older people are more likely to turn out to vote until the you're physically incapacitated. that is because they are -- they have greater maturity, they are more settled in their lives. understand issues as a .esult of their life experience that institutional memory is really important to getting the polls and understanding the importance of the election. it is not unusual for people to be less knowledgeable. there are young people who are politically engaged to have they will not vote in the election because they think they will teach the democratic party or elected officials a non-purchase a patient. they need to consider whether they have the clout to be heard. they need to listen to the

elders talk about why it is important to participate in the progress and put the race into context since they were not inowed or politically aware 2000 or 1992 or 1964. >> you can learn more about andrea gillespie and her research. her -- yourr research and joint time this morning. today'ss it for washington journal. thank you for watching. enjoy the rest of your day. which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016]

>> our tie-in between sports and politics. noller pointing out president obama got to his miami hotel last night after clinton.ng for hillary he made it in time to catch the inning of the world series. he posted this tweet at 2:00 a.m.. it happens, the cubs win the world series. president obama is back on the campaign trail today with the race in a connect in florida. rallies onnt doing college campuses in miami and jacksonville, florida. now at the live coverage. government policy makers industry leaders explore health , policy, technology and health care as the u.s. news and is holding the

fourth annual health care of conference. at 12:00.age back to the campaign trail as melania trump campaigns for her husband in the philadelphia suburbs of pennsylvania at 2:00 eastern. at 12:00. back to the campaign trail as hillary clinton holding a rally in raleigh, north carolina. watch c-span on election day includes teaches by hillary trump. and donald see the results as they come in. follow key house and senate victory speeches that will determine the balance of power. watch live at 8:00 eastern on c-span. of course listen on the c-span app. where history unfolds daily.

>> this week on c-span2, we are featuring hartman. friday of conservative political perspective on the mike show.her all this week on c-span2. featuring political radio programs with national talkshow hosts. live today from noon until >> the new hampshire senate race poll with a six-point lead. 51%. at how the race is shaking out. following the story for the boston globe.

thank you for being with us. between kelly ayotte and my -- maggie hassan, it was even. dead be the same ever since. turns,t of twists and but one constant, which is the tied.emains a couple of outlier polls that have shown one candidate was of write a little bit outside the margin of error. part, every single has shown the race remains to be tied no matter what happens. issues, and what are the candidates talking about? >> a sickly -- basically three different ideas. the first has been the presidential race. , and yousingle debate

saw it wednesday, the topics of donald trump and hillary clinton that gets brought up again and again and again. it is hard to walk the line. , the democratic governor has smashed -- messed how she answers the question is hillary clinton is trustworthy. she was going to support donald trump but not endorse him. vote for him because he is not clinton. a few weeks ago after the access tape she said she will vote for donald trump of right in my pens. some people have been paying attention to the national

politics seen. new hampshire is in the midst of a drug crisis. they have talked about the issues showing their knowledgeable and deeply engaged. for voters, i am not sure it is indication of what they are to do about it. it is just sort of can they talk about it confidently. the people have been paying attention to the national politics seen. yet -- the idea of who isdst more partisan. outnumbering those who are democrat and those making a final argument that they can work across the line. >> as you indicated, a really case study in how you can distance yourself from an unpopular candidate. and yet try to maintain the trump voter in her base. >> aas she been doing?

good case study for good weeks and the bad case that he. no doubt about it. what we thought would be the most significant moment was the moment that i referenced earlier divorcedofficially donald trump. their will beent backlash or she can grab opportunity among independent voters? the polling gave us a pretty clear answer, which is that it make a difference whatsoever. she maintains the exact same position among republican men, the best in the graphic in the state. nothing that happens in the race has seemed to move the needle. be who has the roundtable. determine whoill

will win the senate race? >> i think a lot of people will be looking at partisan turn out. you need to drive a big republican turnout in the state.n portion of the border is thetts republican. you need to drive turnout along the seacoast. you need to do really well in those areas. race may come down to the hometown of nashua. the second-largest may come dowo the hometown of nashua. the second-largest city in the state. a lot of independent voters there. black coal politically for who votes one year to the next. >> newspaper endorsements played difference? waning are a indifference here like they are everywhere else.

liberal endorsements are saying voice.a moderate democrats would contest that. other papers have been endorsing maggie hassan. it basically even split. >> james tindall following the , thankpshire senate race you for being with us. >> thank you. >> ben is my older brother. challenges. yourng really hard with community to get things done. she made it possible for been .nd for me to have a family that is part of the reason she got involved in public service, because that is what is. he is so funny and smart and my best friend. in herilies have heart. >> it goes by so fast. you are a kid and the

next you are raising your own. >> through challenges and struggles she made our life better. >> she is my inspiration in the senate. she taught me that with hard work you can do anything. to.om taught me that, >> new hampshire's u.s. senate candidates took part in a candidates forum. each was given the opportunity to speak at a jewish temple in manchester. including debt and deficit reduction and high prescription drug costs. this is about 40 minutes. bruno.ame is george i am a member of the brotherhood sponsoring this event. rituals, soas many

this forum is just one of them, like to thank all of .ou for coming i would like especially to thank this together. rounding up all of the candidates, speaking with them almost on a daily basis, and making sure we had a good communityetween the candidates. around of applause for sal. great job he has done.

the brotherhood is active throughout thethe brotherhood ie throughout the year. this is not the only function that we sponsor. we also sponsor a hollow -- program, lectures, a dinner for seniors, and our famous deli night which is coming up january 28. the christmas program christmas day supportstmas the new horizons soup kitchen. working together with our muslim christian friends and day supports the new horizons catholic medicl center and running the veterans administration hospital bingo program. with that said there is a

list of the candidate experience this morning. i will not give introductions for each of the candidates. it will be very brief to give mac -- the maximum amount of speaking time possible. to underscore what ralph davidson said that we value and respect opinion for our democratic process, so if you like what a candidate says, it is ok to applaud and cheer. if you do not like it, i think response. the best candidates appearing before us this morning. the event is covered by major news media, including c-span's outlets. news

know what the candidates say this morning will not only be but for a muchce broader audience throughout the state and nation. with that said, let me introduce our first candidate, she is republican. the incumbent united states and resides in nashua. the former attorney general and warm grunted her to senator kelly ayotte. i want to thank the ambassador for hosting this. davidson.thank rabbi it is a privilege to serve you senate where we work on

finding common ground. workhas enabled me to together on efforts like getting legislation passed to address the hair when epidemic. actcomprehensive recovery working on the state and local act. i also served on the small business committee. small businessa in merrimack. so i is been focusing on a more sensible tax and regulatory environment and education and to make sure we can have good paying jobs here. on the armed services committee. my husband is in our -- a veteran who served our country .n a rack security is very important for me. very wrong a supporter of our friendship, which is so important with the state of israel.

i have been glad to support cooperation between our countries. i have been a strong opponent of the iran agreement because i believe it will allow iran to keep the infrastructure legitimately for nuclear weapons capability. leader ino been a introducing sanctions, not only reauthorizing the iran sanctions act but sanctions to address the program, missiles which is of deep concern. tested ballistic weapons to wipe israel off the face of the earth. it is very important to focus on this threat. i have supported foreign aid to israel.

i am unable able to travel to israel on several occasions. one of the greatest honors is to introduce the congressional gold wonderfulthe late and statesman. i will never forget that. for an amazing person humanity. i am honored to being here with all of you today. look forward to answering your questions about domestic and national security issues. appreciate all that you do for the manchester community and our state. thank you very much. >> i have your first question. support legislation that

would support the support legist would support the gun loophole and background checks. >> i am a former attorney prosecutor,former and i think we need to make sure we ensure the criminal and terrorist cannot have access to firearms but we have to protect rights of amendment law-abiding citizens. gaps inn to addressing our system that we need to immediate gaps. that is that the mental health records are not in there for are adjudicated and a danger to themselves and others. in addition more prosecution. i can assure you having been a former attorney general, if we do not prosecute those who are to prosecute the system, that will not send the message to criminals.

i have the endorsement of the troopers association. they know security in keeping us is the priority. i will also make sure constitutional rights are protected. i look at this legislation very carefully when it comes up to sure it is actually going to work and be affected. >> firms to local companies, prices for drugs or medicare for program?are >> the prescription prices. >>i am also sponsoring a druglation called the fair act.ng

it would require notification in advance of any company will 10%.ase the price we could actually inquire in advance if there is something that act. needs to be investigated or handled improperly. that involves the fda. epipenlook at the situation, making sure we can get to market sooner in terms of prices.ng drug need to make mary needed changes. seeing more choice and competition. people in new hampshire can have different choices, and hopefully costn be focused on the for many of our families. lex there have been many recent about contamination of

hampshire. in new what should the federal government be doing to safeguard drinking water in our neighborhoods. >> first of all, and forcing the water act and hour laws and what they do with that. a lot of these instances have involved a chemical. force.olved the air it was in the phone being used in that area. i have worked strongly with the senator in making sure the senator is stepping up and the department of defense stepping up in those instances to make clean,e well water is and people who think they have been exposed can be tested. this is an area on specific where i have been working to address them.

