U.S. Senate candidates trade barbs, talk energy in Erie forum
After months of back-and-forth blows in commercials and campaign rallies, the two highest-polling Republican candidates for Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate seat appeared together for the first time at a candidate forum Wednesday morning.
David McCormick and Dr. Mehmet Oz, who are running in the Republican primary for the Senate seat, were present in Erie for a forum hosted by the Manufacturer & Business Association, as were candidates Jeff Bartos and Kathy Barnette.
Although Oz and McCormick, in their first joint appearance, traded jabs nearly from the beginning, all four candidates focused on the importance of the energy industry, especially in Pennsylvania, and in particular resources such as Marcellus Shale natural gas reservoirs.
Between January 2021 and January 2022, Butler County produced more than 275 million mcf, or thousand cubic feet, of natural gas, the eighth-highest county by production in the state.
McCormick, in his answer to the moderator’s first question about why the candidates chose to run for the Senate, cited, among other issues, the Biden administration’s policies which he claims are “driving up the price of gas, killing our energy industry.”
Oz, too, spoke on energy policy — in more vague terms — in response to the first question, saying “we know we’re (the federal government is) getting it wrong with energy policy.”
Bartos, a real estate developer from Montgomery County, claimed the Russian invasion of Ukraine is at least partly the result of the federal government making it clear “that we were not going to put America’s energy resources on the global stage.”
“We have the opportunity to lead forward and make a more secure world. It starts with our energy resources,” Bartos said. “I’ve traveled the state for five years. I’ve been fighting for our energy industry. When I get down to Washington, I’ll continue to fight for pipelines and for Pennsylvania energy.”
Barnette cited the preemptive closure of a natural gas well in Bradford County as an example of current policy making a “hostile environment” for businesses. According to the Associated Press, the company which proposed the well agreed to halt construction to settle a lawsuit brought by environmental groups over the company’s air emissions permit.
“We’re in a moment where we need greater capacity, and yet we’ve created a hostile environment,” she said of the federal government’s policies. “Stop creating a hostile environment and get someone to understand our issue.”
McCormick and Oz have repeatedly disparaged each other in commercials and campaign events, and those disagreements continued into Wednesday’s forum. Barnette, too, joined in on the arguing.
It took just until the moderator’s second question for McCormick and Oz to spat, with McCormick claiming Oz has “argued for more regulation in fracking” and “argued for a moratorium (on fracking) in Pennsylvania.”
“That’s a lie, and you know it’s a lie,” Oz immediately rebutted.
Just one question later, Oz said he “lost (his) train of thought” after Barnette spoke on the energy industry in response to a query about the federal government’s role in ameliorating the supply chain issues.
After Barnette interrupted Oz, the moderator asked the candidates to not attack their opponents and to not interrupt the others.
“He called my name,” Barnette said. “Do not call my name.”
During her closing remarks, Barnette took a jab at Oz, saying some candidates have “pretended to be a liberal, working beside Oprah and Michelle Obama.” When Oz gave his own closing statements, Barnette again interrupted him when Oz rhetorically asked, “Why is everyone attacking me?”
“Because you’re a liberal,” Barnette interjected.
