>>> primary election day in Iowa is only a few weeks away and early voting started this week.

Where do Democrats running for Iowa's U.S. senate seat stand on the issues?

Those three candidates are here at Iowa PBS for this special, live Iowa press debate.

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>> For decades Iowa press has brought you political leaders and newsmakers from across Iowa and beyond.

Live from the Iowa PBS studios in Johnston, Iowa, this is a special U.S. senate Democratic primary debate.

Here is moderator Kay Henderson.

>> Welcome inside Iowa PBS studios here in Johnston.

We have three Democratic candidates for the U.S. Senate seat in Iowa who have gathered.

They are on your primary ballot.

They are hoping to win that primary for a chance to challenge Republican U.S. senator Chuck Grassley in November.

Let's meet the candidates.

Abby Finkenauer of Cedar rapids is a former state representative who served one term in the United States house of representatives.

Mike Franken of Sioux city is a retired U.S. navy vice admiral who ran for the U.S. senate primary two years ago.

And Glenn Hurst is a doctor and member of the Minden city council.

Candidates, welcome.

>> Thank you.

>> Hello.

>> Joining me tonight in asking questions are Erin Murphy the GOIN bureau chief for "the gazette" in Cedar rapids and Brianne Pfannenstiel the chief politics reporter at "the Des Moines register."

A question from me to begin things to all of you.

We'll start with Abby Finkenauer.

Donald Trump handily won Iowa twice.

Democrats have lost three most recent U.S. Senate races in Iowa.

Why would you fare differently?

>> Every single time I have been on the ballot as a Democrat for federal office we have gotten more votes than the Democrats above us who had more money and that is because of the coalition of voters we bring together here.

I mean, I grew up in a small town a little bit north of Dubuque called Cheryl with more cows than people and my dad was a union pipe fitter welder and my mom was a public school secretary.

It is folks like my parents who I fight for every single day.

It is why we're proud to have the endorsement of the Iowa federation of labor.

I mean, that is 55,000 hard working men and women across this state who are working their tails off every single day for their families and they expect somebody to do their jobs and have their backs.

That is who I am.

That is what I've done in that state house.

It's what I did in Congress.

That is what I will do as the next United States Senator.

The biggest piece is this.

It is about the contrast between Senator Grassley and I.

He has never faced anything like this before.

And it is about the differences of the fact that I will never forget where I come from and who I fight for and why I am in this race.

He is somebody who's been in D.C. for nearly 50 years.

The guy has owned a house in Virginia since I was 5 years old.

It is time that we have somebody doing the work, bringing people together, and that is a work I have always done and again would be proud to do as the next United States senator from Iowa.

>> Mike Franken what is the argument for your candidacy?

>> I think it is time Iowa wants to see Chuck Grassley be retired.

So the question is which Democrat candidate do we want to elect?

And with a concentration in rural Sioux county, Iowa growing up and a broad perspective in an adult life I believe I offer Iowa a grand scope of activity that I'm happy to -- I am very pleased, privileged, and honored to have this opportunity and I am confident by the appearance of our influencers and our volunteers we've had a fabulous campaign thus far.

And I believe this -- there is rousing acceptance that I have gotten from the state of Iowa this time around in particular will follow through to November and beat Chuck Grassley handily.

>> Glenn Hurst let's hear from you.

>> Sure.

Thank you very much.

It is a great question.

I think for me you left off one part of the stem, which was before Donald Trump won, Barack Obama won twice in this state.

He was a dark horse candidate that came to Iowa and worked the stump and was speaking about being an agent of change.

That's really what Donald Trump did as well.

Now, it is a radically different change but it was appealing to Iowa voters.

Then we as a Democratic party put forward three candidates that were really relatively moderate candidates like you shared, Patty, judge, Braley, Theresa greenfield really from the centrist side of the Democratic party and they lost because they didn't appeal to that desire for change.

Iowa voters have an opportunity in this election to make a change and make a selection of another set of moderates, a Sinema like candidate or a man chin like candidate or a harkin like candidate.

I would be happy to be the Harkin like candidate.

>> To Mike Franken first a white shooter opened fire over the weekend in Buffalo targeting black people in a racist attack.

What more can Congress do to address this?

>> We should certainly number one address our gun laws in America.

Certainly crimes such as that we have standing laws but the great expanse of opportunities that we should be working on in this country to go after the divisions which are fomented by certainly the GOP in many respects that we have been accepting of.

I believe that is job number one.

We can address additional laws to address hate crimes and I believe we've done a lot of that in the past but we need to also look into social media and monitor these actions.

It is interesting, after 911 we asked the Muslim community in America to self-police themselves.

As a matter of fact, it was quite successful, where we moderated the message.

We have the same issue going on in the far right.

We let it run for too long.

We need to get tough about this and investigate and prosecute those responsible.

And the laws are there.

We just need to get action.

>> Glenn Hurst, what more can Congress do on hate crimes?