you.ank >> what would you do about tackling the current deficits debt. as the mother of two children, and i see many parents in this room, this is an issue or us. debt.illion in if you look at the federal pie, we have to take two big steps. together on aming to come to asis grand deal where we are working on the big picture. we have a tax code right now that is not doing its service to the united states of america. we are not competitive to keep jobs and investment here. we are not competitive to keep jobs and investmentso help the .

that needs to be done. then on the spending side, we at some of the programs that need to be reserved and strengthened. social security goes into a deficit in 2034 if we don't act. 2028 for medicare. and also, that's two-thirds of the spending pie, for medicaid, medicare, social security. this is one that calls out for the kind of bipartisanship that ronald reagan and tip o'neil did so that we can work together and the kind of bipartisanship that strengthen and make sure we're in a stronger position. every committee i serve on i look for ways to save dollars. on the armed services committee, eliminating programs like the missile to nowhere that was not going to get us a result. working on a bipartisan basis, i have a bill that i worked with to make sure that all of the audits that are done of duplication, waste, and fraud, we actually act upon them.

so i'm always looking for ways to do things differently because this is about all of us. if we don't work together on the fiscal issues and the debt we have, we will be passing this burden onto our children and they deserve us to act on this now on their behalf. [applause] >> relations between the united states and israel seem to be strained at the moment. what would you recommend to improve relations between our countries? sen. ayotte: what i would recommend is that i would ask the president to make clear that i would ask the president to make clear that as he is going out of office, he will not take any action in the u.n. or support any action that would undermine israel or its right to determine its own future in negotiations. there's been a lot of concern about it recently. this week you saw unesco take a number of actions that i think are of concern in terms of actions that we're taking in terms of recognizing israel's

role with the temple mount. i think the administration has to be clear we do not support those measures and that we stand with israel. that the parties are going to have to determine this. otherwise, you won't have a peaceful determination going forward. i also believe we need to reauthorize the iran sanctions act and i hope we do that before the next administration comes into office. because we want those measures in place to ensure that the legal authority is there to address any of the violations that iran may have. i also believe that in terms of the memorandum of understanding, i've introduced legislation to make sure that there is strong support for israel, both security cooperation and foreign

aid. and i think we can be strong on these issues. one final point. i think we should be clear on the bdf movement as well. that we do not support it, and that is something that i've also supported legislation on. the administration has an opportunity going out here to be quite clear about our relationship with israel. and they've given mixed signals. and i would like them to be clear on this. [applause] and i would like them to be >> the next question pertains to donald trump. could you please explain your position with respect to supporting, endorsing, and voting for donald trump? sen. ayotte: yes. as a republican, i wanted to be able to support our republican nominee. because i would like us to go in a different direction than we're going right now. unfortunately, i am a former prosecutor, and the information that came out in those tapes, for me, that crossed the line into criminality. and that was something -- a dealbreaker for me. so i'm not going to be voting for him. nor am i voting for hillary

clinton. i will be writing in mike pence. but, you know, for me, this is bigger than an election. i'm the mother of a daughter. unfortunately, i am a former in terms of where i stood on this issue, this was important for me. i know as she gets older, to understand where i stood. but i want everyone in this room to know, whoever's elected to the oval office from either side, i will stand up for new hampshire. if i think they are going in the wrong direction, i have done this in the senate already, even when my own party i thought was going in the wrong direction on things like the government shutdown, i will stand up for what i think is right for our state and the country. but i also have one of the most partisan records and i will look for common ground. because if we don't work together to solve our problems, then we're not going to move forward on issues like the debt, on a stronger economy, on making sure our country is secure in a

dangerous world. [applause] >> one final follow-up question someone asked, do you believe our elections are rigged and will you accept on behalf of your party the results of the elections? sen. ayotte: no, i do not. i am a former attorney general. if there is an allegation of election fraud, we should fully investigate it and handle it under our laws. but i have respect for our process and i will accept the will of the people of new hampshire. [applause] it is a privilege to serve you. i will stand up on behalf of the people of new hampshire to either party. also, we need to come together to find common ground.

i wantedi will stand up on behan stronger position for small businesses. we have big problems that need to be addressed. regulatory issues, health care costs, in terms of the debt, we have to address those issues. and finally, without security, we can't have prosperity or freedom. this is an area i've worked on in the armed services committee. i want to assure you i will always strongly stand up to make sure our men and women in uniform are supported and also that our strength of our relationship with israel remains strong. we have such an important security cooperation and the security of israel is tied to our security, and that is very important that relationship on a security basis and on an economic basis, that our friendship remains strong. so, i think you for allowing me to be here today. and i ask for your vote on november 8, and i will work my hardest to fight for you and this great state. so, thank you.

[applause] >> our next candidate is running for the united states senate. she is a democrat. she is our governor. she resides in exeter. she is a former state senator and has been governor for two terms and is running for the united states senate. please welcome maggie hassan. [applause] governor hassan: good morning. thank you, george, for moderating today and to the community for hosting today's event. i know i speak for all of the candidates about how much we appreciate this opportunity. here in new hampshire, by working across party lines, we have been making progress in building a more innovative and stronger state.

we passed two balanced budgets without an increase in sales tax. we came together and started an effort to help new businesses launch and grow. we passed a bipartisan and reauthorized a medicaid expansion program. over 50,000 hard-working granite skaters have access to quality health insurance, including substance abuse and behavioral health treatment. we are coming together and mounting a strong hands-on response to our heroine, opioid, and fentanyl crisis. we made the most significant in-state investment in transportation and infrastructure in 22 years. we are fixing our roads, bridges, and highways. we also came together and in a bipartisan effort froze in-state

tuition at public universities for the first time in 25 years, and lowered it at community colleges. and we are feeling the impact of these measures across our state. our unemployment rate at 2.9% is the lowest in the country. we were named the most business-friendly state in the country by cnbc. more people are working today in new hampshire that any time in our state's history. and we did this the neutral way with public and the democrats coming together, and having our arguments. we did this the new hampshire way. coming together, having our disagreements to be sure. we would not be human if we did not. finding a way forward by focusing on the challenges that our small businesses and our families face in getting things done for them. i think it is past time for washington to take the same approach. in the united states senate, i want to focus, first and foremost, on getting emergency funding for our opioid crisis back to the state. i have an economic plan available on my website talking about how we can foster innovation and support job creation and expand opportunities for hard-working

families. and my first priority as governor has always been the security at our state and the safety of our communities. in the united states senate, my first priority will be the security of our country. that means we have to maintain our military superiority to be sure. but the united states of america always have to be the greatest economic force in the world and the greatest force for good in the world. that means working with our international allies, and using military might as a last resort.

when it comes to our relationship with israel, it is an unshakable relationship. and we have to do everything we can to maintain it, and hoping israel -- and helping israel in strengthening its security. our alliance with israel is a not just on mutual security concerns, but on shared values. and we have to do everything we can to maintain israel's security so that it can maintain its jewish and democratic character. so, i look forward to this morning's discussion with all of you. i am very grateful again for you hosting this very important forum. thank you. [applause] >> governor, this is a long question, but here goes. please address the epidemic of violence in america caused by the lack of gun safety, domestic violence, innocent victims of mass murder and crimes, street gang violence. how can we prevent it and teach children that violence is not a solution? governor hassan: what a super question. new hampshire has maintained its status as one of the safest states in the country. we are all challenged by everything from the era when and opioid epidemic to the increased

occurrence of mass shootings for example. safety is my first priority as governor. i have worked to ensure that we are enhancing school safety plans, that we put more troopers on the road, and we have also taken steps to support and improve active shooter training for law enforcement across the state. and we have made cyber security a priority. we put into place cyber security standards. we are doing trainings and we are getting rid of outdated hardware and software that makes us more vulnerable to cyber attacks. when it comes to gun safety, this is not only a safety issue for our communities, which it obviously is, it is also a national security issue. i fully support the second amendment. i believe responsible gun owners

have the right to hunt and defend themselves in their homes. but i also think that responsible gun owners want us to make sure that people who shouldn't have access to guns can't get guns. i support expanding background checks so that for instance terrorists could not get guns online and at gun shows. there has been some activity in there has been some activity in washington to say that it you are on the no-fly list, you cannot buy guns. you would be subjected to the background check system. but that still leaves these loopholes because those same terrorists could still buy guns online and at gun shows. i don't think that is right. we should expand background you would be subjected to the background check system. checks to close those loopholes. thank you. [applause] >> you were the only democratic governor to oppose exacting syrian refugees to our state. what is your position on this issue now? ms. hassan: thank you. my first job as governor is the

security of our state. after the paris attacks, when the fbi and cia expressed concerns about how well our vetting system was working, they both expressed concerns that it wasn't working the way it is supposed to the way it is laid out on paper. i thought it was appropriate to take a temporary pause in receiving syrian refugees so that we could audit that system, and understand what we need to do to address the concerns of the fbi and cia. we are also a welcoming state and a welcoming country. we can never allow terrorists to undermine our basic values and our spirits as americans. that being said, we also have to make sure that the entryways into our country are working the way they should and are as safe as possible. i still think the administration should take a temporary pause

and do this audit and address the concerns of the fbi and the cei -- fbi and cia have raised. they have not done that. my focus is on how you strengthen all entryways into the country, not just or refugees, but how we monitor social media and make sure we are doing everything we can to prevent terrorists from using social media to recruit terrorists here. we also know we have to do a much better job in our -- and our international allies have to do a better job of information sharing. we have expanded our information analysis enter in new hampshire to make your local counties, state, and local officials are sharing critical information in real-time. we need to be able to do that with european allies as well. one of the things that concerns me is that it is almost one year

after the paris attacks, and we still have not addressed how to improve our vetting and entryways because everybody has taken partisan positions about this instead of sitting down and doing what we always have in the past, putting the safety and security of our country before politics. [applause] >> it is no secret that israeli and u.s. relations are strained at present. what steps do you think we should take to encourage a closer and more amicable relationship, and what will you at present. do to discourage the bds movement around the world? ms. hassan: thank you.

