The candidates for central New York’s 22nd Congressional District race faced off Tuesday in the second of four debates set for this election season.
In an hour-long debate hosted by WCNY, Democratic State Senator John Mannion and incumbent Republican Brandon Williams clashed on a number of issues, including ways to curb the drug addiction crisis that especially targets central New York’s homeless population. Williams said the answer starts by securing the border.
"One of the challenges that we face in particular is an open southern border since Biden and Harris have taken office and this has led to a flood of fentanyl and other kinds of very dangerous addictive and harmful drugs that's expanding the homeless population,” said Williams.
Mannion criticized Williams for voting against border legislation, and said the answer to the issue can be found at home.
"We need to fund our drug courts,” Mannion said. “We need an expansion of our drug courts and a real plan towards treatment, towards healing. We want individuals to be successful. We want them to be on a path towards wellness.”
Williams also zeroed in on crime and the impact of the state’s bail reform laws, two issues that helped fuel several Democratic congressional losses in New York in 2022.
"We have a crime problem in New York State,” Williams said. “That crime problem comes from cashless bail, it comes from the HALT Act, it comes from Raise the Age, it comes from the incredibly reckless policies that have come out of Albany under the participation of my opponent. And these are the things that have got to change.”
In response, Mannion said he was part of bail reform legislation on an issue that germinated before his time in Albany.
"There was great consensus about the fact that bail laws needed reform and that consensus did not just come from the advocates,” Mannion said. “It came from law enforcement, it came from district attorneys. I was not in office when those bail laws were passed. If you watch my opponent's messaging and his commercials, he will make it seem like I was.”
This is one of the more closely watched congressional races in the nation, and could be pivotal in determining which party has control of the House of Representatives next year. Williams and Mannion will hold two more debates before Election Day.