>> They can do so much more on hate crime than we have been doing.

And what we're hearing already is the idea of let's just keep doing things the way we do things in Washington, D.C. That is not the agent for change Iowans are looking for.

When we talk about hate crimes and the use of guns and violence this isn't a new problem.

Let's take this back to Charlottesville even.

We had a huge opportunity and motivation in this country to address gun laws and address hate crimes and our government chose to do nothing.

We've sat back and we've waited and we've still really done almost nothing to get assault rifles off of our streets.

We are doing very little to protect our populations of color and immigration.

We are still building a wall.

We have to have a complete change in the way we do business in Washington, D.C. and I think the motivation to do that doesn't need to come by waiting for another gun incident to happen or waiting for another hate crime.

The time is now.

We should be arriving day one and making common sense gun laws in Washington, D.C. >> Abby Finkenauer what would be your approach?

>> I just want to say the white supremacy in this country and the way we have seen the rhetoric just ratchet up and extremists getting louder and louder is absolutely horrifying.

This should not be happening in the United States of America in the year 2022 and yet here we are.

It is on every single leader.

Our community leaders all the way up to federal leaders to call it out as they see it and make sure that whoever, if they are their supporters that they're telling them this is wrong.

That is the first thing.

The second thing is this.

As I think about this right now and you asked the question honestly all I could think about was earlier this week I was in Iowa city and I met Roland.

And he was there and Roland is a black man that lives in Iowa city.

And afterwards, I am talking to him, and he told me that this week he had not made it to the grocery store yet.

He goes, I know -- I know in the back of my head I know why I haven't.

That's terror.

That's terror in the way that shouldn't be happening again in the United States of America.

Yet here we are.

That's not freedom.

Of not being able to go to the grocery store or send your kids to school or an after prom party and not know if they're going to come home or not because they might get shot.

We have a problem in this country and it needs to be dealt with with leaders who are willing to do it.

So, one, I'd make sure I was doing my job as a united states Senator passing a bill I already voted for and signed on to in the U.S. House while I was there called HR-8 cracking down on background checks and making sure we close that loopholes, having red flag laws.

The biggest piece is this.

When it comes to the extremism there is a bill.

The Covid-19 hate crimes act.

That needs to actually be passed the United States Senate where there will be more funding tracking down these extremists and making sure we stop this happening in our country.

>> Erin?

>> Buffalo was sadly not alone across several major U.S. cities last weekend.

Gunshots killed at least 18 people and wounded dozens more.

Glenn Hurst, we'll start with you this time.

All of you got into this a little bit but let's talk about specifics.

What changes to gun and ammunition laws and regulations, if any, would you vote for as a senator?

>> Well, I think this is incredibly important.

I can be very specific about what we need to do and why.

In council bluffs, less than a year ago, a Militia Embedded itself in our sheriff's department when they closed down the community because of a potential threat of a riot following the George Floyd murder.

What we saw was this local government agency embracing militants on the street with their weapons, not sending them home when the curfew went into effect and, essentially, allowing them a bully pulpit in our streets.

We absolutely need to ban assault weapons.

There is really only one purpose for those and that is to kill large numbers of people in a short period of time.

We also need to control the access to ammunition and control the access to magazine clips or other devices like bump stocks that turn other weapons into a more automatic style weapon.

There is just no time to wait anymore.

We've had that time and the time to act is now.

>> Abby Finkenauer, you touched on a few.

Are there other measures you'd be interested in addressing?

>> Yeah, look.

I think this is something whether it is HR-8 and getting that through the United States Senate there is plenty more to do.

It is one where I truly believe we can bring Iowans together on it and also Americans when we take the fear out of it.

I mean, I still remember in 2018 when I was running for Congress I was in Marshall town talking to a group of brick layers.

There was a guy standing there.

He had I think a Cabela's hat on.

He looked at me and this was right after parkland, and he says, well I got a question about guns.

I said, okay.

Let's talk.

Because I'm, you know, pro 2nd amendment but we need to do smart things when it comes to curbing gun violence.

The question he asked me, with tears in his eyes, was how do we keep our kids safe in schools who are getting shot up?

I mean, this is something we shouldn't be afraid to talk about because, I mean, I grew up in a house where dad was a pheasant hunter.

Where you should be able to go hunting on the weekends and send your kids to school in Iowa and in the United States of America and not be afraid are they coming back home or not?

And so there's plenty more to do whether it is HR-8, whether it is actually making sure we have red flag laws to be able to cut down on extremism, of people actually getting those guns in the first place, but, again, there is plenty more to do and I look forward to being able to do that as a united states Senator and also bring Iowans with us.

The other thing I'll say about the background check bill, 94% of gun owners in this country support that.

You've got Chuck Grassley who's been sitting in that United States senate literally blocking the bill.

>> Mike Franken?

>> So I grew up with firearms.

It has been part of my professional life.