i do oppose the bds movement. i think it is a misguided movement. secondly, getting back to the fact that israel and the united states share critical values, we believe in my busy. -- believe in democracy. i will always fight to strengthen our relationship and strengthen israel's security so that it can maintain its jewish and democratic character. moving forward, i am encouraged i the recent mou that provides more a two israel than any agreement in our country's history. we know we have to do more to make sure that israel maintains its qualitative, military edge, and we certainly have to do everything we can to confront acts of aggression from iran. that requires from working with israel and the international community. and it is absolutely critical that we continue to support bilateral negotiations for a two state solution. that is something the united states as an important role to -- an important role to facilitate and mediate. it has to be between the two parties. >> do you support legislation or the government to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies for the price of drugs in medicare? governor hassan: my husband and

i are lucky to be parents of two children. they are pretty terrific, if i do say so myself. it one lives at home with us and has severe medical disabilities. we are well aware of the flaws in our health care system, including the impact of the high cost of prescription drugs. and various times, ben has had as many as nine or 10 doctors and over one dozen locations are insurance company is out of the blue said he cannot take that medication anymore, it is too expensive. we are switching into this. when your loved one is doing well on the particular prescription, and all of a sudden you are told to switch it, it creates great concern and is very troubling.

i support allowing medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices that would help bring in competition and lower the prices because of the volume medicare can negotiate for. i also support the importation of drugs from canada. again, that would bring competition. and we need to get canary drugs to market more quickly, and i would support legislation to do that. i'm disappointed that in washington there have been votes that do not allow medicare to negotiate. that do not allow generic drugs to come to market more quickly, and do not allow us to import drugs from canada. [applause] to come to market more quickly, and do not allow us to import >> could you without attributing which party is responsible for our current deficit and debt sake or plans for bringing the body deficit under control? -- budget deficit under control?

governor hassan: that is an important question. sake or plans for bringing the you have to start with physical responsibility. right? so, i am glad we have passed to responsible budgets in new hampshire without increasing sales tax. i have a plan which calls for basically five different areas of focus. one is i support senator shaheen's call for a two-year or -- for a two-year federal budget like we have in new hampshire. that would allow us to do appropriations in the first year, and the second year to evaluate what is working and what is not and plan for the next appropriation process. secondly, we know we have to do more to eliminate waste, fraud,

and abuse in government spending. among the things i would eliminate would be the subsidy we currently have for tobacco companies. that makes no sense to me at all. we also own a lot of empty federal buildings at this point. it costs us a lot to even keep andit costs us a lot to even keep those in their empty state and take care of their grounds. we should get rid of those empty federal buildings. we also know that the federal government does not make database decisions very often about the programs if funds. -- programs it funds. we should apply data to that. we also have to deal with our budget, we have to strengthen social security and medicare. this is a basic difference between me and the current majority in washington. i would not do that on the backs of our seniors. if you pay into social security and medicare, you have paid into it and earned benefits. we could strengthen medicare by allowing negotiations for prescription drug prices.

we could strengthen social security by asking millionaires and billionaires to pay a little bit more into the system. lastly, we have to keep our economy growing. that is why critical investments that help us develop a 21st century workforce, a clean energy economy, a transportation we should apply data to that. we also have to deal with our budget, we have to strengthen social security and medicare. this is a basic difference between me and the current infrastructure, and incentivize and lower taxes will help us do that. the best way to deal with this as is to make sure we are continuing to grow and lead economically. [applause] >> thank you for that. we have about one minute left. would you like to make a closing statement? ms. hassan: certainly. just quickly. thank you all for having me this morning. thank you for engaging in this election cycle and being so thoughtful about your decision-making. i grew up the daughter of a world war ii veteran. my dad fought in the battle of the bulge. and it was not unusual for him to look at us across the breakfast table in the morning and say, what are you doing for

freedom today? which is a fairly daunting question to get when you are about 10 years old, right? [laughter] but my dad was serious. freedom today? which is a fairly daunting question to get when you are about 10 years old, right? [laughter] he was part of the generation, what we have come to call the "greatest generation." by believing in a cause greater than themselves, save the world, and build this country into an economic and military power, the likes of which the world had never known. that is the spirit i have tried to bring with me as governor of new hampshire. that is the spirit that should be informing our work in washington d.c. our country has an enormous challenges to be sure. they are challenges we are completely capable of addressing. i am blessed as governor to be able to witness the strength and resilience of the people of new hampshire. we believe and hold onto our individualism more strongly than anybody else. but we also believe in community because we know the two go hand-in-hand. that is the example i have tried

to follow as governor. it is the example i will follow if i am honored on november 8 to be the next united states senator. i greatly appreciate all of your attentiveness this morning and i greatly appreciate everything you all do your community and our state. we are a strong state because of the people here, and if we remember what we are capable of as americans, that every generation just needs to work harder to bring more people in from the margins and include them so that we unleash count attentiveness this morning and i greatly appreciate everything you all do your community and and energy and grow economically, that is what will make us strong and ultimately, that is the spirit that makes us safe as well. thank you so much. [applause]

>> months of degrading women and insults and kelly ayotte supported donald trump through all of it even calling him a role model. now she claims the opposite. else has she done to get reelected? coats voted with the others 90% of the time. doing what is right for herself is just wrong for new hampshire. >> the investigation into hillary clinton is now back on. >> do you think it is honest and trustworthy? > she has reopened an investigation that was closed. i imagine he hassan.

new hampshire has a very clear choice. do we keep going who repeatedly the special interest? onfocus has always been creating opportunity for families. making job-training and college affordable and always protecting a woman's right to make her own health care decision. these are my priorities. and why i respectfully ask for your vote. >> our costs have gone up over 47%. paying more out-of-pocket than ever. >> it has left me unable to afford insurance. >> she supports a broken health care law that even bill clinton calls the craziest thing in the world. >> i just kelly to put new

hampshire first. >> holding the final debate last night. sending out a tweet, kicking off new hampshire solutions to her. -- tour. maggie hassan tweeted out -- great to stop by the pink cadillac with jeanne shaheen. now, an update on the presidential race. >> the national race is tied between hillary clinton a donald trump according latest tracking poll. thet clements looking at numbers. thank you for being with us. >> walk us through the numbers. we looking at? >> the national vote preference we were measuring.

46% in the most recent way. stable over the past week friday.sing the news of from mid last week where we kind of six percentage points. a few things that we asked about were trying to gauge reaction to the recent news, particularly people had asked them mind -- spoke their minds, and whether the perception of clinton and trump is more honest and trustworthy. >> into string -- interesting trump. for donald .> that is right and eight percentage point edge on being seen as more honest and trustworthy. this is different from september when they were tied on the candidate -- on the question. clinton has at times had an edge on this.

one thing the other poll found is the majority of the country isnks that each candidate dishonest. errorlained the margin of in the methodology. serving?ou >> the margin of sampling error is the variation when we drop a country.mple of the right now the margin of error was 2.5 percentage points. that means the best estimate of points below. the sample came from a random of cellular and landline telephones. we have live interviewers that are calling. 250 that are calling the adults each night. asking whether they are

scheduled to vote. we estimate who is likely to vote. place askingng already in . the national polls opening of next tuesday. fluid is the election at this point the you think? >> what appears to be the most is the republican leaning segments that have resisted , and resisting him earlier this month is what led to the large leaps and surveyed following the debate. thosee have seen is who'veare independents been republican as well as rank file her to send. one thing uncertain at this stage is how early file her to l

ony out and who will show up election day. that is a big question given half oft about ,upporters are enthusiastic even though people are paying an enormous amount of attention. numbers surprise you typical? >> the race appears to have more similarity than four years ago, which is a surprise. clinton has generally had a steady lead had a steady lead. trump has struggled to unify the party. we are seeing similarities to four years ago. there are lots of advantages for clinton, particularly in battleground states where polls leading, as well as where she has a stronger game innal ground place. >> polling director for the

washington post. work available online. campaign and national that is essentially a dead heat. thank you for being with us. >> thank you for having me. >> medical executive government policymakers and industry leaders explore the health care technology segment. the fourth annual health care of tomorrow conference. we will have live coverage of that. melania trump will head her event ino campaign pennsylvania today. abc news reporting it will be speech since the address to the republican national convention over the summer. we will have live coverage just outside pennsylvania -- philadelphia. speech since the address to the republican scheduled to start at 2:00 eastern.

democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton will rally in north carolina. we will bring that to you live this evening. watch c-span next tuesday. eastern.starts at 8:00 watch the results as they come in. house and senate races and watch victory and concession speeches. we will also take your phone call and facebook comments. you can listen on the c-span radio out. unfoldswhere history daily. , featuringk political radio programs with national talk show hosts. live today from noon until three, thom hartmann. until noon, a00

political conservative on the mic aligarh show live from new york city. all this week live on c-span two. >> u.s. house candidates for texas 23rd congressional district, will hurt, and democratic challenger met for a debate. discuss next hour they clinton,ump, hillary student loans and congressional gridlock. clinton, vote 2016.elcome to this steve. contestedof the hotly races in the country. congressional district house 23. will hurt is the incumbent.

you can see what a huge district this is. running from the outskirts of san antonio down through the border and all the way through the outskirts of el paso. two years ago this was separated by less than 2500 votes between men you are about to meet. first incumbent will hurt. and pete gallego. when you talk about that margin, votes, something like that. what separates you from will hurt? >> i think there is a different philosophy and how we approach the issues. me, people who are independent by nature. vote ornot necessarily one political party or another. , that is essentially what

wrong.ng record i think that is a huge difference between the two of us urd is 97%. h straight party and he votes with them even when the impacts and tax us here locally. within three months of arriving, he voted to privatize medicare. he has had votes that are not in line with the independent-minded spirit. it really is for me a different approach. i like to do the right thing for the right reasons. i have to lead by example because children learn and watch. i think that is a huge difference between us. rep. hurd: thank you for hosting

us. isnks to ksat and kvia screaming that. steve: and texas tribune. rep. hurd: we are seeing turnout all across the state which is awesome. a lot of men and women who have laid down their lives to protect the right to vote and it is great people are using it. and great the spurs started off with a victory earlier this week. i was born and raised in san antonio, went to john marshall high school and went to texas a&m and serve my country for 9.5 years in the cia. one of the biggest differences between us is my background when it comes to national security. there is no one in congress that has this background and we are leveraging it with more important issues. the other -- with other issues. we have a record of accomplishment, his two years in office he got nothing accomplished and i got 10 bills off the house floor, five were

actually signed into law in bipartisan efforts. you cannot get anything signed by this president unless it is bipartisan and that was done in only 22 months. he got zero bills off the house for in congress, zero bills into law. district,blems in the lawson air force base in the rio, more pilots than any facility in the. if it rained more than one inch, the flight line got flooded that it was like poison a bathtub. .- toys in a bathtub my opponent says there is language he put it to identify the problem but we actually fixed it. the kind of can-do attitude that i bring to congress. . am not a career politician i had experience not only in national security in the back alleys of dangerous places but i was also in the private sector helping businesses grow and

markets they have never been in before and help start a cyber security company from scratch. when you look at san antonio being cyber city usa, understating -- understanding this issue is important for san antonio which is also military city usa and el paso has for bless and the rio has lawson air force base. the difference between my opponent and i, he wants to talk about medicare, the reality is this, nancy policy and the democrats and my opponent pete gallego voted to remove $800 billion out of medicare to prop up obamacare. that is money that goes to programs that my parents used, my father is 83 and my mom is 72, in the best health of their lives because of medicare advantage. saying i was against that is crazy because it is not true. steve: let's move on. i am glad you mentioned kvia

simulcasting this and the texas tribune and live streaming it on ksat.com. we are getting facebook questions. you talked about partisanship, both of you, let's get to the elephant and the donkey in the room and talk about the presidential candidates for each party. you have been attacked by mr. pac's tyinge super you to donald trump. how do you answer those charges? rep. hurd: i never supported him or endorsed them, i said until he had a national security plan and improve that he was respecting minorities and women, i would withhold my endorsement and i have kept that and said i will not support him. the result of one candidate that is willing to stand up to donald trump and hillary clinton, this is one of those examples. my opponent is lockstep with

hillary clinton and has said that since day one. i am willing to stand up against people in my party to do what is right for this district. i am an independent voice for the constituents of the 23rd district of texas. steve: party for what donald trump could me to your candidacy -- are you worried what donald trump could be for your candidacy? rep. hurd: this is a contract between the and my opponent, i do not believe in coattails, i have worked to develop an independent relationship with these folks. they know who i am and what we have accomplished and they know there is a level of service that they have not gotten in a decade. i have done 400 events in 29 counties, it takes 7.5 hours to drive from one portion of the district to the other, i have answered e-mail and mail and phone calls and we deliver a level of service for these constituents and that is with a prepaid. reality is -- that is what they

appreciate. i do not care if you voted for me or not, if you have been flooded and needed help getting fema grants, i will help you get them and that is what this district has seen and they have not seen that in over one decade. steve: how do you answer that? you are very critical of them not distancing himself from donald trump? mr. gallego: here is my reaction. he reminds me of the longhorn rancher in west texas who said to his longhorn, there is a point here at a point here and a whole lot of bull and between. that is my immediate reaction. months, mr., for 15 trump has been skewing hatred against latinos, veterans, and you never heard mr. hurd. today there is an editorial and one of the local newspapers were mr. hurd indicated one of the

things he appreciated about mr. trump was his national security plan. suddenly, when the tape came out, he followed the rest of the fortysomething people, he was not the first, a series of people who jumped off the trump train and i believe if the tape had not come out he would have continued saying absolutely nothing about donald trump here that is not leadership, that is followership. i will make up a word. that is not what the district needs. for the people at home, i can tell mr. hurd, when he claims to have success on the bases of parliamentary procedure, because the truth is if you ask wayne from san antonio who i help get $25,000 from the v.a. he will not tape i was a do-nothing congressman, if you ask him in west texas who was the first congressman she contacted about helping somebody get a

prosthetic device and we did it, she will not tell you i was a do-nothing congressman. if you asked me for the person son who was having trouble with immigration people and we helped fix it and for the first time in years she was able to bring her family together, she will not tell you i was a do-nothing congressman. i measure my success by the people that i am able to help, the difference i am able to make in a local community, not by any washington standard. the issues he has raised with lawson as an example, i as a member of the armed services committee put the riders and the iters loss-- wr and would be taken care of. -- lawson would be taking care of. the wheels of government move slowly and now he got to cut the ribbon on lawson as he claims credit for the v.a. reform with the choice card.

if he is standing tall it is because he is on my shoulders and the work i did. rep. hurd: i would like to respond to that. one of the most frustrating things about washington, d.c. are career politicians that use a lot of words and do not get action done. , i wouldso partisan not have received the endorsement of the san antonio express-news and the el paso newspaper. nobody will confuse those organizations with fox news. howe is a record and i love career politicians want to talk about who gets to take the picture and who was there for the groundbreaking and not about actually getting things done. that is why this country is frustrated with career politicians and why 70% of this country thinks the country is on the wrong track because we have people that want to talk a good game but have not delivered. steve: i want to stick to the trump question. ,he trump affect, mr. gallego

he has not endorsed donald trump , after the tape came out on the bus he said he should step out of the race. what more should he have done in your opinion? mr. gallego: he had a choice of 17 presidential candidates in the initial republican primaries and he could not make up his mind to support one, not even the local want, senator cruz. -- local one, senator cruz. dollar trump become comes the nominee and he still does not make it to -- donald trump does not make -- donald trump becomes the nominee and he still does not make a choice. the only real person under the constitution who has ultimate responsibility as commander in chief and head of state for our foreign policy is the president of the united date. if he is the national security expert, he is not willing to tell people whether or not he trusts donald trump to push the

nuclear button. mr. trump who has said that he wants to give nuclear weapons to saudi arabia and to korea and to these other places. he will not venture forth with an opinion. mr.lly, at the very end, hurd finally says, after the tape comes up where he talks horribly about women, that he is opposed to mr. trump. frankly, that is 15 months too late. where was he when mr. trump was talking about -- we have pows in san antonio and when mr. trump says i do not respect them, they were captured. you did not hear mr. hurd stand up all of the comments about women, even the one -- it hurt for my son to watch and this is the first year, out do not like -- i do not like my son to watch the news because i am afraid of

what he will hear. latinoversation about a who was born in the united states in indiana, whose parents were immigrants, the american dream. mr. trump says he is not qualified to sit on a case. that he is a partisan because he is mexican. that is the exact phrase he used, he is mexican. mr. hurd, not a word. steve: what do you say to that? mr. gallego: this is -- rep. hurd: this is one reason pete to his go, the congress is an equal branch of government and we have a role in foreign policy and national security. thatet -- that p pete keeps talking about donald trump is a distraction for the fact that he got nothing accomplished in washington, d.c. let's talk about his ideas to fight isis and prevent them from

inspiring people in our home like what happened in orlando, what will he do with bringing stability in iraq? how will he stand up against vladimir putin? here is the reality, the russian attack on the democratic congressional campaign committee, an organization that is spending over $3 million to unseat the, an attack on them is an attack on all of us. what will we do to stop that? what will he do to deal with north korea? when i go across the district, these are the issues people want to talk about, border security, the criminal organizations in mexico, while i am talking about these issues, he wants to have a distraction and talk about something else. steve: to the point he made, did you wait too long to speak out on donald trump? rep. hurd: i have never endorsed him and i will never. i have done it from day one.

