SPOKANE — The first debate of the tight U.S. House race in eastern Washington state is likely to feature plenty of sniping about Social Security, taxes and rising college tuition.
Republican U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Democratic challenger Lisa Brown will meet Wednesday evening in Spokane, the largest city in the 5th Congressional District. They plan several more debates in October.
It is their first public appearance together after months of television ads attacking each candidate. Free tickets were snapped up quickly and the 700-seat Bing Crosby Theater is expected to be full.
The debate is sponsored by The Spokesman-Review newspaper and KHQ-TV.
McMorris Rodgers is the highest ranking Republican woman in the House and is seeking an eighth term. She is facing perhaps the toughest challenge since she won the open seat in 2004 in Brown, a former long-time state lawmaker.
McMorris Rodgers won 49 percent of the vote in the August primary, compared to 45 percent for Brown. The remaining 6 percent of the votes went to conservative candidates.
There have been no independent polls on the race released since the primary.
McMorris Rodgers leads in fund-raising, but Brown has already raised far more than the incumbent’s previous challengers.
Brown is seeking to become the first Democrat elected to represent the 5th since House Speaker Tom Foley was ousted in 1994’s “Republican Revolution.”
Recently, the candidates have disagreed about GOP plans for Medicare and Social Security. The House Republican budget released this summer called for changes to the programs, but McMorris Rodgers contended there are no plans to cut benefits or reduce coverage. That hasn’t stopped Brown from running television ads warning of threats to the programs.
On Wednesday, McMorris Rodgers released a new television ad blaming Brown for steep tuition increases at state colleges that occurred while she was a legislative leader. The Republican has also said Brown more recently made a $364,000 salary as chancellor of Washington State University’s Spokane campus.
For her part, Brown has highlighted her contributions to creating a new medical school at WSU Spokane.
McMorris Rodgers is the fourth-ranking member of the U.S. House and is the only House member to ever give birth three times while in office.