There is no one in Washington, D.C. or in Iowa or in the NRA who is going to gun-SPLAIN me and I doubt anybody would be happy to have a debate on me on what we should do for responsible gun ownership in America.

So from indemnity insurance to hardening of society at the expense of firearms sales and ammunition sales, to background checks, similar to the United States military does for surplus firearm sales.

A five step program.

Two background checks, training.

Those people are responsible gun owners.

They do not commit crimes.

They store their firearms properly.

They're mentally and physically capable and they understand the effects of them.

From being a land forces commander to being -- to arming -- to guarding nuclear weapons my extensive experience in this makes me a superlative person on the committee to draft these laws.

And enforce them.

Background checks, etcetera.

A whole -- for magazine size, there are a hundred things that can be done.

And responsible gun owners in America, every one of them, every responsible one, will agree with me because this is what we deserve and it is what those who have never handled a firearm also deserve.

>> All three of you candidates support abortion rights and this question will go first to Mike Franken.

As a senator voting on a bill to guarantee abortion access nationwide.

>> Yeah.

>> Would you support limits like parental consent or perhaps defining field viability?

>> The best person to answer this is a doctor and the woman.

But as a man I would say, no.

I believe that this is a responsibility of the mother, of the woman.

And her doctor.

So I don't believe we ought to have oversight laws that respond to that.

I think we ought to codify.

>> Glenn Hurst?

>> I appreciate Mike coming on to that.

When we had a forum in Carroll, Iowa it was a different is discussion about between a husband and his wife.

We absolutely want to assure a woman has control of her body at all times.

Body autonomy is part of being an American.

One should always have body autonomy.

I as a physician can't make you donate blood to save someone's life.

I can't make you give a kidney to somebody who might match you.

I can't take your kidney from your body after you have died without your permission.

Body autonomy is a guarantee of being an American.

And a woman not having the ability to control her body at all times through a pregnancy would be out of the question.

It is certainly a federal issue.

It needs to be codified immediately.

I have stated I would codify.

I would write the law if necessary.

Because we absolutely cannot have second class citizenry here for women.

It is like going back into the dark ages.

So I would support a hundred percent woman having her ability to choose whenever.

>> Abby Finkenauer?

>> Look, this decision belongs between a woman and her doctor, full stop.

I'll also say this.

Pregnancy is complicated.

It is not black and white.

It is why this decision belongs between a woman and her doctor.

But I'll also say this.

What is happening right now in our country, I mean you've got Oklahoma today passing a lawmaking it illegal to get an abortion at fertilization.

That's about control.

That's about controlling women, controlling their health care, and quite frankly women will die.

It is horrific what is happening in this country, the extremism that has taken over and taking away my rights as a woman standing here today.

You have a supreme court who they should do and actually uphold our rights.

It's extraordinary.

It is why we need somebody standing on the floor in 2023 in the United States senate who is a woman of child bearing age, who is, who does actually have a personal stake in this.

I mean, it is absurd to me that we don't have more voices standing on that floor right now and, unfortunately, I've already had to defend my rights as a woman three times on the State house floor and I am prepared to do it again in the United States Senate.

Folks, wouldn't it be nice to be able to replace the oldest man currently in the United States Senate with the youngest woman in history ever to get there and do it in a way where we are replacing him who has sat there, he led to Merrick Garland being not nominated, blocking that, leading to the supreme court, one of his first votes ever as a united states senator in his first year was a Constitutional ban on abortion.

can make him pay for it.

>> Glenn Hurst, as the support appears ready to overturn Roe vs. Weighed some Democrats have begun pushing for a re structuring of the supreme court.

Would you support expanding the number of justices from 9 to 13?

>> I would not support it from 9 to 13.

I support it from 9 to 19.

I believe that we add two justices every two years until we reach the point of having 19.

That gives us an opportunity to elect people who are going to run those confirmation hearings.

This is a place where I really am very different from my competitors who are planning to go to Washington, D.C. and continue business as usual.

I believe changing the supreme court structure is just one of those pieces.

What we also need to be doing is adjusting the way we do business as a U.S. Senate.

I'm looking at comprehensive senate rules reform, rules that have kind of sat stagnant for a long time.

We shouldn't have to worry about whether or not a justice is going to get a hearing.

That could be a senate rule.

Any appointee receives a hearing within 60 days of appointment.

Win or lose, your constituents are going to know how you feel about that candidate.

We could have a system where appointment to committees is limited to a specific time period.

We can't institute laws that prevent you from running for office five, six, seven times but we can certainly limit the amount of time you spend on a committee or leading a committee.

And we can limit the amount of time that a person is able to be in that position from a partisan appointment as well.

We can go to a lottery system for placement or a seniority system for placement.

So we're about doing things in Washington, D.C. radically different from just going and trying to operate as usual.

>> Abby Finkenauer, would you support expanding the number of justices to 13?

