6abc's inside story presented by temple will not be seen today so we can bring you this special presentation. this is vote 2016, the pennsylvania senatorial primary debate. the debate is brought to you by 6abc in philadelphia. and the league of women voters of pennsylvania. in alphabetical order, the candidates are ferret fertility, katie mcginty -- john fetterman, katie mcginty and joe sestak. and joe vodvarka. our panelists are llia garcia of univision 65 and "action news" reporter, vernon odem. and now your moderator 6abc anchor jim gardner. hello and thank you for joining us for this debate among the four democratic candidates running for the united states

senate from the commonwealth of pennsylvania. they have gathered at our 6abc studios for what we hope will be a wide-ranging and informative discussion of the major issues of this campaign. each candidate will have one minute to answer the questions posed to them by myself and my two panelists. if we feel an issue bears further discussion we'll continue. each candidate will have an equal chance to weigh in. at the end of the debate. each candidate will have a minute to make a closing statement. let's begin, our first question goes to katie mcginty. miss mcginty we are in the midst of one of the most notable campaign pains in anyone's memory, most of the electorate seem to be rejecting the status quo. they are saying to the federal government, you have failed us and we demands something new and different. do you see yourself as new and

different and if so, specifically how? >> reporter: well, jim, thank you very much. let me say i understand where the voters are coming from, bottom line is that neither the political system nor our economy is working for most families. people are working harder and falling further and further hind. what i bring to that equation and discussion fighting for the middle class and working families, it's personal. one of ten children, my dad a policemen and my mom worked into the wee hours of the evening as a restaurant hostess. if you want something you have to work for it. nobody will make it happen to you. as a united states senator representing the people of pennsylvania i'll do something different than what pat toomey has done.

pat toomey has sold out the middle class, i will be a firm vote upholding social security and stand with taxpayers against wall street excesses. i'll stand for universal pre-k give our kids a good start. i have faith in the workforce, no more bad trade deals let's put our people back to work and building good infrastructure and revitalizing manufacturing in the country. for people looking for a change in the status quo do you see yourself as a change in the status quo. i think 89 status quo is loaded on the side of the well healed. there is has not been enough a voice or fight for those who work hard. their paychecks are shrinking rather than expanding. you have to have someone whole

go for equal pay for equal work. that's where my priorities lie. mr. fetterman are you different? i'm not new, what makes me different is that it is one of the most challenged communities in pennsylvania i've leaned into for over a decade. my campaign believes that your zip code should not determine your destiny. our predicts shows that we are only true progressive in the race. the biggest issue in the campaign is scourge of inquality in the county. -- inequality in the country. this is what we confronted everyday whether that's fighting for universal pre-k or fighting for the war on drugs. we believe the scourge of

inequality must be confronted and that's different in american politics. mr. vodvarka how are you different? >> reporter: i don't like politics i don't see no difference between a democrat and republican. it's all by design they control everything, this is the worst the country has ever had. we live in a great nation that is dieing. no government has created a job. it's for government to create opportunities for the people to create the jobs. today you got all the jobs going to china. china and mexico and the rest of the world and they make it like isis is the bringingest enemy we -- biggest enemy we've got. it's not isis it's china. i believe in the american worker. i remember the olden days how easy it was to get a job and the money that was made. i want to put a tariff on the countries of -- that work for

less than a buck an hour and work for food. they ship it to america it competes with american labor. i want it to stop. ttp that's worse than nafta and everything these crumbs have done in the past. they have to go. we have to get rid of nafta, the ttp takes your right away to negotiate. that's so bad. mr. vodvarka i'll have interrupt you. you'll have opportunity to continue that train of thought. mr. sestak how are you new and different? >> reporter: i'm different i'm not a politician i am a public servant, the proof of that is when i want down to the washington, d.c. to see the leadership of the democratic party, one senator said sestak whenever i tell you something the answer is yes.

half of the democrat is against me. trust is the biggest deficit we have in america today. they know the system is broken. when i left being a congress i turned down 6, 7 figure lobbying job. i walked across the state 122 miles so people would know that i walked in their shoes not the establishment's shoes. when the philadelphia inquirer endorsed me, they said this is someone who puts principle above party and bring integrity of service in people. i did it in the military and as a congress and teaching working in philadelphia afterwards, i will do in the united states senate despite my establishment party's desires otherwise. the next question is coming from llia garcia of univision 65. it goes to john fetterman.

