Lyerly, Wied spar over abortion, immigration in first debate
Green Bay — Dem Dr. Kristin Lyerly on Friday slammed GOP rival Tony Wied for supporting the 2022 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that ended federal protections for the right to an abortion.
Lyerly, an OB-GYN, pointed to Wied’s endorsement by former president Donald Trump in the August primary as indication of where Wied stands.
“We all know the person who pulls Tony Wied’s strings is proud of taking Roe v. Wade down,” Lyerly said.
Wied fired back that his job as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives would be to present spending bills and oversee the agencies at the federal level, not make decisions about reproductive rights.
“This is a state issue, it will continue to be a state issue,” Wied said. “The Democratic majority didn’t bring it to the federal level, and it won’t be at the federal level. So that’s not on my plate.”
He added: “If you are so passionate about this, why don’t you run for state Assembly or state Senate?”
The two met Friday for their first — and so far — only debate.
Lyerly said she is passionate about reproductive rights because restrictions under the 2022 Dobbs decision are “killing” her patients.
“What’s next? Contraception? In vitro fertilization?” Lyerly said. “Those are things we’re dealing with on a federal level. Where do you stand on those issues that are also deeply personal medical issues?”
Wied countered he thinks IVF is a “good thing.” He then asked Lyerly again why she is not running for the Legislature if this is an issue she cares about.
Wied knocked immigration policy under the Biden-Harris administration. He said a $118 billion bipartisan border bill that failed in the U.S. Senate “did not go far enough.” Instead, Wied said he supported going back to border policies in place while Donald Trump was president.
“[Trump’s] policies were effective,” Wied said. “The remain in Mexico policy, finishing the border wall, things like funding properly and giving the manpower to border officials and ICE. That was effective. This bill does not go far enough. We need to close this border down and find an effective immigration policy.”
Meanwhile, Lyerly said that “effective immigration policy is sitting there just waiting to be signed.” She said she supported the bipartisan bill because while it’s “not perfect,” it “starts to solve the problem.”
“We had this bipartisan border bill that was put together by some of the most conservative and some of the most liberal members of the Senate,” Lyerly said. “It wasn’t perfect, but it put 1,500 new border patrol agents into play.”
She added the bill would have created a more efficient path to citizenship and stemmed the flow of fentanyl across the border.
Lyerly swiped at Wied for saying in July he would eliminate the U.S. Department of Education, saying it would eliminate funding streams for students.
“It would drive states and local municipalities into chaos as they’re trying to backfill and figure out how they are going to provide services, especially services for the most vulnerable students in their schools,” Lyerly said. “I think that’s a big mistake.”
Wied defended his position, and said the Department of Education gets a “failing grade” from him.
“I believe that you should have the control to run your schools here locally,” Wied said. “And I do not believe in the federal government teaching our children. They are not good at it. We have federal bureaucrats continuing to get involved in our children’s education. The money should stay here and not go to the federal government.”
Wied and Lyerly fielded questions from a panel of journalists and two UW-Green Bay students during the debate, which was hosted by UW-Green Bay’s Mauthe Center.
Among other things, they were asked about Social Security, mental health and inflation.
On other issues:
- Wied said the inflation under the Biden-Harris administration is the “worst we have seen in years” and “affects the poor and middle class the most.” He said he would fix this through tax cuts for small businesses and by looking into “energy dominance as a country.” Lyerly said she would address inflation and the rising cost of housing by pushing for mixed-use communities.
- Lyerly said tax cuts under Trump “really benefited the very wealthy and corporations” and “we’ve got to focus on the middle class.” Wied said “the new tax right now is inflation” and said he supported expanding the tax cuts put in place under Trump.
