Faso and Teachout debate; Presidential election looms large

Posted 8/21/12

TROY, NY — The race for New York’s 19th Congressional District is one of the most closely watched in the country with outside groups pouring millions of dollars into it. On October 13, the two …

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Faso and Teachout debate; Presidential election looms large

Posted

TROY, NY — The race for New York’s 19th Congressional District is one of the most closely watched in the country with outside groups pouring millions of dollars into it. On October 13, the two candidates, Republican John Faso and Democrat Zephyr Teachout faced off in a televised debate from WHMT TV in Troy.

Not surprisingly, one of the questions directed to both was who they were going to vote for in the presidential race in light of criticism lodged at both candidates, and especially comments Trump made in the now infamous video.

Teachout said she was going to vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton. She said, “I support her, I’m going to vote for her, but I’m going to keep being critical. Part of the job of being a congressional candidate is not paying attention to who’s at the top of the ticket… We’ve seen Donald Trump boast about sexual assault of woman. My opponent doesn’t seem to trust voters enough to tell them who he’s going to vote for on Election Day.”

Faso said, “My position has been clear from the start, that I would support the nominee of my [Republican] party. I could not support Mrs. Clinton obviously because I have significant policy differences with her. I am closer to Mr. Trump on economics and growing the economy. He’s put forth a list of Supreme Court nominees… and they would be good nominees for the Supreme Court. I am troubled by many of the things that I’ve heard. Those statements on the tape are reprehensible. They’re horrible, and I as a father and a husband am extremely disconcerted by those statements; they’re outrageous. But the fact of the matter is voters are intelligent enough to decide the race for president, and they’re going to decide the race for Congress in the 19th district.” Faso did not say who he would vote for.

Teachout responded to Faso saying, “I have a lot of sympathy for principled Republicans who are dealing with what Donald Trump has said, and honestly it’s not just what’s coming out now, it’s been clear for a while. He has called women pigs and dogs, the description he had in the tape that we all heard is really disgusting, and the stories that have come out of women who are basically verifying that this boasting of sexual assault was actually something that he himself did. It’s more than distressing, it’s more than qualm causing; I believe he is not fit to be president… and sure, we’re all going to have policy differences, but there is a point where country has to come first, it has to come before political party.”

Polls show that the race in this district, which includes Sullivan, Delaware and Ulster counties, is very tight, and could go either way. Another debate between the two candidates is scheduled for October 24 on Time Warner Cable News.

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