>> reporter: mr. fetterman here in philadelphia and across the country there have been clasheses with police. what can you do on the federal level to ease or solve the situation and build a bond between the officers and the state patrol. it's not what i could do in washington it's what i have done in my role as mayor of braddock. we have had a community policing model that led to a drop off in crime we went without loss of life in our community. we valued the black lives matter we got rid of the officers that should have been on the force and hired community oriented police officers and we became the community they wanted us to be. we developed trust and we need the police department, you need to affirm the very basic principles of black lives matter

and we are seen as an ally and not an occupying force and we've managed to do all the reductions in crime and create a wave of public safety without any kind of increased complaints and nothing of anything of physical abuse or shootings. mr. vodvarka if you would like to respond to the question, as well. i've been a member of the sheriff reserve back in pittsburgh since the mid 60s. i'm a life member of the nra system since the mid 70s. ohio gun collectors, sportsmen of robinson township. i support everybody. i support the police, no life is more important than another life. all men are created equal all lives are created equal. what we never talk about, what's never mentioned is all the police that are out in the

ghettos in their police cars just being there how many crimes have never happened. they need stopped because the police are there. the job they do and the people they protect, they are my heros, black and white we all got to work together and stop this hatred trying to pick on one over the other, make these trick questions and that that doesn't help the situation who was. mr. sestak. i have great respect for the police, i would ride around with the police department every friday and night. it's tough out there. it felt like i was on the ground in afghanistan. black lives matter matters and our criminal justice system is not just. i go to prison every year to visit my fellow vets, many are

in there for drugs that should not be in there if we had the right courts. the first person i hired on my staff is an african-american who was incarcerated for seven years. half the children in pre-k that are suspended are children of color. we've got to do better than that. that's why i taught at cheyney university the oldest political black university. half the children today are children of color. they will be our largest national assets in terms of color. that's why black lives matter matter 0 all of us. miss mcginty. >> reporter: i mentioned my dad a moment ago served the city as a police officer for 25 years. i think he was the model of communities policing. in that 25 years, the gun never left the holster.

he walked the beat. he knew the neighbors, the leaders in the community. i think we need to get back to that model. federal government has a huge role to play to fund and support local communities and being able to invest in been wine real community police -- genuine really community policing. i think it is poshts that the -- important that the ranks of police officer reflect the neighborhood so that we diversity in the ranks. it's not enough to stop bad things from happening. i think we're losing the grounds that had been gained in all the years in effort on civil rights. we need to act now to take on the concentration of poverty that we see in our communities. good schools and inclusive economy and opportunity for everybody to get ahead. vernon odem your question goes to mr. vodvarka. >> reporter: mr. vodvarka there's a widespread movement

across the country much with bipartisan saying the prisons are too full of people who are nonviolent they should not gone to the prison in the first place. if elected do you think that argument is real and should be responded to at the federal and state and local levels. i think those people should be given medical attention. when you get on drugs, you never get off them, it's so hard to get off them. you get addicted to go and punish them is the wrong thing. they don't like need punishment. they need help. i would do everything i could to get them medical help, if it's drugs or doctors whatever it would take to help the people to get them off drugs that's what we ought to do not put them in

prisons or that. we have enough people in government that should be in prison. that's what's destroying the county the government we got today. it don't care, it's all by design. let's get the jobs back, all the kids on the streets they go around the corner they finds trouble they find a job, our country would have tax also coming in. they would have a good tax revenue they could use. teach them trades and put them in trade schools and money in their pockets. we would save a lot of lives. mr. sestak. vernon i want to the maximum security prison sitting around talking i made a few comments to them. there's no more moving ceremony those of them who are there and shouldn't be there. the inane lawless that were passed in the 1980s, the three