>> Well, the first thing I would look at is, I don't know if you heard this or not but I'm a big fan of term limits and I understand the way that the U.S. supreme court is structured right now that is obviously not something that is in the cards.

That is something we could look at actually changing or we could look at even having them drop down to lower courts and going back up.

That type of situation.

That's something I think we should look at, specifically given the makeup of our Supreme court and the fact it has become so partisan.

You've got these folks who sit there right now and it is basically dependent on who we've got as a united states President and it shouldn't have to be that way or who is heading up the judiciary like we saw with senator Grassley.

I would be really curious how we actually we make more certainty about how the folks move on and off the court than now.

When we are talking about Roe in particular and honestly I imagine why you are asking the question right now, we need to get rid of the filibuster in the United States senate and codify Roe but we also need to protect our LGBTQ neighbors and friends across the state, in this country, pass the equality act.

These are all things that quite frankly are being stopped right now because you have the United States senate not willing to do its job and do its work by getting rid of the filibuster to begin with.

>> Mike Franken?

>> I'll attempt to get the award for the most SUS instinct response without aiming to get the most mic time.

The answer is no we should keep it at nine but we should have term limits, 18 years, so it doesn't become a partisan placement.

>> Erin?

>> Abby Finkenauer if Roe vs. Wade is overturned and the right to privacy in other opinions is also believed to be in peril should the U.S. senate pass a law legalizing same sex marriage?

>> Absolutely.

I think this is one of those things, again, where when you look at what that decision was, the leaked draft, right, they left off overfelled.

That said something to me.

That said that women and our rights aren't where they are going to stop and it is our job as federal United States senators or representatives that we have in Congress to do the job to protect Americans across this country and their rights.

Again, it is why things like the equality act that I passed and I already supported in the house are going to be incredibly important to move in the United States senate.

>> Mike Franken?

>> Absolutely.

The larger question is why that is even a question in society, from a human rights perspective.

Why from a -- because it is a God given right we should have someone we love as our partner in life.

So of course we should codify it.

The fact that we have to codify it speaks volumes for the antiquated thought process I believe many of us, some people still have.

I think that is a grand idea and I just wish that all LGBTQ issues like this would not have to be singled out as stand alone issues because we would be far more accepting of this in society.

>> Glenn Hurst?

>> Well I think you're going to be hard pressed to find a Democrat that doesn't support codifying the ability for same sex marriage.

What I think matters for our viewers today is really about how we get that done and who is really going to do it?

You know, when we sent Congresswoman Finkenauer to Washington, D.C., we were all pulling for her to deliver on the things we really wanted.

And when you didn't come out strong for Medicare for all and didn't support the green new deal, and didn't vote in favor of the heroes act, you know, it really left people disappointed and wondering what's the point of sending people to Congress that aren't going to follow up on the values that we have here?

And, you know, having stars on your cap is also not leadership.

We've got two candidates here that are looking to go to Washington, D.C. to keep doing the same thing.

I learned leadership from my father, a Trump supporting father, who shows up at the rotary club and at the lions club and as commander of the VFW and the American legion and though we disagree, leadership is the example he set for me.

Dad, don't ever expect me to say that again.

>> Abby Finkenauer, do you have a response?

>> Iowans know me.

They know who I am.

They know what I fight for.

I mean, within the first two weeks of being in the U.S. house I got to work passing bills actually showing up for rural America that's been ignored in this country for about two decades at least.

In fact I actually found a Republican from Utah to help me get it done.

I actually passed the bills when it came to prescription drugs reform.

I don't have to talk about it.

I voted for it.

In fact, it was a bill having Medicare negotiate with drug companies to bring down those prices while we had senator Grassley over in that U.S. senate blocking it every chance he got and literally writing the bill so Medicare couldn't negotiate with drug companies.

I mean, this is just, again, the things I have done whether it is passing the pro act, union rights, whether it is addressing the child care crisis in this country, the affordability and accessibility of it, the quality of it, whether it is paid family leave, whether it's protecting made in America.

I am proud of my record and Iowans know who I am.

And who I fight for.

And it is them.

It is the folks across this state.

And this country who have been forgotten for far, far too long.

>> Brianne?

>> We're going to move on -- >> Can I respond please?

Because he said something about my leadership.

Glenn, really?

When I was 19 I was a foreman at a slaughter house.

Age 19.

The oldest person I had working for me was 54.

I have both national and international awards for leadership.

You don't make three star.

You don't become a commanding officer of a ship.

You don't have the best ship in the navy if you're not a leader.

I have more leadership than I care to state anymore.

Thanks.

>> We're going to move on to some economic issues.

Inflation is at a 40-year high.

The cost of consumer goods continues to rise.

Mike Franken, did President Biden's $1.9 trillion American rescue plan contribute to that inflation?

>> The definition of inflation, more money than the goods and services there are to buy.

Certainly we flooded the market with money and won.

