Candidates for the 23rd Congressional District met for a debate in Elmira Thursday, hosted by local station WETM.
Rep. Nick Langworthy, a Republican and a first-term incumbent, is looking to hold on to the seat he was elected to serve in 2022. Tom Carle is a first-time challenger on the ballot, who wants to put the district in the hands of the Democratic Party.
During the course of the one-hour debate, Langworthy and Carle discussed the economy, housing and immigration.
The debate had some tense moments, but overall, the candidates remained civil in their delivery and rebuttals.
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The candidates agreed on some issues, such as eliminating a tax on tips for service workers, eliminating the tax on overtime, and housing affordability.
Tax on tips
“I've never really thought that tips should be taxed anyway, so I can get behind a philosophy like that, even though that would create a deficit even further for us,” said Carle.
“I wholeheartedly support eliminating tax on tips,” said Langworthy. “I think it will create a great growth in our economy.”
Tax on overtime
“Overtime is a lot of people's paycheck and it's a lot of tax revenue,” said Carle. “It would seem maybe we could have something that is a graduated tax on overtime, because I know when I used to work overtime, it always bothered me that I'm giving most of it back to the government. So I think. For me, it would be looking at the numbers, making sure we have every table and number and measure figured out, because we can't keep cutting revenue and expect our country to survive.“
“I think it is an excellent concept and we have to come up with the actual specifics [to] flesh out, and I'm sure that will come up in the next Congress as the current tax code expires,” said Langworthy. “It's set to expire in the first quarter, but I believe it will create a great stimulus in our economy by getting people to work more and put more time in, it will create a greater level within our workforce, especially in our manufacturing here, in places like the Southern Tier, which has such a strong manufacturing background.”
Housing affordability
Both candidates agreed housing supply is low and demand high, but they had differing opinions on how to make housing more affordable. Carle said hedge funds are monopolizing the housing sector and high interest rates were imposed to cool off a recession.
“There's a lot to be done with interest rates, but what we need to do is create the supply because it gets back to supply and demand,” said Carle. “When there's low supply and high demand, you're going to be able to command those prices. And we need to do something about the supply side.“
“Interest rates are extraordinarily high by current standards, because the home values are much higher than they were in a different generation,” said Langworthy. “We have an inventory problem. We don't have a demand problem. There's plenty of people that want to buy a house in New York, they just can't afford to.”
Langworthy said there is too much regulation getting in the way of developers and builders.
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The candidates had very different positions on other topics such as immigration, abortion and regulatory input from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on PFAS or “forever chemicals” in drinking water.
PFAS or ‘forever chemicals’
Langworthy said he has not “dug into the specifics” of the EPA’s recent ruling on PFAS levels, but said the agency-led rulemaking itself is “dangerous” because the government is “too bloated.”
In April, the EPA set its regulation on enforceable limits for PFAS found in drinking water to four parts per trillion. However, the federal agency has said the latest science shows that “there is no level of exposure to these contaminants without risk of health impacts, including certain cancers”.
“We've seen the U.S. Supreme Court shut down during the Chevron decision, some of the administrative state where we have bureaucratic entities creating rules on entire industries with no checks and balance from Congress,” said Langworthy. “And that is not how this country was founded. The legislation should come from the legislative branch rather than rulemaking from the bureaucracy.”
Carle said more needs to be done by manufacturers to keep chemicals out of drinking water. He shared an example where he minimized contaminants getting into a water supply when he worked for a food processing plant.
“I took steps, even at my young age, to try to reduce that chemical using the, you know, the triad of time, temperature and chemical concentration,” said Carle. “And we saved the company money, and we reduced the chemicals that were going down the drain, into the tributaries, into the water, you know, harming our environment. If everybody was that conscious about it, and we allow the EPA to do its work, we could probably do that universally.”
Abortion
“Trump has said that he would not support a federal standard,” said Langworthy. “Kamala Harris wants the New York standard, the unfortunate standard of abortion up to the moment of birth. I believe in a culture of life. I'm pro-life, and I'm proud of that fact. But Roe was bad law, and now it is at the state level, and you're seeing states go in many different directions on what standard they set for the time of birth. In New York, it's anything goes. In California, it’s anything goes. Other states have seen differently, and those states have the freedom to put up referendum to their people to make that decision.”
“It's a Republican hoax about this whole thing about late-term abortions,” said Carle. “They happen very infrequently, if you look at the data…the Republican opinion on this is they don't want to take into exception incest, rape. They don't care if young kids have to give birth and then mother that child. There's so many things about it that doesn't make sense. Eighty-six percent of the people who are abortion seekers are unmarried, so their life hasn't even really begun. Seventy-five percent of them are below the poverty line. So it's really discriminatory, and trying to create a dependent class that they can complain about if you try to help them. So I think when it comes down to, you know this, we have to have pro-choice.”
Other topics
Carle pointed to his career in manufacturing to highlight his understanding of the Southern Tier job sectors and its workforce.
“Someone who comes from manufacturing, I believe I have an edge on my opponent, because I've started up factories,” said Carle. “I've helped them with the bottom line. I know how to get STEM [science, technology, engineering, mathematics] and train workforces and develop the infrastructure, power grids and the requirements of new manufacturing. And I think someone like me in District 23 will show that we're open for business, because that is my forte. It's my strength, and I know how to make that work.”
Langworthy kept his focus on immigration issues within the Biden/Harris administration.
“We have a raging inferno at our southern borders,” Langworthy said. “We have a blind eye from the borders ourselves. Kamala Harris, who all of a sudden wants to talk tough about the border when she knows she's failing in the polls.“
Langworthy went on to say, “We need to finish the wall. We need to stop, catch and release. We need to reinstitute ‘remain in Mexico’ [policy] and get serious about the southern border.”
The 23rd Congressional District includes Tioga, Chemung, Schuyler, Steuben, Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties as well as parts of Erie County.
The general election is Tuesday, Nov. 5.
For information on where to find polling locations in your area, contact your local county board of elections.
The full debate is available for viewing on the WETM website.