strikes and you're out we have to fix them. get a drug court and veterans court established everywhere. i want to chester that's the first prison in pennsylvania that was focused on drug rehabilitation. we let our prisoners out 30 days of pharmaceutical. that's what is good about obama care. in it there's drug and alcohol addiction parenting. now you can if we enforce it get the same amount of treatment for drug alcohol addiction as you do for surgical or medical treatment as no more cost. one in four families suffer from this. it is not on stopping them from happening it's helping when they are on drugs. miss gint you -- mcginty. vern, i believe we need wholesale reform in criminal

justice in regard to the last couple of decades especially for nonviolent offenses. take another look, when you think of a young person who is put in prison for having pot in his pocket while the folks who crushed the economy of this country walk free something is wrong. when you see that we spend more on corrections than college for the of $2 billion that's the wrong way to go. i don't think many people are aware of this, but many of these sentences wind up being permanent sentences. even after you do your time there's a list of 800 things you're precluded from doing, getting a mortgage avoilg yourself of afford -- availing yourself of affordable housing. we need to have our returning citizens be productive members of the communities so nonviolent

offenders are not ruined. what would this countries look like if we declared a war on aaddiction 30 years ago than a war on drugs. we have started a conversation in my campaign in the way we treat addiction in the county. it needs to be treated as a medical issue. we can never arrest our way out of it. warehousing people, the prison population that's gets back to the black lives matter, african-americans are arrested for crimes, like marijuana, whites african-americans use marijuana at the same rate, but african americans are charged criminal for it. i am the only candidate in the race to support the full legalization of marijuana to remove one of the systemic problems in the justice system in the county. mr. sestak the latest

franklin and marshall poll asked pennsylvanians what issue matters most as you go about choosing the next president of the united states, high on the list was terrorism, war and foreign policy. what specifically qualifies you in giving your advice and consent determining how this county should export humans and otherwise? >> having been in the united states, i've been in the war in afghanistan. i worked for the president clinton to develop the national security strategy of engagement. they sent me to harvard for my doctorate so understand the

ebola and flow of the security like with china today. militaries can stop the problem, militaries cannot fix the problem. before you take the very step into a war, please understand how to secure the peace the day after. we toppled saddam, but they were not ready to secure the peace. i meant to bring that ability to have a strong military, yes that could smaller than it is, at less money through cyber space, to where we don't go around the world leading with the military and don't get us into another tragedy. miss mcginty. thanks, jim throughout my career i've had the occasion to be involved in environmental matters. i was central involved with president clinton key issues dealing with the haitian boat crisis or the aftermath of the

chernobyl nuclear meltdown. i've lived and worked over seas, as well. when we talk about the trade greemplets -- agreement i see how difficult it is to get a fair shake in the markets overseas. we have to be series about isis, defeat and destroy isis that means our airstrikes it does not mean our boots on the ground. here i have a disagreement with pat toomey, pat toomey who has done nothing to move along the declaration of war against isis that the president proposed well more than a year ago has done nothing to move on the nominee that the president put forward. the expert in cutting offensing for terrorists, those are priorities i would push them anne working closely with the white house on those key issues. mr. fetterman. my campaign believes good judgment trumps bad experience. all across the state on the

campaign i have not encountered a single individual that has been happy or pleased or proud how iraq turned out. it's one of the worst foreign policy blunders the government ever made. the so-called experts out there, that we can bomb our way into imposing our will and way of life in the countries we've seen how that worked out. the kennedy school of government the best things i was exposed to was the former defense secretary during the vietnam war. he said the vietnam war didn't have to happen. this is a war of choice and it was a mistake. no one learned that lesson we went into iraq another war of choice. isis is a threat, but not a -- one that would get us involved.