There are issues associated with the negative side of that on the recessionary side, which was the great fear.

I don't know.

I'm not an economist.

I haven't looked at the numbers.

History will tell us this.

But certainly there is a flood of money.

And regarding inflation, one of the many factors associated with this is the fact that we've exported so much of our capabilities overseas.

And we do recall the pandemic is still very much part of China.

And consequently the goods and services aren't coming here.

The demand for this is here.

And the corporate world they're sitting on a fat amount of money.

So some of this is also generated by corporate greed in America.

And, yes, perhaps that was a lot of money but I don't believe that is the issue associated with today's inflationary tendencies.

>> Glenn Hurst?

>> Sure.

I think this is one of those places where we're looking for somebody to go to Washington, D.C. to act on their ability to lead.

And what we need to lead on is antitrust enforcement.

The problem right now, let's look at the infant formula issue.

This isn't about inflation.

This is about monopolies.

This is a failure of our government to break up the three companies, Abbott, nestle, and Mead Johnson that corner the market on our infant formula.

That's the problem we're seeing kind of across industries in this country.

Again, it's far more about monopolies.

What if this problem was corn?

Okay?

What if something was wrong with the biggest corn producer in this state, right?

85% -- what if their herbicide doesn't work this year?

There goes our crops.

What if the insecticide doesn't work?

There goes our crops.

We have put far too much money in single baskets in this nation and what we need is leadership to go to Washington, D.C. and break up antitrust.

And then you'll see that corporate greed be addressed that Mike referred to but it's got to be far more than just looking at inflation.

>> Abby Finkenauer, did the American rescue plan contribute to rising inflation costs?

>> I'll tell you what led to rising inflation costs.

The fact that, yeah.

We've got these corporations who are raking in literally record profits right now and passing it on to hard working families or not passing it on to hard working families and quite frankly taking advantage of them.

We see that right now in oil and gas companies.

I mean, I think it was chevron who just put up $9 billion in profit.

I mean, it's absurd what is happening here as you've got people, I mean, I grew up in SHERRILL about 20 minutes from Dubuque so you are driving 40 minutes a day to get anywhere, get to your job and school and I know Iowans are hurting right now and they are frustrated and there is work to be done.

Part of that is holding those companies accountable but another piece of that very specifically when it comes to our goods and services, I mean, it's about supply chain.

We have had this domestic supply chain breaking for the last 20 years and you've had senator Grassley just sitting there watching it happen for that long.

In fact I put out a plan about addressing that back in December because I'm not somebody who is ever going to just complain about it.

I'm going to tell you how we can fix it.

We have to bring people along with us to do it.

>> We have a couple quick questions here.

>> Quick followup to that.

We want to ask each of you if you support President Biden's build back better plan which again would pump trillions more dollars into the economy.

Do you have any concerns about its passage impact on inflation?

Glenn Hurst, we'll start with you on this one.

>> I supported build back better when it was in the 10 and $11 trillion package.

We've got to invest in this country in a way that we have not.

We're talking about green jobs.

We're talking about infrastructure that hasn't been addressed since the original new deal.

So, yes.

I would support build back better.

>> Abby Finkenauer?

>> There was one piece of build back better I was not a big fan of and that was tax breaks going to folks in New York and California to be honest with you.

That is something that bothered me that was stuck in there and I think there are plenty of other good things that should get done.

I mean, it's things like actually having preschool in this country and pre-K for every kid.

That should be done.

It's prescription drug reform.

That should be done.

It's paid family leave.

That should be done.

And these are things that again we should be working on and there were problems that I felt the way that was put together to try to get as many votes as they needed partly honestly is why we need to get rid of the filibuster again to actually make these things more bipartisan versus how they built that in the first place.

>> Mike Franken?

>> Yes I believe the build back better plan is a good plan and the smaller version is a better plan.

But I agree with Abby that some of the tax breaks that were written in there are not advantageous.

I suggest we repeal the Trump tax breaks first and piece meal some of the other left over ones that were in the build back better to be placed in, yes.

>> Abby Finkenauer this next question goes to you.

Do you support canceling or modifying college debt?

If so, what do you say to people who didn't go to college or who paid off their loans already?

>> Well, higher education in this country right now is in a lot of hurt.

We've got a lot of our kids right now.

I mean I was a first generation college grad.

A lot of kids in Iowa were.

Still have about 20,000 to $30,000 left of student loan debt.

I know what that's like.

I also know, you know, my dad didn't go to college.

He busted his tail every single day trying to put us there.

So this is something that has needed to be dealt with.

I think if we do anything when it comes to relief it should be targeted.

I mean, you should not be giving anything to anybody who is making over, you know, gosh, $100,000 a year.

That's just not how anything like this should work.

The thing I've always worked on when it came to student loan relief in the first place is how do you actually make sure if there is any relief you are giving an impact back to your community?

