换妻,鈥� Murphy said. 鈥淏ut listen, I do have a problem with Republican politicians who spend an outsized amount of time focused on an issue that matters to very few voters, compared to the importance of issues like the economy, like choice, like the cost of health care. I do think that there is a campaign of fear underway in this country, led by people like Ron DeSantis, to try to bully and marginalize gay and transgender children.鈥�
On abortion, Corey said Murphy was fear-mongering when he says it is on the ballot this year. The issue has been returned to the states, Corey said, and 海角换妻 has strong protections for a woman鈥檚 right to an abortion in state law.
This story was originally October 30, 2024.