steve: we talked about the elephant and donkey in the room and i joked with both of you that we will put pete on the left and will on the right and you can fight for the middle. talk about hillary clinton and nancy pelosi, their advertisements are tying you closely with the two of them and hauling you repeat gallego, fairly or not? painting you as a liberal. in your first statement, you are trying to not use that label. you are independent as what i heard you say. how do you answer to the question you are tied to policy and clinton -- policy and clinton.- pelosi and mr. gallego: i expect those charges to be made but if you look what happened in washington, the facts, i had about a 75% score, partisan

scoring, that means three out of every four times i voted with the democrats, i voted on issues that were good for west texas but if it was not good for texas 23rd district, i voted no. i voted with the republicans to reopen the government and voted with republicans when i thought they were right. one of the challenges mr. hurd has gotten caught up in is the partisan system and we continue to elect people who add fuel to the fire. you can tell that by mr. hurd's 96%, 97% straight voting record. most of us do not delete with our spouses that much, if you are agreeing with somebody 96% or 97% of the time, you are just following along and there are issues. for example, closing the amtrak train that runs through senatorial south of del rio outline.

the issues with big bend national park, including forward operating bases for border security inside the canyons of the big bend, all of those issues not in line with the 23rd district but they were the partisan thing to do and mr. hurd did them in i think we have too much partisanship and not enough patriotism. steve: how do you answer that, congressman? is he correct with the 97% figure? rep. hurd: this is a career politician using a website that calculate something, the republican party is in power and we have a lot more votes but when you look at what i have done, the bills i have gotten passed out of the house floor and signed into law, it has a bipartisan sponsorship. one that i am proud of was a bill that modernized our governments in technology. this was one of the original cosponsors was steny hoyer, he is the number two guy in the democratic party in the house.

this was a bill we got off the floor working together a week before the recess to come down for elections. that is the kind of activity i have. when you have people in washington, democrats that thank you on the house floor for working together to get ills dunn, that is because on whether you are partisan or not. he likes to talk about his bipartisanship, where is the republicans from his time in office that talk about how great it was working with them? if he was -- working with him? why couldn't he work bills through congress that had positive impact on our district? the problem with career politicians is they are looking at the wrong metrics and not looking at how you actually bring change and in fact to our district -- and in fact to our impact to- in fact --

our disctric. -- district. mr. gallego: you can tell he is in washington because he did not answer, he change the subject, let's use another metric, let's talk about x or y. he has 96% or 97% straight voting record because he votes with this party and follows the leader and that is all that he does. the frustration for those of us who live in the district is that we do not feel we have a voice. jim, who was the leader of the freedom caucus in washington, d.c., mr. hurd's voting record is to the right of some of those guys. this is a district that is 50-50, you would think the person who represents us would be moderate. that is not what we get here -- that is not what we get from mr.

hurd. we get a far to the right voting record that is not with the district. he did not answer the question because he didn't like it. steve: i do not think he agreed with it? rep. hurd: again, what website, what score? mr. gallego: congressional quarterly. rep. hurd: do i vote with the party, yes, who will decide in 12 days, the voters of this district will decide who has proven that they represent this district better and i feel pretty good about that. steve: let's hear from some of the constituents, we are on facebook, a lot of the questions for both of you are simple, donald trump was a popular one. another one is the veterans. a lot of attacks back and forth against both of you, veterans attacking each one of you. how do you answer those charges?

i will start with you mr. hurd. specifically that you cut veterans benefits, is that true and what would you do for the veterans that are in your district? rep. hurd: it is not true that we cut benefits for veterans. we passed one of the largest appropriations bills for the veterans affairs department in the history of the v.a. department. i am proud of that. and i was in the cia, i served alongside the military, i know the sacrifices they make and the sacrifices their families make. that is why i am working hard to work on this with the choice program, if you are are an appointment to see the v.a. is more than 30 days or more than 40 miles away which impacts so many constituents in this district, they can go on and use a local health care provider. this is a good program, not fixing all the problems but we are trying to expand it and even

doing things where we have a pilot program in del rio where if you have to do something simple like get blood drawn or do a basic test, you can do it locally and not have to do a six or seven or eight hour round-trip to do something that basic. these are the programs we are working on to make sure we have a friendly service to the veterans here in i have someone on my staff who is a purple heart recipient, one of the folks helping to drive and make sure we are providing the right care to our veterans. the reality is this, it is 2016, a veteran should not have to call their congressman or congresswoman to get access and the benefits they need. .he problem is they have to our philosophy is simple, if you have a problem, talk to us and we will try to work it out. if one person is having a problem, thousands of people are having that problem and we have to figure out how to do it on a macro fix. steve: mr. gallego, people have

attacked you for doing nothing and the v.a. crisis hit veterans were being hurt or not served at all in some of the hospitals. mr. gallego: let me tell you about when mr. hurd talked about his reality, i think he lives in an alternate reality. if you look at the congressional debates about the choice card, i led the fight, i am the guy from west texas who had to go -- for someone to go from alpine to san antonio is over 300 miles. 200 miles to el paso. the first thing i did as a member of congress was file a bill that became a pilot program to help veterans get to their nearest v.a. facility. the idea that if you are more than 40 miles away, i pushed for because it helps us help our

local health-care systems so if you were in the hospital in alpine, or whatever, you could go there locally and do your ofts and do those kinds things because it helps stabilize the issue of world health care which is a huge issue across the 23rd district. if you talk to veterans, i spent the other day in eagle pass and people who are frustrated because they call mr. hurd's office and they call again and do not get results. that was very different for me. i hired a staff that was not only full of veterans but social workers so we could do everything we could to help those veterans get the health care, not only the health care that we need -- they need but the health care they deserve. steve: let's go through some of these charges that have been lobbied back and forth, a lot of money going into this race. the second most expensive house race in the history of taxes and

it will probably end up being. did you cut student loans, congressman hurd? are you in favor of building a wall? another one. rep. hurd: no. the student loan thing, we are working with the department of education to expand the hell grant program -- hell grant now youbecause right can only use it in the fall and spring but there is a lot of nontraditional students that need access to that the summer and we are working to do that. i am working on making short you can use the grant for dual credits in high school which means when you are going to high school and getting your high school credits, you can also get college credit, that is one way to significantly drive down the cost of going to universities or schools. education is an important issue and we have to income inequality because we have education

inequality and this is something that is near and dear to my heart. wall, since 2013 i have been talking about how a wall is the most expensive and least effective way to do border security. i know something about this because in my previous life, i chased terrorists around the world. the 19 to be focusing on criminal organizations that are operating in mexico. we should be doing more with working with our mexican partners to focus on those entities that are there and have intelligence led border security. when we talk about border security, we have international trade, trade is the lifeblood for this part of texas. a mexico is texas is number -- texas'number one trading partner, these communities along the border is one community separated by an international boundary, trade is the lifeblood

to these communities and we should be increasing trade which is why i support free trade and my opponent does not. nafta was signed right here in san antonio, texas. we should be talking about being partners in energy with mexico because this is a great opportunity for us to be selling energy to eastern europe and all places. these are some of the issues i have been talking about since i have been running and in congress. steve: you are in favor of nafta? rep. hurd: yes. steve: star opposition to donald trump calling it one of the worst radials he has seen in his life. you do not agree? rep. hurd: i do not. steve: do you agree with nafta? have learnedwe lessons about how to make it better, it helps a lot of industries in texas but now we know so much more. the first time you do things is a harder time but let me go back for a second if i may about the two questions that you asked.

one was the issue of the wall and the other was student loans. it was interesting that the san antonio current at an article about mr. hurd who asked the constituents to explain to him about the zika stuff because he blocked these eco-funding about nine times -- zika funding about nine times. , thise voted on a budget is a moral document, my father used to say, you can't tell me -- talk to me about what is important to you but show me how you spend your money because how you spend your money will tell me what is really important to you. if you look at the budget proposal that mr. hurd voted nts and thatpell gra is the budget he voted for your it was $1.9 billion below what the ea said they needed to do said they -- the v.a.