what qualifies you to give your advice and consent as a member of the u.s. senate whether to deploy resources and how to deploy resources in the war against isis. the war against isis. well, first of all, i don't believe in going to war. sending our kids anywhere to fight. you got isis over there in syria, there's something like 3.5 million refugees and they are all young men, most of them. they are fighting men and they good fighters. why do we have to send our kids over there in the first place to fight a war that's been going on for thousands of years. if you want to fight a war arm them. i want to see isis eliminated, but there are things that are a lot of more important than isis and that's china. china got the biggest military in the world and that's

something that's a big threat to us, they could take our satellites outs, they make arms to everybody in the world, they fight our kids. rockets. everything, they have probably given the nuclear secrets to build the bomb. we give them most favored trade status. lift off that. let me ask this question, if the next president of the united states comes forthwith a proposal to sends substantial numbers of troops to the middle east to eliminate isis from what i'm hearing none of you as the member of the senate would vote in favor of that. how could you send somebody else' kid over there to die. they say are the best kids we have in the military. mr. sestak would you go for that? there's no reason to have our grounds troops on the grounds there. no one has figure out how to secure the peace once we destroyed from the air the

caliphate. mr. fetterman. how many wars of choice do we have to undertake in the middle east before we realize we have no ability to impose our will and our way of life on these countries. civil wars and sectarian civil wars that date back 14 centuries i'm hard press to pred to say yes, so no. llia garcia you have a question for miss mcginty. your report suggests skilled i immigrants help create jobs. do you believe skill immigrant workers should be afforded more leeway to stay here to seek

citizenship and why. i believe this county, one of our greatest strengths has been our diversity and the fact that we have attracted talent from all over the world of we have attracted moms and dads and families that are on fire for our country wanting to come and give it there all. i'm only second generation in this county. i know from my grandparents coming from ire -- ireland. they came and did back-breaking work and seen the country through the depression, as well as world war ii giving children in that war. immigrants at incredible vitality. i would be for full and comprehensive immigration reform including a path of citizenship. recent headlines show what immigrants add to the vitality of our county seeing that half of new companies that reached a

billion dollars or more in revenue were started by immigrants. mr. vodvarka. the statue of liberty as he is send us your tired huddled masses. you see the hazel red trick coming -- hateful rhetoric coming from the other side of the political aisle that has to change we have to rise above the rhetoric. the most popular theme is buildings a wall between us and mexico. another reason i don't support that because i wouldn't have the beautiful wife and children i have if we valued one immigrant's lives over the worry. my wife was brought here by her mother fleeing a dangerous situation in brazil. her mother broke her back cleaning houses for 12 hours a day. my mother-in-law took the chances she needs to saturday i

have the beautiful family i have. my wife has made an amazing contribution to our community, but the region as a whole. mr. vodvarka. immigrants are beautiful people they do beautiful jobs, i find nothing wrong with them, i'm all for immigrants. but we have laws maybe we could do something they can go back to their home county and do everything legal and come back, but we have laws and these laws have to be obeyed. sanctuary cities that's something that is illegal. that's something we should not have. if you want the government to get into something they had to go in there and get the politicians that started the sanctuary cities let's put them in jail. you wouldn't have so many. i'm for the immigrants, but it has to be done legally. as far as the wall goes i would build a wall. a wall is not going to keep out immigrants. it's to keep out the enemy. right now it's the porous

border. they could bring anything they want across the border. if isis is coming to the country that's the way they will come across the mexican boarder. we have a border up north in canada. thank you. mr. sestak. we should get the unskilled and undocumented out of the shaddows. for the unskilled get to the back of the line. we'll have an increased in productivity of $1.2 trillion in the economy and $600 billion into social security revenue to salvage the program. another 600,000 into medicaid which we saved in the affordable care act up to 2030. as far as the skills let's open up more that can come in, because 40% of all our fortune 500 companies are started by

immigrants. i want to the other end of the state and taught at carnagie mellon. hines college are from foreign countries. staple the green card to the diploma. manufacturing is about to come home from china and we need everybody. my next question is from vernon odem for john fetterman. mr. fetterman, the republicans are hammering president obama saying the military is poorly equipped and drained and demoralized and not effective any more and ignored and destroyed. democrats argue we don't do enough for our veterans what are coming home where are you on the argument, sir and what would your role be as a u.s. senator in terms of the military budget and the veterans coming home. i think first of all what supersedes all that, is not sending our men and women into

harm's way for disastrous wars of choice. that's the best way anyone us if we were elected look after veterans in the countries. we have not honored our commitment to veterans in the county. the suicide rates are explorable, and the services or lack thereof that they receive upon their return has to change. the military spending is ten times, excuse me it's more than the next ten countries combined. we spend plenty on the military we shall be looking for waste fraud and excess, and re invest it in healthcare education. the best way to look after veterans is not to sends them to costly disastrous wars of choice. are we spending too much on the military would you decrease the budget? ic it's a conversation we have to have in the country.

