News

Actions

Mia Love, Doug Owens debate tackles issues

Posted at 11:37 PM, Oct 14, 2014
and last updated 2014-10-15 01:37:54-04

SALT LAKE CITY -- It's one of the most closely watched congressional races in Utah and Tuesday night the public got a chance to see Mia Love and Doug Owens go head to head in a live, televised debate.

Democrat Doug Owens thinks he has a shot at winning the 4th Congressional District seat, but Republican Mia Love felt good about the debate too.

Both of them faced tough questions submitted from the public.

With nine percent of Utah voters undecided about the 4th Congressional District race, the debate was make or break for Love and Owens.

The two tackled issues including education, the Affordable Care Act, partisan gridlock, corporate tax, illegal immigration and whether or not to send ground troops to fight the terrorist group ISIS.

After the debate the two candidates answered questions about how the race is going with just three weeks until Election Day and about each other.

Love said several times Owens was attacking her during the debate, instead of focusing on the issues and solutions to them. Her opponent disagreed.

"If you've got someone confident in what they're saying and confident in what they're doing, you don't have to attack the other people. Most of the things he talked about was trying to get people to believe something other than what I've said. I've said I've never called away from doing away with student loans," Love said.

"I think it's totally fair in a congressional election to be talking about the differences on the issues. Frankly I think she's hiding her position on student loans, Pell grants and the Department of Education," Owens said.

The Utah Debate Commission hosted Tuesday night's debate at KUED at the University of Utah. It was a chance for the public to see the Republican and Democrat unedited.

Election Day is Nov. 4.