The Pa. Democratic Senate candidates debate again tonight. Here’s how to watch and what to watch for.
The Democratic contenders for an open U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania meet Monday evening for a second televised debate.
Round two of the three televised debates in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate begins Monday evening, and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the front-runner, is likely to take another lashing from rivals looking to climb to the top.
With the May 17 primary just three weeks away, U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb and State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta are running out of time to close the gap on Fetterman. And a fourth candidate, Alexandria Khalil, will have a chance to make her case on stage.
How to watch: The debate will be broadcast live on the Pennsylvania Cable Network and PCNTV.com. PCN airs on different channels, depending on a viewer’s cable provider.
Who: Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, and Alexandria Khalil.
When: 7 p.m. Monday, April 25.
Where: Dickinson College in Carlisle.
Sponsors: Spotlight PA, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Trib Total Media, PennLive/Patriot-News, WITF, Dickinson College, and PCN.
What we’ll be watching for
Fetterman in the middle (again)
If you knew nothing about Fetterman’s financial advantage in fund-raising and polling advantage in name recognition, Wednesday’s first full debate still would have demonstrated that he is the undisputed front-runner to win the Democratic nomination.
Lamb and Kenyatta have previously criticized Fetterman for ducking earlier debates and forums. Fetterman said he committed to three televised debates to reach the widest audience.
His rivals zeroed in on him Thursday, making much of their remarks about views of his shortcomings. Fetterman, more accustomed to friendly crowds at campaign events, seemed off-balance at times.
Lamb painted him as too risky a bet for Democrats in a crucial cycle that could determine control of the U.S. Senate, now evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, with Vice President Kamala Harris holding the power to break ties. That could help shape the rest of President Joe Biden’s term.
Kenyatta, playing into his own political beliefs, saw Fetterman as not progressive enough.
That shotgun story is not going away
Lamb and Kenyatta predictably pounced on a 2013 instance in Fetterman’s time as mayor of Braddock to suggest he is too reckless for the Senate and too stubborn to apologize for it.
Fetterman’s story: He heard gunfire, called 911, grabbed a shotgun, and pursued a man he saw running, holding him until police arrived. The man, a Black jogger, was unarmed and said Fetterman pointed the shotgun at his chest. No charges were filed, though Fetterman at the time told a Pittsburgh television news reporter he might have broken the law during the episode.
Pushed on the story Wednesday, Fetterman, who has said he did not point the weapon at the jogger, stuck to it. Lamb called that concerning. Kenyatta waged unsuccessfully to get Fetterman to apologize.
It’s a gripping story, but it is not new. It was known when Fetterman ran for the Senate in 2016 but got less play because he never came close to front-runner status. And it has been revisited repeatedly since he entered the race in early 2021, but has not dented his growing lead in the primary.
To frack or not to frack
One notable area of difference between candidates is the exploration for natural gas in the state in a process known as fracking.
Lamb is all for it, calling it an economic driver for job creation. Kenyatta wants a moratorium on new drilling sites. Fetterman has evolved on the issue since 2016 and now sounds more supportive of the industry.
Legalizing marijuana for recreational use
Fetterman and Kenyatta are all in on legalization of marijuana for recreational use, campaigning on the topic both as an economic issue for tax creation and agriculture and as a measure of justice because Black people are disproportionality punished for possession of marijuana.
Lamb has voted against and then for legalization at the federal level, striking a more cautious approach, seeking better parameters for who can use the drug and when.
That prompted one of Kenyatta’s best non-Fetterman jabs Wednesday, suggesting Lamb “got a contact high” in Washington “because he used to be against this and now he’s for it.”
What about Alexandria Khalil?
The Jenkintown Borough Council member and former delegate for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign has raised less than $20,000 in a primary that costs millions to be competitive. She does not register in the polling.
Khalil’s challenge will be to have an impact on stage with one rival who embraces the progressive label (Kenyatta) and another who is often seen that way but holds the term at arm’s length (Fetterman).