So we should be looking at things and this is what I worked on in the states house and Congress, possibly looking at where we've seen a loss in population over the years and is there ways for the federal government to even work with cities and counties to incentivize people to live there and also work in the professions where they're needed as well.

That's how we should be looking at this problem.

>> Mike Franken, what is your view on college debt?

>> So college debt in setting it aside what we're doing is treating a symptom to a larger problem.

When I went to school working in the hog slaughter house KA pay -- a summer in the slaughter house could pay for an entire year at school.

Wage scale is not that way.

The state doesn't help out in education like it used to.

So -- and, oddly enough, the student loan program makes money off loans.

But I believe it is a divisive issue in America to set aside student loans.

For your issue with a union person who pays for that apprentice training, and why ultimately they would be helping to pay for someone who may very well be their boss some day and may not even graduate from college, the logistics associated with this that somebody who graduated two years ago, do we compensate them?

What about somebody five years from now who has a large debt?

Is this an ongoing thing?

If we constantly wipe out college debt what do you think the cost of college is going to do?

>> Glenn Hurst?

>> This is a place where I clearly am different from my opponents.

I absolutely support repayment of student loans.

I support paying back people who paid off their loans.

And there should be no cap as was referenced on who should have that loan paid back just because you did well in spite of having been taken advantage of by a predatory loan market doesn't mean you don't deserve the equality of the refund of your money.

So this is the difference between going to D.C. to do things the way things have always been done and going there to do things different and working for the people of Iowa.

I firmly believe that there is no reason to not pay that debt back.

And we really need to be looking even further forward to what are we going to do with community college school?

That should be free.

So should trade schools.

>> Brianne?

>> The President took steps yesterday to secure ingredients for baby formula, flying in supplies from other countries.

Mike Franken, is it time to change regulations and end tariffs on foreign imports of baby formula?

>> Well, Glenn mentioned this.

Absolutely.

You know, it is interesting that it is centered on three industries when most of the ingredients in baby formula, look at the chemicals associated with it, come from the United States.

And yet we can have manufacturers overseas in Europe of all places with more expensive labor markets, more expensive power, to ship the product over here and be less expensive than U.S. products.

Why that is protected I'm not so sure.

It is a critical industry.

It is something that has to have resilience, redundancy, efficacy in it.

But the fact that we are now in this situation where it's a 40% reduction in stock because of one factory going down as Glenn was saying the antitrusts that have set that aside where they've gobbled up a series of industries and have a corner of a market, it is an atrocious situation.

So, yes.

If we want to import it, as a matter of fact, we should have done that some days ago, weeks ago.

>> Glenn Hurst is it time to change regulations and end tariffs?

>> It is.

Why that happened is really clear, Mike.

It is because we have a government that is set up to incentivize monopolies, to sequester wealth at the top 1% of our nation, and that is actually very anticompetition.

So I refer back to my desire for antitrust enforcement.

But in the short term the answer is yes.

We need baby formula.

In the long term, we need to break up those companies.

But to get specifically to the point about infant formula, you know, if we had Medicare for all, if we had people who have the guts to go and stand up for that and say, this is what we want, this is what the American people want, then we would be doing so much more breast feeding.

We would be doing so much more maternal care.

We would be far more prepared to take care of our infants than we are and formula is just part, a symptom of that problem.

>> Abby Finkenauer?

>> Well, first I just want to say thank you for bringing up this topic.

This is something that I saw being an issue, heck, last month as I was watching, I mean, again, here is an example of representation mattering.

I am a 33-year-old woman who's got a lot of friends right now who have little babies and they are trying to feed them.

I mean, in all due respect, breast feeding is not the answer for everybody.

And it shouldn't have to be.

That shouldn't be a response to this question.

We've got people right now trying to find the blue one, the purple one, talking to each other on social media trying to even ship these across state lines because they can't find it.

Again, I was watching this happen over three weeks ago and called on the Biden Administration to use the defense production act to actually deal with it.

About two weeks before anybody else seemed to have paid attention that this was a problem.

Again, what an example of senator Grassley sitting there being so out of touch of what is actually happening with constituents.

So yes.

We should be dealing with the tariffs to be able to get it in as quickly as we possibly can but this defense production act I would have liked it actually done three weeks ago when we were requesting it to be done.

Glad it is now.

There is plenty more work to do on it and we need to make sure this is actually addressed and our folks, our moms and dads across this country are able to feed their babies.

>> Glenn Hurst some Democrats in the senate have proposed a new tax on Americans with accumulated wealth of more than $50 million.

Would you vote for a so-called wealth tax?

>> I would absolutely vote for a wealth tax.

What we have seen happen since the Reagan era is this sequestering of money into the hands of the top 1% of Americans.

The fact is, as a rural physician I probably have more income and with the drug dealer on the street in terms of ability to generate wealth in this nation, and that should really ridiculous.

But it sadly is not.

The ability to generate wealth is about where the wealth sits now.

It takes money to make money.