at the ends of the day, the military has changed it's mission has changed. we're not going after the cold war model we're going after sleeper cells and isis. these are conversations that we need to have in the county. mr. vodvarka. we have the best military in the world. i've talked to the veterans, and there's nothing too much that you could do for a vet. the worst thing you could do is have the politics come out there and try to write something up, because it's not going to be good. my deal with the vets would be that i went them to figure out what they want, the vets then they get me their attorney, when i am in the senate i want their attorney next to me as a mouth piece. if they let the attorney talk he'll talk. if he is not allowed to talk i'll talk. i want them to be represented by the attorney in the united

states they will write-up the bill and i will go for that bill, i'll sponsor it and get it passed. what about the military spending is it too much? military spending if you want freedom, it costs. it's not cheap. you got to spend money. you have to have a deterrent you have to have the best equipment in the world. i've been in business since 17978 i am self-employed i'm a little manufacturer, i've never had a reject. the military whatever it takes, you got to have the best in the world, otherwise when that goes down and goes below a certain level, china or someone in this world will attack us. we don't make anything any more that's another problem. mr. sestak. you asked me fiches -- if i was different. i was different in the united

states navy. i said we don't need 300 ships we need 250. we don't need 54 subs, we need 35 because subs cannot find the mini iranian subs. we can develop at less cost a small device that can pick up a piece of metal, the sub moving through the water that disburses the magnetic field. the answer is yes, we can have a better military at less cost. the chief of operations came in here during my last race and said joe sestak was a patriot's patriot. he stood up in the rumsfeld discipline -- administration agreed he said no. we need someone with military foreign policy we can have a better military if we dominate seibeler space and not build cold war programs.

katie mcginty. this is personal for me and my family, as well. my brother, jimmy served his county, our country well and honorably as a marine and a couple of years ago had a health issue that led him to need assistance, when we took him to the va, they said jimmy is a great guy, bring him back in a year and we'll have a bed for him. i disagree with pat toomey who voted against every single veterans bill that would help our vets and their families. in terms of of the military and our expenditures, it is vital to retain the ability to make and manufacturer right here in the u.s., the key of critical equipment we need. that's not the case today. spoke to someone who makes artificial intelligence systems

for missiles, unfortunately the chip you need no longer any company in the united states makes that key equipment. that's a threat to our security we need to build it and make it at home. mr. vodvarka, the congress passed $305 billion transportation bill late last year, everybody in the studio would acknowledge much of the country's infrastructure is crumbling. not only do we need to build new roads we need to build bridges water plants, transportation facilities and every billion dollars of spending creates about 13,000 jobs, how do i take a pick axe to the barriers in congress to rebuild america's infrastructure. how could you spend any money when you're $19 trillion in debt. you don't have any good jobs in

the country. all the jobs are across the pond. you have to get fair trade and back the american worker. let's get it in in this countryo put these millennials to work. we get our money we'll build our own bridges we don't need stinking politicians to do it. get the jobs back, the kids will have money in their pockets, good jobs, we'll get them education. that's another thing i want to do teach college education on the internet. the internet is so big you could teach anything. the kids in the ghettos and that could get an education from home in the is a lot of of their homes. nobody is talking about that. everything could be taught on the internet. it's something that's being done now. you got something that teaches 25 kids a good professor, could