needed to do their jobs and i would like them to do their jobs. if you listen to mr. hurd on the border wall, he talks about awol from sea to shining sea, -- a --l front seat designing see from sea to shining sea. we are talking about the 23rd district of texas and he says in his own words that awol was appropriate under certain wasumstances -- a wall appropriate under certain circumstances in highly populated areas. those are his words. what is a highly populated area? for some of us, my hometown is 6000 people, del rio has traffic lights, they are a highly populated area to me. does that mean he wants to finish the wall in the real because it is not on a sea? we are not talking about florida and california, we are talking

about -- when he talks about -- we do not have seas here. i want to know about the 23rd district. that is not something he has talked about. he talked about it in the bigger phrases. again, you can tell he has gone washington because he is leaving himself room to maneuver. steve: are you in favor of a border wall in district 23? is ahurd: a border wall tool that should be used in certain places and that should be left to the folks on the ground to decide. the is the problem with department of homeland security which oversees border security, they try to have a one solution all across the border. what you need in san diego is different from el paso and in del rio. you have to let the folks on the ground adjust their tactics, techniques, and procedures as they see fit. in certain places, it does make sense.

others, it does not. you have to go for the five foot and make those decisions. mr. gallego: in other words, he is not against the wall. steve: let's talk about the charges against you, the biggest one, we have talked about you being anti-veteran, you say that is not true. how about that you are the washington insider and that you are a lobbyist? i have seen the revolving door commercials. how do you answer? mr. gallego: i love those. it is not true. steve: you are not a lobbyist? mr. gallego: an independent group has offered -- if you look at the little fact, they found that to be false -- a little act, they found that to be fact. i taught in my hometown since i left office and i have taught in trinity university in san

antonio which was a phenomenal experience. it completely renewed my faith in america and the people coming up, the leaders of tomorrow. trinity, the kids were phenomenal. they were brilliant and precipitate or it -- they participated. taught a freshman level -- i usually taught kids up her er division.upp i taught a freshman government class, people who did not want to be there but it was a requirement. a lot of the kids, i thought i was teaching a lot of the football team, i thought this will be interesting and it was one of the single best experiences i have had because teaching about government and how government should work and what we should be doing, and how those have been -- it has

rejuvenated me and i feel so much better about the future of our country. steve: congressman, he says he is not a lobbyist, that he has not been going through the revolving door. rep. hurd: he has gotten a six-figure contract in the city of boston, who he reported to was there head lobbyist, -- austin, who he reported to was there head lobbyist. they talked about how pete gallego would help us get this bill passed, he was seen in the halls of the capitol during sessions. if that is not lobbying, i do not know what is. the question is, he has said at times that he has not filed with the texas ethics commission to be a lobbyist. why hasn't he? if he is advocating for legislation, that is lobbying, i do not know what else to call it. steve: i want to talk about accomplishments now.

congressman, what is your single favorite thing you are most proud of legislatively in washington, d.c.? rep. hurd: i appreciate the question. we had several so i am glad i have more than one to pick from. the reality is -- a first one was pretty awesome. this was a department of homeland security come in their wisdom would change how border patrol was getting paid and they were going to received 700 -- $700 to $1000 less per pay period. that was crazy and we work to get that passed, we made sure that men and women that are protecting us have their pay. one thing that was important in san antonio, the federal courthouse, working side-by-side

with democrats like henry cuellar to get that done, the mission reach, such an important part of our landscape here in san antonio, making sure the county was getting reimbursed. they have been waiting for a decade and almost $60 million and we got the process going and they are now getting reimbursed. in a bipartisan manner with some of the fellows -- fellow san antonio and congressmen and congresswoman. those are things i am proud of. the reality is that a lot of times people do not see this, we talk about legislation but when you help the life of the person that needs help badly, that is awesome. that is worth putting up with the circus of washington, d.c. a woman called our office, 76 years old who lost her husband the year before and he was a veteran and she was supposed to continue to get veterans benefits and helping her and getting that for her, that is awesome.

those are the victories we have every day and providing that level of service for the residents of the 23rd district of texas is amazing. that is why i hope i get honored with getting reelected. steve: mr. gallego, when you were in congress two years ago, what were some of your proudest accomplishments? mr. gallego: mine are all relative to people. working for constituents and working on behalf of constituents. we brought back over $3 million to the federal government -- that the federal government of two veterans to the veterans administration and people who overpaid the irs or were having difficulties. for me, the single most fun part of the job was not washington, d.c. related. my efforts were to help people at home. , ii walk now door to door meet the people again and they say, yes, you helped me do x or y.

my office door had a sign that said "this office belongs to the people of the 23rd district" and i believe that to be true. in terms of the legislative accomplishment, i am proud of my work to make the v.a. better. it has to get better. you rent a story about how veterans were still standing in line outside the v.a. in the heat. mr. hurd does not talk about that. i want to help make a difference for people. toi get the opportunity serve in congress again, i will tell you about the two things i want to work on first thing, the former president of the national disabled veterans talk to me about the caregivers act. post-september 11, a family caregiver can be paid for giving care to someone who has been wounded in the service of our country. -9/11, that does not happen,

so the vietnam veterans, i want to help them. cheryl langford, who was in his someoneal but also was who endorsed me and supports me, she showed up, she was invited to a townhall meeting and ended up in a commercial like other city employees from san antonio. she will talk to you about, recently the congress gave a tax exception to olympic medal winners and it is not that i have an objection to olympic medal winners but do you know that they will not give an soeption to the widows tax that if you are a spouse of a person who is lost their life in the line of duty, they have to pay taxes on that pension. over half of the congress has signed on to that legislation. mr. hurd has not. they talked to him about signing onto that built and he is not adding his name.

that and frankly working on a guy, atem because when a billionaire like donald trump says he has not paid taxes in 18 years, there is clearly a problem with that system and that is the system mr. hurd and his party fight to defend. those are the things i want to work on and fix. steve: i want to talk about facebook questions we have been getting. matt sends a question for mr. gallego, he wants to know why you continue to support obama care with skyrocketing premiums? you saw the premiums go up the other day. mr. gallego: this is just the beginning and obamacare is not perfect. the goal is that every family should have a family plan. there is certain things about obamacare that i think are important to keep. mr. hurd what have you throw the whole thing away, and if you would do that, he does not have anything to replace it with mighty way, if you throw it

away, you go back to an old system where you have pre-existing conditions and i bet everybody watching knows diabetes,th cancer or they could not get health insurance because they had that pre-existing condition. they are now against the law. if you are female, your premiums were higher and sometimes you would be rich is covered because theoretically the law says that you could discriminate against women, you cannot do that anymore. you charge men and women the same amount. me, as myt, for children get older, i can keep them on health insurance until he is 26 years old. those are examples of things i would like to keep. there are things i would like to change. example, i would like to expand the small business tax credit so you can put more people into the system so you would have -- right now it is small businesses defined as 25 -- less than 25 employees, let's

make it 50 and put more people in so we drive the cost down. there are things we can do to make it better but i would not throw the whole thing away because then you would go back to pre-existing conditions, going back to women paying more for health care, and going back to sending your child to college without health insurance. steve: what do you do about the premiums? mr. gallego: i think you have to tell people -- poll showed that most people do not know that they are eligible for federal subsidies to help pay for their insurance. we would make sure that we would inform the people that they have other options. and you would drive down the cost of health care. one of the things important for me to do, having grown up on the border, you can go next door and by your prescription drugs so much cheaper than the u.s. and you can go to the desk even though the government provides drugs, they cannot get the volume discount a walmart or

costco can because there is a lot that was passed by republican congress that says the government can ask for the best deals. that is crazy, those are the things we need to work on so the government can't get a discount and we can lower because of health care and make a difference. if you raise the minimum wage, and people are making more, that is important to me because you have to put more money out there and help people aren't living wages. -- earn living wages. steve: what do you say about this guy right -- skyrocketing premiums with obamacare? rep. hurd: i am for getting rid of obamacare. this great contrast between the and my opponent. this is one of the reasons he got fired two years ago. every opportunity he had when he was in congress, he voted to taxre that the largest burdens on the american people --

we do have a plan on how to replace and this plan includes some of the things people are using now like pre-existing conditions, like letting children stay on their parents insurance until they are 25. the weight you get at the premium issue is to drive competition. having federal subsidies is not going to make this problem better, it will make it worse. that is why you need real competition and we want to make sure that families are the ones making the decisions about their health care, not bureaucrats in washington, d.c. it is your viewers that know best on how to deal with their health care. the other thing we need to do is make sure we are not taking money out of medicare to prop up obamacare. something my opponent continues to support and making sure medicare is therefore our seniors is important. there is another thing we have dealt with when it comes to health care, community health