And we have set up a society that has rewarded people at the top and allowed them tax breaks and tax deductions with the idea that that money was going to trickle down to the folks who need it.

Well, it didn't trickle down.

We have all the evidence that it didn't trickle down.

It is now time to go reclaim your tax dollars and put them to work for Americans.

>> Abby Finkenauer would you support a wealth tax.

>> I'd have to see the exact bill and language but I'll say this.

I will never support raising taxes on hard working Iowans and I will say the folks at the top making over $50 million are getting away with so much in this country, not paying their fair share, as working families in this country have been bearing the brunt of it and it shouldn't work that way.

I'll say this as well.

If you're looking at over $50 million I don't think there's a whole heck of a lot of Iowans right now who would be paying that.

These -- we're talking about actually leveling the playing field here.

To make sure that the brunt isn't on working families.

That you've got these people at the top who keep getting all of these tax cuts, all of these tax breaks, and not the folks doing the work, you know, picking up your garbage on the side of the road once a week.

The folks who are sweeping the floors.

The folks who are busting their tails every day, again, like I saw my parents do, and get screwed because of people like senator Grassley who have sat there and have gone along with it for decade after decade.

I've had enough of it.

And that is who I'm fighting for in the United States Senate.

>> Mike Franken would you vote for the wealth tax?

>> Does anybody think the animus displayed by Elon musk and Jeff Bezos has anything to do with this administration's ultimate designs to put tax on them at the high end?

Of course it is.

These are hugely greedy individuals who have not been paying their fair share and what is greater needed, Erin, is a broader tax to look at the capital gains associated with various property ownerships that -- this is a ripe area for additional revenue to bring in the type of medical care that I had.

We should also be talking about Social Security.

Why we have $147,000 cap on who pays Social Security for income is ridiculous.

Lift that cap.

Suddenly Social Security becomes financially solvent for perpetuity.

Let's do that as well.

Why do we even not think about that?

Put it in a reconciliation bill and make it happen.

>> Brianne?

>> Medicare for all legislation has been introduced in Congress that would extend Medicare coverage to all Americans and eliminate private health insurance.

Would you vote for that legislation?

Glenn Hurst, I'll start with you.

>> Well, I've been really clear on this on the campaign trail.

I absolutely would vote for the Medicare for all act.

As a matter of fact, on day one I would sign on as a cosponsor for it.

This act serves to provide health care and opportunities to every American in this nation.

It's also a great tool for rural recovery.

There's so many great things that come out of this act providing care for those 85 million people who currently don't have care, insurance or are under insured.

I think it's incredibly important to know that it is the only act that's on the table right now to address health care.

That we can't be just putting band-aids on cannonball wounds.

We can't be taking the affordable care act and expanding it or adding a Medicare option to it.

Those are not on the table.

They don't work.

Medicare for all is the solution.

>> Abby Finkenauer, would you vote for that legislation?

>> No.

Because what we need to do, we need to actually up Medicare reimbursement rates.

If that is not done, we are going to have a problem in this state when it comes to who is getting access to health care.

It is what I worked on while I was in Congress.

But what I do support is upping the Medicare reimbursement rates and having a public option folks can get into that is like Medicare that they can have if they want it but also, I mean, if they have negotiated their health care through their union, through their employer, and they like it I'm not taking away anybody's health care from any Iowan or any American.

We need to make sure that is very clear but that they have an option to actually be in like Medicare if they so choose which by the way would add competition into the marketplace to bring down private insurance anyway.

>> Mike Franken would you support existing Medicare for all legislation?

>> So I wouldn't have this opportunity in life to be standing before you had it not been for the comprehensive health care that the military provides with our special needs daughter.

So this is -- this opens doors for people.

I'm a big fan of this.

And to really work on the pharmaceuticals as well.

So how to implement this?

I agree with Abby that we should bump down to, say, Medicare for all who want it down to age 50.

Then start on the bottom perhaps from birth to say age 5 and narrow it down to ensure the Medicare process system has an opportunity to grow into itself.

You can't just do it and execute it.

It won't work.

So it needs to be incremental but I believe this is the future of America.

It'll make us all better.

>> Candidates, we're going to ask each of you a question and it is about something that Democrats are saying about your candidacy.

We'll start with Abby Finkenauer.

You have the bare minimum of signatures in one county and almost didn't make it on to the primary ballot.

Why did you choose to criticize the judge who handled that case instead of owning up to your own campaign's actions?

>> Well, I'll say this.

Look, when I got into this race I knew the GOP was going after me and that is clearly what they did in this scenario.

They spent thousands of dollars and hours going through trying everything they could to make it so Thai was not the one going up against senator Grassley.

And they lost.

The judge was wrong.

We had a Republican secretary of state's office affirm my petitions.

We had a bipartisan panel affirm the petitions.

judge ignore the bipartisan panel, ignore 30 years of precedent, and got overturned by seven Iowa supreme court justices.