teach 125,000, let's take care of the poor. what about infrastructure jobs? i walked across the state i saw a lot of roads, the sinkhole saloon because of the infrastructure that the roads sink every two years. it's $150 billion to fix the waterways, the air wares, the railroads. public private benches like indiana did, they took the billions of dollars they got for that and fixed all the other roads and now they have the aaa rating. chicago did the same with the skyline. infrastructure banks pennsylvania has a small one a loan you can take out and pay it back. third because of time wireless infrastructure. i go into all the 67 counties

and go into elk county even hold up my iphone can't use it here. that infrastructure we don't have that because pennsylvania legislators, telecoms rolled in and passed a law saying municipalities cannot develop their own wireless network. that's the establishment that's where they are wrong. mills -- miss mcginty. there's a bipartisan ideas that i would like to get behind. there's $2.5 trillion in corporate products sitting in banks over seas. 9 idea to offer a tax incentive to bring it back home. i would earmark it for infrastructure that is sorely needed. people know they are paying the price for the infrastructure we have. some paying the highest price. what a disgrace it is when we

have flint, michigan. there are old lead pipes all over the commonwealth and country let's get at that so more young children are not paying the price in terms of lead poisoning. in philadelphia we have seen that price, as well with not one, but two recent amtrak derailments that took life. that's a cost that we can't afford. let's invest make sure we have safety first for sure, burr an -- but an infrastrurk tuck you tur -- infrastructure that an economy can grow. my community was surrounded by three bridges that are condemned they were not strong enough to support the weight of a bus. nobody on this stage know better than i do how bad the infrastructure is. republicans drive over bridges the way democrats do. it should be one of our most

grounding bipartisan ideas in the country that we need a cutting edge infrastructure that bill and time has come to make the investments and create the jobs and increase the gas tax. people have to understand you get what you pay for in the country. in terms of infrastructure we are long overdue for a serious upgrade and seriously in need of the jobs it would create in the country. llia garcia of univision 65 for mr. sestak. according to the 2010 puerto ricans make up the largest hispanic group in pennsylvania. as is known by many, puerto rico is in debt and has no way to pay it back. this has produced an exodus of many from the main island. what is your position on the

fiscal crisis in puerto rico and do you feel that congress has a obligation to help puerto rico to resolve the crisis. yes, absolutely, a lot of problem, not all of it, they went out and sold commonwealth bonds at prices they should not have is our fault because we mandated by law that shipping bringing goods to puerto rico had to go to the united states port and go back to port -- puerto rico raising the cost. we should let them do what states do in order to restructure their debt just like we do in all the states here because they are a valued part of the commonwealth. let's move on to other issues for them. we have to work in healthcare for them. because diabetes and heart disease is the biggest among

them than almost anywheres, education i'll tell you if we don't do that, we won't have the commonwealth continue on in a prosperous way. we have to restructure their debt. police -- miss mcginty. i agree, this chal owning owning -- challenge and problem dates back 14 years ago. every political subdivision had the opportunity to manage their debts including the opportunities when needed to restructure those debts. for reasons that no one knows, that opportunity was taken away uniquely from puerto rico. we need to restore that ability to enable to puerto rico to manage the debts. the longer that congress waits and dithers on this, the situation for puerto rico becomes more chal -- challenging

because people who had good jobs are taking away the financial base to puts puerto rico back on a sound footing. i think we also needed to is recognize that when we invest in various projects, those projects need to be paid out over a certain period of time and that means everyone like puerto rico needs the full spectrum of financial tools available to them. i would support action to restore that authority to puerto rico. absolutely i would support that. at the end of the day that's less than the money the government poneyed up to bail out aig and they created the mess and situation for themselves. you have a situation in puerto rico that's debtor -- we have a

moral obligation to restructure that's beneficial to puerto rico i itself. as a nation we cannot turn our backs on that matter. there are four people up here trying to answer a question that they know nothing about that, something like that should be put out to the people and voted on this coming november. that's something should be voted on by american people let them make the decision, what i would do like mr. sestak was saying about having diabetes, i would like to see a manhattan style project put in place, let's try to cure people we've got the technology today. let's gets all the money we're spending on foreign aid. only israel i would keep on foreign aid because they are our friends. i would get all the money and

