Joe Manchin-Patrick Morrisey The Senate Debate in West Virginia on Opioids, Trump



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MORGANTOWN, West Virginia – From opioids to open borders to President Trump's choice for the Supreme Court, the race to represent West Virginia in the US Senate went sour on Thursday night as both candidates traded Perverse attacks against the address to undecided voters in the crucial contest.

Outgoing Democratic Senator Joe Manchin III and his Republican rival, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, are locked in one of the country's tightest races facing the Senate, and each went to Thursday's forum – the only formal debate in which the two men participated – land decisive, knockouts.

Mr Morrisey, who will benefit from a boost when Trump tempts him Friday in West Virginia, attempted to incarcerate Mr Manchin as part of the "Obstate, Resist" campaign. , hit the "team" of Democrats. "Who does not care about the state of his interest. His most virulent attack took place while he was beating Mr. Manchin against the outgoing president's position on Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who had been very closely introduced to the High Court last month, after facing many allegations of abusive sexual behavior.

Mr. Manchin was the only Democrat to have supported Judge Kavanaugh, but he only announced his position after Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine said she would vote "yes", leaving no doubt about the final result.

"He took a powder in the bathroom and left, and let Maine decide the West Virginia vote," Morrisey said of his Democratic opponent.

The two men also fired shots at the opioid crisis that ravaged the state. Previously, Mr. Morrisey had lobbied the pharmaceutical industry. Mr. Manchin asserted that the former role of his enemy made him fundamentally unable to cope with the crisis.

"There is only one person making money with pills arriving in West Virginia, and he's sitting here, Patrick Morrisey," said Manchin. "The system is down. Patrick Morrisey helped to break it. "

The West Virginia race should play an important role in determining which party will control the Senate next year. Mr. Trump won West Virginia over 40 percentage points over Democratic Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, and the president remains extremely popular in the state.

Given Trump's strong support, the GOP views the state as a golden opportunity to take a seat in the Senate of Democrats and significantly increase their chances of sitting in the Senate. They invested huge sums of money in the race. In addition to the president's appearances, vice-presidents Mike Pence, Donald Trump Jr. and other influential Republicans also joined Morrisey's cause.

Mr. Morrisey is a staunch supporter of the president and Mr. Manchin has also openly courted Trump supporters in his state. Mr Manchin said Thursday night that he wanted the president to "succeed" and succeed.

But the two men differed on Trump's highly inflammatory rhetoric about immigration and other hot issues. Manchin said the president's tone – that some Democrats have accused him of fueling the Pittsburgh synagogue shootout last week and encouraging a Florida man to send bombs to political figures and left-wing media – is not useful.

"Stop acting as if you belong to a tribe," said Manchin. "Act as if you belonged to the American tribe … We find it acceptable to divide.Instead of the United States of America, it is almost divided states."

Mr. Morrisey did not directly approve the president's rhetoric, but he did not explicitly denounce it either.

"I think the president made the right choice by recalling some of the politically incorrect things that have been going on for a long time," he said.

Regarding health care, Mr. Manchin – a leading figure in state politics who had previously held the position of governor before being elected to the Senate in 2010 – did everything to assure voters from West Virginia that it would help save the elements that protect the Obamacare with pre-existing conditions. He criticized Morrisey for supporting a lawsuit that would remove the law and said the Republican would allow hundreds of thousands of West Virginia citizens to lose their protection.

"He does not care. He wants to reject them, "said Manchin.

Mr. Morrisey, who had previously served in the New Jersey Congress before moving to West Virginia more than a decade ago, based his political career on opposition in the courts to a host of rules of the era. Obama. He pleaded for the repeal of the Affordable Care Act but said he would support measures to ensure that people already with pre-existing conditions do not lose coverage.

"President Trump is in favor of affordable, high-quality health care options," said Morrisey, joining the president.

Polls have shown that the race has tightened in recent days. Two surveys published this week gave Mr. Manchin a 5-point advantage, a decline in his lead earlier in the cycle. The average of all polls under the Real Clear Politics policy currently gives Mr. Manchin a 9-point advantage.

A GOP-funded survey released last week showed that Morrisey had a two-point lead.

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