In a debate that bitterly pitted two battleground congressional candidates — Rep. Brandon Williams (R-NY) and state Sen. John Mannion — against each other, it was their record on Israel that caused sparks to fly Tuesday.
After Williams accused Mannion of remaining “silent” in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, the Democrat fired back visibly frustrated.
“My opponent has no shame,” Mannion began.
“To paint me as someone who is not supportive of Israel is outrageous, and it’s disgusting. It’s another example of my opponent trying to grandstand on an issue that is serious,” he continued.
“You were silent that day John, you were silent,” Williams retorted.
“Everyone can check my Facebook page and see that a statement came out on Oct. 7,” Mannion yelled back as his mic appeared to be shut off.
“We did, and it is absolutely shameful,” Williams continued before touting standing with Jewish students at Syracuse University and threatening university presidents that didn’t shut down pro-Hamas protests.
The back-and-forth was the peak of several barbs exchanged by the two candidates from the start of the debate.
Off the bat, each was asked by moderators to respond to attack ads being levied against them in the battleground district, which has seen millions of dollars in attack ads over the past few months. They include ads highlighting several accusations that Mannion and his wife mistreated staffers.
“They’re untruthful. They should be rejected. And what we’ve seen is the infiltration of nasty politics, representatives of places like Texas that should be rejected,” Mannion said.
“The ethics charges against my opponent are absolutely true, and they’re absolutely serious and those women deserve to be heard,” Williams retorted.
Williams also pushed back on claims he’d support a national abortion ban and would cut social security.
“I have said that clearly I won’t vote for a national ban,” the congressman said.
Despite the barbs, both candidates tried to present themselves as bipartisan.
Mannion — who has never had to compromise with the GOP in the state Senate where Democrats hold a supermajority — said he has good working relationships with many of the Republicans who hold local elected offices in his district.
“I have more registered Republicans in my district than Democrats. There are 42 Democratic senators. I’m the only one that has that distinction,” Mannion said.
Williams pointed to a few examples of him crossing party lines to support a standalone funding bill for Ukraine aid and the Social Security Fairness Act.
He also took the opportunity to blame Mannion for influencing New York’s redistricting plans, the current iteration of which packed some more Democrats into the district.
“He voted twice to gerrymander this district. One time, in such an egregious way that it was overthrown by the New York state courts, and the second time, in a way to specifically benefit his reelection,” Williams said.
On immigration, Mannion blames Williams for not supporting a short-lived bipartisan agreement in the Senate to address immigration and border security.
“In many ways, I agree with him on what we need to do,” Mannion said. “The difference is there’s one person standing on this stage that could have done something, and he did not take action. He continues to talk about it. He continues to use toxic language.”
Williams said the bipartisan negotiations worked out on the other side of the Capitol didn’t get anywhere and weren’t acceptable to him anyway.
“It was not going to solve the border crisis. In fact, it was going to codify the border crisis. It was going to continue to allow the flood of illegal immigrants into this country,” Williams said.
The race is statistically the best opportunity for Democrats to flip a seat in New York this year. The non-partisan Cook Political Report rates the 22nd District as Lean Democrat, the only district currently held by a Republican that holds that designation.
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