INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Democrat Thomas McDermott tried to spark his underdog challenge to Indiana Republican U.S. Sen. Todd Young on Sunday by attacking his positions on issues spanning abortion, federal spending and marijuana legalization.
Young responded with criticism of President Joe Biden and the Democratic-controlled Congress for sparking higher inflation and gasoline prices as the candidates faced each other during their only scheduled televised debate ahead of the Nov. 8 election.
McDermott, who is the mayor of Hammond, and other Democrats have campaigned heavily on protection of abortion rights in the wake of Indiana’s Republican-dominated Legislature voting over the summer to make it the first state to enact an abortion ban after the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated federal abortion protections by overturning Roe v. Wade in June.
McDermott has called for a federal law reinstating abortion rights and criticized Young for voting to confirm three conservative Supreme Court justices nominated by former President Donald Trump who helped form the court’s majority in the abortion ruling.
“He gerrymandered the Supreme Court so that Roe vs Wade was overturned,” McDermott said.
Young said he believed that state Legislatures should decide what abortion policies should be and that what he called a “conversation” in all 50 states should continue.
