Vermont Edition continues its general election debate coverage, in partnership with Vermont PBS, with the two major-party candidates for Vermont's only seat in the U.S. House: Republican challenger Anya Tynio and incumbent Democrat Peter Welch.
Watch the debate:
Tynio and Welch discussed an array of issues but both repeatedly touched on their assessments of the Trump presidency.
Democratic incumbent Rep. Peter Welch said democracy is threatened by the behavior and policies of the president.
"I think the big issue for us right now is preserving our democracy. I think the guardrails of democracy are under assault when I see the president attacking the press, attacking the rule of law, being too cozy, in my view with dictators and authoritarians, I think that’s very dangerous," he said during the debate.
Welch’s Republican opponent Anya Tynio defended the president, and said "as a woman I've never been offended by President Trump's language."
Calling Trump "rough around the edges," Tynio said "he’s a businessman from New York City, I think we all understand that a little bit."
She added, "I think that the rhetoric and the divisiveness started long before President Trump. And it was how he built his support base in order to have people get behind him. They wanted to know that there was somebody that was going to be a fighter and he showed right off the bat that 'I’m going to be a fighter for you'."
Welch added the president is doing a lot of damage to the Constitution, but Tynio replied she feels he's defending it.
Watch or listen to the full VPR-Vermont PBS debate above.
Broadcast on Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2018 at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m. View the schedule for all the VPR - Vermont PBS Debates here.