clinics. there are dozens of health clinics throughout the 23rd district of texas that serve hundreds of thousands of people. , they were going to get cut by 76%. only washington, d.c. thinks that is ok but we stop that from happening, bipartisan legislation, it got signed into law. i was honored to be recognized by the community health connect, getting an award for being there champion, the only member in texas, republican or democrat, that got that award because this is an important issue for our families and children. steve: i saw you smirk. mr. gallego: i am not smirking. again, where you stand depends on where you sit. this idea that you give people their own opportunities depends

on what that means. own choices and most people like making their own choices that my mother is 88 and she relies on medicare and when you turned medicare into that voucher system that mr. hurd has worked for, you give my mom a voucher, an 88-year-old woman and you tell her to find her own health care and you tell her to figure out where she can get her best deal. as a practical matter, it may sound like great rhetoric, it may sound like great stuff but i am not interested in the rhetoric. i am interested in how it works on the ground. the practical aspects of what you are doing. as a member of congress, i voted to improve the system every opportunity that i had been the idea that you would repeal it -- here is the issue, the republicans probably 60, 70 times voted to repeal obama care. even mr. hurd would agree that for a bill to pass it has to

pass the house and senate and be signed by the president. remind me, what is the president's last name? is he going to sign a bill that reveals his signature legacy? no. instead of spending your time repealing something not going to get repealed, can we at least fix it in the meantime? with a new president, maybe it will be different but let's fix it, mr. hurd is part of the obstruction in washington that people this five, the partisanship people hate. let's fix things and move forward and that was my attitude and my voting record. frankly, that is something i am proud of. steve: another facebook question for you congressman hurd. jesse wants to know how you feel about not letting a sitting president not appoint a new justice to the supreme court, specifically president obama and

justice garland. rep. hurd: in congress and the house of representatives we have no say in that effort, that is something the senate confirms, the president gets to nominate and the senate confirms. that is an issue that they have to deal with. it is important that we have a functioning government in all branches. this is something the senate will have to make a decision. steve: if you were in the senate, would you have given the president a yes or no? rep. hurd: if i was in the senate, i would have voted against the gentleman he nominated. steve: you would have given him a vote? rep. hurd: probably not. it is hard to make decisions on philosophical issues when you are not in that place. all of theow background around what went on at the time but i think that america is -- merrick garland is not the person i would like to see on the supreme court.

mr. gallego: what a great washington answer, it is somebody else's problem and responsibility. the senate has the single largest republican majority in the u.s. house since herbert hoover was president. they also controlled the u.s. senate. both sides of the congress. you would think they would talk to each other and work together. not,mr. hurd says probably i would not vote on it, he is right because all he does is follow the leader. if the majority leader says high."e will ask "how that is what is wrong with washington, too much partisanship. anybody -- i do not -- i do not think anybody teaches their children about democrats and republicans. we teach our children about right and wrong so who cares what the leader is doing if the leader is wrong?

you stand up for the right thing and say i want to make my government work again. and i think it is wrong that we block the constitutional power of any president perpetually, now they are talking about, if secretary clinton becomes president, they will block it forever and not give her an appointment. how horrible is that? in this credit system that has worked for 200 years, the president gets to nominate a cabinet and federal judges and justices to the supreme court. to say i am unhappy because i did not win so i will not corporate with you at all is the kind of obstruction that people are tired of. that is what he gave you, obstruction, i would do it, sure, i would do it, that is crazy. steve: what do you say to that? rep. hurd: a career politician that talks about everything else other than what his job is. he hasn't talked about why he did not get anything accomplished when he was in washington, d.c., and national

security issues that people around this district are talking about, he wants to talk about distractions that have nothing to do with the job of being a representative on the 23rd district of texas. part of that is because he is a career politician and he does not know. that is why he was fired two years ago. steve: what is the biggest issue facing district 23 in your opinion? rep. hurd: national security. on whetherconcerned they can walk into a mall or their purchase for and get blown up by a terrorist. they are concerned about a porous border. they are worried about the future security of their children. they are worried that isis is inspiring children coming even 7000 miles away. when i was chasing al qaeda in pakistan and afghanistan, people would write letters and put it on doorsteps, isis is leveraging social media to inspire people all over the world.

we are not doing enough to counter that. in one of the debates i was in in congress this year was whether democrat on the homeland security committee. the department of homeland security is not using the public testimonials of people who went to syria to fight with isis in their counter propaganda. we were trying to pass a bill that dhs uses, the old scare straight, where children in elementary school, why would the democrats fight against using that which is an important tool in order to counter this messaging and keep our country safe? steve: what do you think is the biggest issue facing district on entering -- district 23? mr. gallego: economic security because people are worried about their continued ability to put food on the table. they are worried about their ability to get their kids

through college. this american dream we have all been part of -- right now, this is the first generation of texans in -- and americans who believe their country more soft than our fathers and grandfathers and mothers and grandmothers left it to us. what a horrible legacy that is. for me, it is important to help small business because throughout the 20 -- 23rd district, you have mom and pop stores, my family ran a restaurant for eight years, i grew up washing dishes -- 80 years, i grew up washing dishes i did not cook because my dad wanted people to come back. those are the things people are worried about and the kinds of things we have to work on. when a janitor at a school that i visited the other day tells me that he pays more than he can afford in taxes and donald trump does not, how do you respond?

i think that says world things about where the congress is because it is the congress that writes irs code. steve: give me -- i like this question from one of the presidential debates that i want to ask you, in what has been a heated campaign, i will start with you mr. gallego. tell me one thing you admire, like about congressman hurd? mr. gallego: he does not remember when he and i first met i would be willing to bet. i was a member of the leadership in the legislature. a&made a trip to texas short letter that shortly after they had a horrible tragedy, the bonfire. mr. hurd was the leader of the student body. he handled that with grace and with dignity.

that -- youfrom know, despite the fact that my blood is somewhat burnt orange and a little bit of red, i came feelingh a really good about the things that were going on at texas a&m and how they were handling the tragedy. steve: congressman hurd? rep. hurd: thank you, mr. gallego. pete is a great dad. into ashes son is turning into a fine young man. i attribute that to his mother as well. pete is a good father. steve: time for closing statements, two minutes for each of you, mr. gallego, you go first. mr. gallego: i grew up in the 23rd district, it is incredibly special. it has the most wonderful

people, incredible history, phenomenal historic sites, the doubles river, the big bend, all of which it is important to preserve that legacy for our children. to take care and make sure we have an opportunity to expand our options. i was one of the biggest proponents for solar power and wind power because it helped generate jobs in the part of texas, especially where we go through the exit blows of the ebbs and flows-- of the oil and gas. helping bring children closer to home -- when i started, there rio not a university in del or evil pass, not a university presence there. those things have changed. i love the fact, my parents,

when the bank in alpine would not load money to latinos, my parents started a credit union started from my parents dining room table, i saw that public service and for me, putting water somewhere it had not been before, helping people in their everyday lives, that is what is important to me and that is what i focus on and that is why ultimately i know that triumphs over a lot of the other bigger, special interest and money. i think people are the most important thing. steve: thank you. childurd: i talked to a in fifth grade, joshua, his mother talk to us, the fourth grade class president and the fifth-grade class president. me, he wantedted to run.

i was talking to him. i said i was in a tough reelection just like you, he said -- i said if he had guidance. spinning comend he said, congressman, you know why i got reelected, because i was nice the people. great advice. that is the mentality i have tried to take in this district. i will help you regardless of whether you voted for me or not. i have had the honor to take an oath of office to protect the constitution twice in my life, first time when i was in back alleys and dangerous places in the cia and the second time was in this job. i am just getting started and i will not quit and continued to fight and do what is right for the 23rd congressional district of texas and it will be an honor to go back to washington, d.c. to fight on behalf of these amazing 29 counties. steve: will hurd and pete gallego, thank you for joining us. of congressional

candidate debate continues tonight on our companion network c-span2, live at eight: eastern, new york's 22nd congressional astrict, an open seat with republican and democratic candidate. 9:00 eastern, again the texas 23rd congressional district debate, will hurd facing the man he beat in 2014, democrat pete gallego. at 10:00 eastern, i was first congressional district -- iowa's first congressional district. the presidential campaign tightening with donald trump and that with hillary clinton in new hampshire, a tossup state. a washington post-abc news tracking poll finds hillary clinton in just ahead with enthusiasm on par with donald trump according to between. it shows hillary clinton with 47% support of likely voters nationwide compared to donald

trump with 45%. a good look at some of the advertisements swaying voters. 27 million is not just a number, it is all latino sisters and brothers eligible to vote next to their father's and mother's, who struggle and strife sacrifice to give them a better life. 27 million strong all ready to vote for freedom, equality, and reason. traits that seem to have gone out of season. a vote to make a difference, fight in different, silence ignorance. when you are 27 million strong nobody can tell you you do not belong or expect you to move along. 20 70 million -- 27 million are ready to put up a fight. on tuesday, the eighth of november latinos will go to the polls greater than ever not to elect the president of the elect here, but to

the next president of the united states. mrs. clinton: i am hillary clinton and i approve this message. >> there is a movement building in america, every day people standing united to replace broken politics with the new leader who is not a part of the system. donald trump, his plan is to lower taxes and families get childcare tax credit, law and order challenge -- balanced with justice and fairness and america is respected in the world again. this is our country and we can change direction and make america great again. mr. trump: i am donald trump and i approve this message. up -- end hillary and up filthy rich? pay to play politics. donors.cut deals for now the fbi has launched a new investigation.

