The incumbent District 4 State Representative faced off against his challenger in a League of Women Voters debate Thursday night.
Democrat Abigail Barnes is campaigning against incumbent Republican Lynn Bechler for the district 4 seat. They discussed many topics, including redistricting due to the upcoming census, the struggling pension system, tuition free college and more.
Kentucky and other states are facing an opioid crisis, which is resulting in drug addiction and death. Bechler says he thinks the answer lies in education and supporting drug courts, not necessarily in legislation.
Barnes says they need make sure people have access to resources that will help them fight addiction while taking a close look at prescription drug regulations.
One the subject of increases the gasoline tax to improve the state’s infrastructure, Barnes said that would be a tax on working people and she would hope to not use it. Bechler says he would like to reform the current gasoline tax to not be based on wholesale price, but per gallon.
The two butted heads about tuition free college, increasing the minimum wage and immigration, but they both agreed that public smoking bans need to be decided at the local level.
Hear everything they debated below:
https://soundcloud.com/user-350001776/lwv-district-4-state-rep-debate