set up something worldwide with the computers and everything. let's cure aids and cancer, let's cure diabetes, alzheimers, everything. thank you mr. vodvarka. vote vote your -- vernon odem your question for miss mcginty. voting rights in the mid 60s have been attacked since they were passed by state legislators from north carolina to ohio and texas. if you were in the senate what would your role be in fighting back on that if you think it's a real issue. i think it's a hugely serious issue, you only have to look at recent primary elections in arizona for example where people were forced to stands in line for four hours-plus, that discouraged a lot of voters, i don't think that was

unintentional. we saw that in our commonwealth with the idea to push voter i.d. legislation, even though the governor at the time couldn't identify a single example of voter fraud. the voting rights act has been under attack, that the foolive foolive -- foolish idea that racism is behind us and we don't need the protection of the voting rights act is wrong. as a senator i would work to restore the voting rights act and make sure whether we consider judicial nominees they understand and appreciate one person one vote and the details matter. i think we need to take further steps to enable early voting for example and make it so we are encouraging rather than discouraging people from exercising this most vital franchise. mr. fetterman. this idea of voter fraud is

one of the great republican boogiemen out there. there are fewer than five documented cases of voter fraud. it is put out there that we have to stop this wave of fraud that's hamming. it's all grounded in their desire to minority votes that benefit their party that has to be stopped at every turn. in my own hometown there's a young guy that ran for city council in a town called mckeys port. he was elected, but barred from office for a drug crime that happened a quarter century ago. many are disenfranchised and we should change that and give america the day off and be able to vote. mr. vodvarka. well, what i've been

through, voter fraud a petition challenge by mr. sestak, you need 2,000 signatures to get on the ballot i have 2700, he challenged 1700. they get the little guy off the ballot. the little guy can't run. they want their kids to be in there, but they don't wants your kids to be in there. my case was decided by the pennsylvania common court. he had seven republican judge also vote on it, i lost 5-2. they voted on old case law which is by the way of the dinosaur, i lost, i had to appeal it to the supreme court and i won. sometimes good triumphs evil. and that was seven days to run for the united states senate. i'm sorry, we have to move on.

yes, had i, this -- yes, hi, this issue is near and dear to me, i would be in the persian gulf and i got my absentee ballot a month after the election occurred. we worked on it in congress. but there are things that have to be done because the chances of voter fraud is less than getting hit by lightning. what we needed to is have several days for people to vote. it's tough when 20% of the families are working both people are working we need to have it easier when you go up to register for car registration register to vote. get the internet to be secure you could do it by internet. i held town halls at cheney

university. bliervetion half the -- black lives matter, half the children, children of colorle they will be the largest voting block, we need to give them read access to vote. i'm going to ask you to limit yore responses to 30 seconds. we're almost out of time. ic get a quick question in. it's about fracking, fracking could cause some measure of environmental harm and health risk i'm not talking about regulating it or taxing it, i'm asking should there be fracking in pennsylvania. i go to fetterman. in a perfect world we wouldn't have fracking. i would embrace the new york model i would ban it out right. i support a moratorium until two conditions are melt. that we charge -- are met. the two conditions are that we

charge an extraction tax and low budget environmentsal -- environmentsal protection to safeguard our grounds water. there are 90,000 people in pennsylvania that are working in fracking. 90,000 jobs, i'm labor, i stick up for labor. i don't want to see no pollution i'm an environmentalist. i believe we have to get the oil out. we have to create jobs and i believe what's drilled here, stays here, i don't want to see it leaving the cnts. leaving the countries. i'll all for the working man. if they work with the workingman i'll work with them. i was trying to say stop fracking in the 2010 race and still there today. you probably saw the final study that came out from johns hopkins this week where they studied

women who were having babies next to where they were fracking. right now how can we have fracking when the epa is not allowed to come in and inspect the drinking water and we know lead is being used by the frackers. we don't want another flint. military you learn get it right before you do it. miss mcginty. we made a mistake in the country putting all our energy eggs in one basket. whistles sskt of environmental -- secretary of environment protection we started with energy efficiency. second renewable energy i'm proud to say we were able to move this commonwealth to be a leader in the countries and in the world winds energy and solar energy. when it comes to environmental sources we need a cop on the

