Ducey, Garcia clash over education, immigration in debate

PHOENIX — Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, Democratic challenger David Garcia and Green Party candidate Angel Torres faced off Monday night in Phoenix for their first of two scheduled debates.

The televised debate was moderated by “Arizona Horizon” host and managing editor Ted Simons and streamed live online by Arizona PBS.

Education was a hot topic right out of the gate.

Ducey said he made significant improvements to education since he took office “in a straitjacket” four years ago, inheriting an already faulty education system.

He stressed his involvement in providing 20 percent teacher pay raises by 2020 and supporting the Arizona Teachers Academy. He called himself a supporter of Arizona’s teachers.

Garcia disagreed, saying Ducey refused to take action until he was up for election. Garcia, an education professor at Arizona State University, repeatedly called Ducey a follower rather than a leader in terms of education.

“Our education system remains in crisis,” Garcia said, calling education policy his strength and Ducey’s weakness. He pointed to the statewide teacher strike that shut down public schools this spring as a sign of Ducey’s inability to improve education.

“Our teachers are in a situation where right now we are the second worst state to be a teacher,” Garcia said. “… They stood up and used their collective voice to do something about it.”

So far, a lot of talk about education in the Arizona gubernatorial debate. @dg4az says education is his strength and it’s @dougducey’s weakness. Meanwhile, Ducey touts the 20 percent teacher pay raises. @KTAR923

— Griselda Zetino (@GriseldaZetino) September 25, 2018

In terms of immigration, Garcia said he did not want to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement while Ducey argued Garcia had said otherwise in the past.

“He’s a college professor. he knows the power of words,” Ducey said, calling Garcia skilled in “deception.”

Ducey said Garcia is radically against ensuring public safety on the border.

“You’re known by the company you keep … I’m getting a little tired of your attacks on law enforcement,” Ducey said, referencing Garcia’s previous staffer who had tweeted disparaging statements against law enforcement and the state.

Garcia said the previous staffer learned from her mistakes and that he has “tremendous respect” for law enforcement.

The debate moved to the topic of the state economy, which Ducey said is booming since he took office.

Torres criticized this assessment, citing a Cronkite News report that found 1 in 7 Arizonans live in poverty. He argued that the focus of economic growth should be on those in the lowest income brackets.

Garcia echoed this discontent and disagreed with Ducey’s claims.

“The problems when (Ducey) walked in the door are still today’s problems,” Garcia said.

.@dougducey our economy is booming. Meanwhile, @dg4az says Arizona needs to raise revenue in the state, says our state revenue is behind the rest of western states. @KTAR923

— Griselda Zetino (@GriseldaZetino) September 25, 2018

Discussion of the economy circled back to sources for education funding.

Ducey said Garcia has no plan for sourcing funding past doubling individual income taxes.

Garcia said the state needs to grow its revenue to help fund education. Ducey responded that revenue is consistently growing, but Garcia said it still falls behind that of neighboring states.

Before closing statements, Torres brought up Ducey’s negative campaign ads against Garcia, which accused him of endangering Arizonans’ safety.

Garcia asked Ducey to affirm his support of those ads’ messaging.

“I think that the ads that have been out on you are public service announcements,” Ducey said, standing by the ads’ claims.

“David, my issues aren’t with you as a person,” Ducey said. “They’re clearly with your policies.”

The three candidates ended the debate with closing statements touching on education, the economy and public safety.

“David Garcia is running behind in this race and he needed to deliver some sort of knockout punch … and he did not do that,” Stan Barnes, a political consultant based in Phoenix said.

“For the Garcia campaign, it was a missed opportunity. For the Ducey campaign, it was a moment of success and they should be proud.”

Political analyst Mike O’Neil said the debate didn’t leave much of an impression on him.

“I didn’t hear anything that I thought was going to change the outcome of the race,” he said.

“Most of the polling shows Governor Ducey ahead. There was no really overly dramatic single exchange.”

Ducey and Garcia will debate again Tuesday night in Tucson.

Arizona PBS will air the state treasurer’s debate on Wednesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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