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Ayotte and Hassan appear in U.S. Senate forum

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By Paul Briand

The candidates for U.S. Senate -- incumbent Republican Kelly Ayotte and Democratic challenger Gov. Maggie Hassan -- participated in a town hall-style forum Monday that featured agreement and disagreement on certain issues.

They appeared separately at the forum hosted by the Seacoast Board of Realtors and attended by about 100 people at the Atlantic Grill in Rye.

Each took a set of questions -- Hassan first, then Ayotte -- from Board of Realtors members then a set of questions from the audience.

Among issues of agreement were the need to address climate change and the need to provide more funding and programs for treatment of mental illness. Among their differences were on their approaches to tax reform and their feelings about raising the minimum wage.

Read a Seacoast Online story about the forum here.

What follows is a video presentation of their differences - and similarities - on some issues.

First, on climate change, Hassan talked about the issue in the context of flood insurance and the state’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative:

Ayotte called climate change “real” and said it is not an issue of environment versus jobs -- “It’s both,” she said:

Hassan endorsed bringing the minimum wage up to $12 per hour. Ayotte was more skeptical, questioning whether such a move would cost jobs.

Here’s what Hassan had to say:

Here’s what Ayotte had to say:

They also took a different approach to taxes and tax reform. Both answered that they support the property tax reduction, but each had ideas about what else to do about the tax code.

Here’s Hassan:

Here’s Ayotte:

The election is Nov. 8.

 

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