beat and strengthen the regulations and enforce the regulations. that's what i would be about. you were terrific. the candidates have one minute each for their closing statements, we begin with katie mcginty. thanks jim, and thanks for having us here, to the voters if you feel like you're working harder and harder and falling behind stand with me in the election. i'm laserred focus on building the middle class. let's make sure every child has universal precountry. pre-k. after we worked our whole lives it should be that our wages reflect that, a living wage and make sure it's equal pay for equal work. those are some of the priorities that will make it true again when you work hard in this great

country you can and you will get ahead. i believe in american workers. we're going to rebuild our infrastructure. we're going to take on china and anybody else with our technology with our skilled workforce, we can compete and win i'm katie mcginty and i scl sc -- ask for your help and vote in this election. for the past 11 years i served mayor for the one of the most challenged communities in our commonwealth. the issues are at the forefront of the debate in our country. pre-k. war on drugs, black lives matter. community policing. immigration, lgbt rights. istles -- i was the first elected official in pennsylvania to officiate same-sex marriage. as the one true progressive in this race and one candidate that

endorsed bernie sanders for president i'm asking for your support to elect and send a true progressive to the united states. mr. vodvarka. i've been off the dial like i said for 25 days, nobody knows him better than i know him, he is a true politician. last week i had seven days, i couldn't go to no debates, i wasn't allowed to attendant cmu progressive debate and franklin and marshall they kept me from speaking. i've never been discriminated against in my life. i'm a kennedy type democrat. i've never served public office in my life i'm for the american working people. if you don't want to vote for me, vote for one of them, i know them, what you hear and see don't you believe.

that's all i can say. everybody listening vote, even if it's not for me, vote. when we talked about the service members out there, like when i got my ballot late, they are out protecting you and we should all even for that reason alone enjoy that franchise we have. that integrity of service that i learned with the service members out there, i joined up during vietnam, not a lot did. my country was at war. i want with my daughter after rising to dmairl -- admiral she got brain cancer at the age of 4. i became a democrat i wanted to work on obama care. i kept the office open seven days a week until 9:00 p.m., 18,000 of my countrymen and women walked in our door, i did it because it was like when i joined up with seals in afghanistan at 2:00 a.m., it was

not a 7 to 5 job we had to help them. when i turned down the lobbying job i went to teach the national youth. i want to bring trust to back to public service, that integrity of service where you're serving others above yourself. i ask for your vote. thank you. well that concludes the debate today we would like to thank the candidates for appearing here and we would like to thank you for watching. also thanks to our panelists, llia garcia of univision 65 and vernon odem of "action news" here at channel 6. for the entire "action news" team i'm jim gardner. thank you and we leave you with these final thoughts from the league of women voters from pennsylvania. >> reporter: i'm susan carte, president of league of women voters of pennsylvania. i extend our sincere thank you to the candidates and 6abc and panelists and moderator jim

gardner for providing this opportunity for pennsylvania voters to see and hear the candidates for u.s. senate in action. now it's your turn to take action. it is your right. remember, election day is april 26th. it is your turn to be heard. i'm nnl in an along with gray hall. coming up next, bullets fly at a birthday in south jersey, we learned that a woman has died from her injuries. plus, police are searching for a man who abducted a woman from a west philadelphia street and sexually assaulted her. democratic candidates in the pennsylvania senate race

scare off in a debate on 6abc. those stories and more next on "action news."

joe sestak supports a plan that the new york timesfactreported makes cuts to social security benefits. and the plan raises the retirement age. it's true. the a.a.r.p. opposed the plan, citing dramatic cuts to medicare benefits. the plan sestak supports means higher out-of-pocket costs for millions on medicare. any way you spin it, the truth about sestak is gonna hurt. women vote is responsible for the content of this advertising. sunday, april 24. here's some of the stories we're following on "action news," a 17-year-old boy is shot and killed in a fight in north philadelphia anticipate police are searching for the shooter. the pennsylvania