after decades of lies and scandal come her corruption is closing in. mr. trump: i am donald trump and i approve this message. announcer: looking at some of our live coverage here on c-span, medical executives and government policymakers and industry leaders will be at the health care policy and technology. the u.s. news and world report holds the annual report looking at the future of health care and we will have live coverage starting at 12:15 eastern and then back to the campaign trail as melania trump campaigns for her husband in berwyn, pennsylvania. hillary clinton will hold a campaign rally in raleigh, north carolina which we will have live this evening at 7:45 eastern. election night on c-span, watch

the results and be part of a natural -- national conversation about the outcome. watch victory and concession speeches and key senate house and governors races starting live at 8:00 p.m. eastern and throughout the following 24 hours. watch live on c-span come on demand on c-span.org or listen to live coverage using the c-span radio app. week on c-span 2 we feature political radio programs with national talk so host live today from noon today, author and progressive radio host tom hartman -- thom h artmann. live from new york city, the mike aligarh show come all this week live on c-span two. >> joining us is robert jones who is the ceo of public , religion research institute to talk about a new report that shows americans are sharply

divided along religious lines. explain how sharply divided they are. mr. jones: thanks for having me. what we see is patterns that are consistent with historic patterns in the u.s. what is notable is nothing affects the religious voting patterns more than how they responded to the civil rights bill. it really since reagan, white southern christians shifted from the republican party to the democratic party. overall, most elections since reagan you could say white christian voters, whether you are protestant or catholic goal or evangelical or mainline you , tend to vote for the republican presidential candidate and non-white christians, religiously unaffiliated americans, and other non-christians tend to vote for democratic presidential

candidates. that is basically the pattern we see today. the most strongly religious groups strongly supporting donald trump is white evangelical protestants, about pollingds in the latest supporting donald trump. the group most likely to support hillary clinton are african-american protestants at 90%. supporting donald trump only -- three percentage points for donald trump. the group we are watching in the middle are really white catholics. white catholics have been the quintessential swing group. they play an important role in states like pennsylvania and wisconsin where they make up voters.ree in 10 they have been leading -- leaning toward donald trump by about seven points. it should be noted that romney won them by 19. there has been some residents --

trump.ce to support host: the white catholic gender gap, how is that playing out? mr. jones: that is one of the main reasons for this pullback. there has always been a little bit of a gender gap. this year it is 20 percentage points with men, 20 points more likely with -- more likely than men say they are supporting donald trump. it is almost double what we would expect to see in an election. host why is the catholic vote : historically been important in presidential elections? mr. jones: one of the main reasons is they are heavily present in a lot of these midwestern battleground states. i mentioned pennsylvania and wisconsin where they get three in 10 voters. that is a critical population. even in other states where you

might not think about it, about a quarter voters in ohio and florida which are must win states for donald trump. host: how have the catholic vote -- how has the catholic vote swung in past presidential elections? mr. jones: the other thing i point to is we talked about the -- we have historically talked about the catholic vote. i would say there are two catholic votes and have been for some time. in the last few elections for sure as the hispanic population has grown, it has changed the face of the catholic church. back in the 1990's, the ratio of white-nonwhite catholics was two -- about 10-one. now it is nearing about 60-40. while white catholics historically lean to -- historic -- hispanic catholics have become to be supportive of the democratic candidates.

84% supporting hillary clinton to 12% supporting donald trump. there is this great divide running along ethnic lines within the catholic church. host: what could that mean for next week in the battleground states? mr. jones: where will see this showing up really are the kind of new battleground states -- arizona, nevada, places where hispanic catholics outnumber white catholics. depending on turnout, what it , historically hispanic catholics their presence has not been felt because of low registration and low turnout. we will have to wait and see next week. we have some sense that hispanic registrations are up in the way they turnout will be the biggest factor. host: robert jones, ceo of the public religion research institute. thank you, sir. rri.org to find

out more. mr. jones: thank you. announcer: real clear news has compiled polls and created this map. rebecca berg reports that if the race continues to tighten and new hampshire goes for donald trump, they could tie in the number of electoral votes, although she says the map is very unlikely. here is more about yesterday's poll numbers. >> the national race is essentially tied between hillary clinton and donald trump according to the latest washington post abc news tracking polls. scott clement has been looking at the numbers as polling director for "the washington post. " walk us through the numbers, what are we looking at? mr. clement: this is the national vote preference we are tracking and we found clinton and it hasied at 46%

been fairly stable over the last week encompassing the news of friday regarding the fbi. sharp from last week where we had clinton up six percentage points. we were trying to gauge reaction to the recent news, particularly whether people had changed their minds that clinton is answering questions on the male issue as well as whether the perceptions of clinton and trump as being more honest and trustworthy. host: on the issue of trustworthiness interesting numbers on donald trump. mr. clement: we found donald trump had an eight percentage point edge inc. seen more honest and trustworthy. that is different than what we saw -- in september. clinton sometimes has had an edge on this, no candidate has had a big lead. majorities of the country think each candidate is this honest.

this is very much a measure of relative honestly -- honesty. host: explain the margin of error and who you are serving. mr. clement: the margin of sampling error refers to the expected amount of random variation we get when we draw a random sample of the country. right now the margin of error for this poll was 2.5 percentage points, that means our best estimate of clinton and trump support is 2.5 point below 46% or above that. the sample came from a random national sample of cellular and landline telephones come about two thirds were conducted over cell phones. we have live interviewers calling -- about 400-450 adults each night, people are asked whether they are registered to vote as well as their intention to vote and passed voting behavior in which point we

determine who is likely to vote. host: early voting already in place and well over half the country and the national polls opening up next tuesday. how fluid is the electorate at this point do you think? mr. clement: i think what are theto be most fluid republican leaning segments of the electorate who have resisted donald trump and in resisting him early this month are what led to some of clinton's very large leaves in the surveys following the debate. what we have seen in recent surveys is those groups have been coming home. we are talking about independents who lean republican as well as rank-and-file partisans. one thing that is uncertain at this stage is how early voting will play out and who will show up on election day. that is a big question given halfless -- or just about

supporters of each candidate are enthusiastic even though people are paying and a norris -- an enormous amount of attention. just ao these numbers few days before the election surprise you or are they typical? mr. clement: the race does appear to have more similarities to four years ago which is a clinton hasause generally had a steady lead in the campaign. donald trump has struggled to unify his party. we see a lot of similarities to four years ago, a lot of built-in advantages to clinton that she has going for her particularly in battleground states where polls continue to show her leading as well as where she has a stronger traditional ground game in place. host: scott clement is polling director for "the washington post." right now a national campaign

that is essentially a dead heat between the democratic and republican nominees. thank you for being with us. mr. clement: thank you for having me. announcer: just a reminder about our road to the white house coverage we will have melania trump making her first campaign speech since the republican national convention. she will be introduced by karen atce, scheduled to start 2:00 p.m. eastern and we will have it live on c-span. also, democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton with her campaign rally in raleigh, north carolina starting at 7:45 eastern on c-span. >> as the nation of alexa a new a newent on -- elects president on tuesday, will we have the first foreign-born first lady or the first gentleman?

ladies" gives readers a look into the personal lives and impact of every first lady in american history. it is a companion to the well-regarded biography series and features interviews with historians. there are also brief biographies of 45 presidential spouses. "first ladies" in paperback and published by public affairs now available at your favorite bookseller and as an e-book. ♪ >> after i came up with this idea, i did research information because this is the case for a lot of pieces done for this competition, but mental illness especially. it is a complicated issue and so multifaceted that i had to research to get a base knowledge of what i wanted to talk about in this piece and obviously

complicated i so cannot talk about it at all in 5-7 minutes. >> i thought it would be nice to have a vocal point i want to focus on, so i started interviewing my parents, i went to the internet before i started shooting and i researched this topic. i talked to the pharmacist and i talked to my mom and her colleagues and coworkers and i did a lot of internet research and went to the library. >> a lot of internet research to find more facts and data and statistics about employment of those with developmental disabilities and to see really what was going on. most of the information that i got off of the internet came from government founded websites, so that is how i knew most of the information -- was legitimate. >> this year's theme, your

message to washington, d.c. tell us what a -- what is the most pressing issue to address in 2017? $100,000 awarded in cash prizes. students can work alone or in a group up to three to produce a 5-7 minute documentary, include c-span programming and opposing opinions. the $100,000 will be awarded and shared between 150 students and 53 teachers and the grand prize of $5,000 will go to the student or team with the best overall entry. 2017eadline is january 20, . help us spread the word to student filmmakers. for more information go to our website, studentcams.org. announcer: live picture from the u.s. news and world report's fourth annual healthe