We are on the ballot but I'll say this next time I think I'll end up with 50,000 signatures just to make sure and, again, know that this is kind of where they're at right now.

This is what they do.

We won.

We beat them already.

And we intend to beat them again in November.

>> For viewers of Iowa press the state auditor said you shouldn't have criticized the judge.

He was just following the law.

>> Look, I'm always going to stand up when I think something is wrong.

Seven supreme court justices agreed.

The lower court decision was WROPG.

I stood up for ourselves, for our campaign, for Iowans across the state and quite frankly for democracy.

That is what I will do as a united states senator.

I right now have no problem calling out these U.S. supreme court justices who have got it wrong and are going after my health care.

If that's who you want as a united states senator that's who I will be.

I will always call out the wrong as I see it and have the backs of Iowans and folks in this country again who have been ignored for far, far too long.

>> Mike Franken you positioned yourself as a moderate but moderate Democrats have failed to beat Chuck Grassley for years often by extreme margins.

Isn't it time for Democrats to try a new approach?

>> I didn't know I was declared a moderate.

That's news.

But whatever that declaration is, this is a state where some counties went 20% for Obama and then 20% for Donald Trump.

It's that middle segment who want logical, pragmatic, smart, dedicated, national servants to work for them.

Leader-servants.

I believe I'm that person.

I was asked today by the Des Moines register where am I on the scale of progressive and moderates?

I said well it's a very jagged edge.

In social programs I'm very progressive.

In some issues overseas, in foreign affairs, I'm inventive.

And I'm all over the map -- this is in response to a learned situation as an executive for 40 years.

>> Glenn Hurst, you had less than $50,000 in your campaign account at the end of march.

Why should Democrats trust you to run a credible campaign against an incumbent senator who will have millions of dollars to spend to defend himself?

>> Sure.

Whoever wins this race is going to have the millions of dollars that will come from the Democratic national committee and Chuck Schumer releasing the donors, which we are so grateful he didn't do in the primary.

That's how we had a Theresa greenfield last time.

Yes, I do not come with a book of generals and international reputation to raise money in this state.

I have a reputation with activists.

I'm a MINDen city council person, town of 600 people.

I am an activist with indivisible movement having organized them in southwest Iowa.

I've been an activist with the Iowa Democratic party as chair of the rural caucus.

I even chaired Cindy AKNE's district getting her re-elected to her seat.

So I don't move in circles of money.

I don't have a book from my Congressional campaign to dive into as well.

But what we have had is steady support from our coalition.

You know, the difference here is, I'm not running in this race and trying to build a coalition.

I am here because of my coalition.

And you all know the people in my coalition.

You know that there is a Democrat who is a progressive candidate in this race that is different from the other candidates.

>> Candidates, we've reached the final question of this debate and we have just a few minutes left, actually a couple minutes left.

We'll start with you, Glenn Hurst.

There are about 600,000 registered Democratic voters in the state.

To win a statewide race you need to attract independents and some Republicans to win.

What is your message to people who aren't Democrats?

>> So to people who aren't Democrats I say you should come back to the party because those people who are independents are not people that we've lost from the middle.

You pointed out our candidates yourself.

We've had plenty of middle of the road candidates that should have held on to Democrats.

The people we've bled from the Democratic party are those people who are progressive and want to see progressive policies done.

So come back home.

>> Mike Franken?

>> If you want to see an expanded business environment, if you want to see a great education, type of education I grew up in where our high school was 99th in the nation, if this is what you envision for Iowa, the progressive state that was the Tom harkin state, that was the place where we were 150 years ahead of Dred Scott.

This was the state that was my Iowa and I want to relive that Iowa.

You want a higher quality of life, I plan on giving that to you.

Join the team with my great volunteers and influencers throughout the state.

>> Abby Finkenauer, last minute?

>> Iowa is my home.

It is where I grew up.

It is where I will raise a family one day.

It is why I'm in this race.

It's not about a fancy title.

It's not about living in Washington, D.C.

It's about the work.

That is what I was taught in this state.

And, quite frankly, it is what Iowans deserve.

Right now we've got a who sits there and walks around like he is Mr.

Rural America yet we've lost 30,000 family farms in this state.

I've been to his home, his hometown of new Hartford where I was there for a save the post office rally because it was one of the few things actually on the Main Street.

I talked to folks in that town who said he has not come back and actually talked with them about investments.

You have literal, Main Street is completely hollowed out around this state as he sat there and watched it happen.

If he let it happen to his own hometown why do we think he cares about the rest of us?

This is what this race is about.

It is making sure we hold him accountable and making sure you have somebody who doesn't want to spend their life in Washington, D.C. like he has.

>> Abby Finkenauer, Mike Franken, and Glenn Hurst thank you for sharing your views tonight on this live edition of Iowa press.

Thanks to you for watching.

On behalf of everyone here at Iowa PBS, enjoy your evening.

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