Republican House candidates for Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District Gary Leffler, Nicole Hasso, and Zach Nunn duked it out on stage in a debate hosted by Des Moines’s WHO 13. Journalist Dave Price moderated the event in its entirety.
Topics starting the night off began with candidate opinions of the capitol Riots of January 2021, where Gary Leffler was one of the rally attendees.
“Was it justified, and have you talked to your supporters about it?” posed the question:
All candidates condemned the rioters’ actions, while some also blamed the lack of due process for all individuals across the board.
“One of the things that concerns me back in 2020, we had all the ‘peaceful protests and peaceful riots where people burned down buildings, held communities hostage and took the livelihood of small businesses, and those people they were ‘arrested” but it was called catch and release, catch and release, so if you’re going to hold someone accountable for breaking the law, it needs to be across the board. It doesn’t matter if congress, in the white house, it doesn’t matter if you are a senator, if you break the law you should be held accountable and that is just not an option-we can’t pick and choose who is going to be prosecuted and who is not,” emphasized Hasso.
Despite the various answers given by the candidates, All could agree that one should be punished under the law of due process no matter one’s political leanings.
Other than January 6, the candidates had praised Iowa for its voter ID law requiring voters to present a government-issued ID at polls.
Candidate Zach Nunn hit on the superb election process in Iowa, pointing toward the non-partisan redistricting and a paper ballot to back it up while criticizing how Congresswoman Cindy Axne wants to change the current process with HR 1 that would make Congress in charge of state elections.
All candidates praised Governor Kim Reynolds and Secretary Paul Pate for requiring ID at voter polls, whereas Hasso advocated that other states must follow suit with Iowa’s voting policy.
“We have to unite, we have been divided for too long, it is ok to sit at the table and walk away to agree to disagree, families have been broken up, friendships have been ended, stop the madness, and come together,” said Hasso on racial and division in the country, who is the only African American woman conservative on the docket.
If there was one aspect all of them could agree on, it was the poor leadership from Axne.
“In the last election, Cindy Axne won 1 county, Polk county. I’m proud to be the only candidate to serve in all 21 counties because we actually took the time to listen to Iowans and know that this third district represents everybody’s voice,” asserted Nunn against Axne.
“When Cindy Axne says she represents all Iowans and actually stood up to her leadership, we just need to look at her voting record to see the 100% voting record she has with Nancy Pelosi,” pointed out Nunn.
Additionally, Hasso Criticised Axne’s Unreported $645,000 Stock trades, calling them “funny.”
“It is time for Cindy Axne to go home,” argued Hasso, especially after being head of the financial oversight committee.
Candidate Profiles in our Previous piece: The Battle For Iowa’s 3rd District – Iowa Field Report
