By ABIGAIL SHEARER
Tiger Media Network
On Tuesday, the Student Government Association hosted an Open Forum for the Kansas 1st District U.S. House of Representatives candidates. Republican incumbent Tracey Mann, democrat Lauren Reinhold and libertarian Steven Jacob all spoke at the forum.
Each candidate gave an opening remark.
Jacob said he is running as a taxpayer and retiree who is struggling with the economy. He said he is running because the national debt is the biggest security concern.”
Mann opened by thanking everyone and saying that he has represented Kansas in DC for the past six years. He also talked about his time advocating for agriculture and Kansas conservative values.
Reinhold talked about what she envisions as the American dream and said we are far from it. She said her version of the American dream is one where all Kansans have a job or retirement that pays all the bills.”
While the candidates discussed a number of topics, including higher education funding and AI challenges, and opportunities for Kansans.
“(Our biggest issues are) driven from our fundamental values, which I would say are faith, family, hard work, and personal possibility… also having people not believe in past America but also the future,” Mann said.
Reinhold believes the biggest issue for Kansans is the unaffordable cost of living.
For Jacob, the biggest issue is the national debt and representatives favoring their party and not the politics.
All three candidates were supportive of higher education.
Mann’s three points were filling out the FAFSA, schools looking for grants, and competing with other schools.
Reinhold pushed for higher Pell grants and free community colleges/ technical colleges.
“Pell Grants are very important to help (close) the gap between poverty and education,” she said.
Jacob said that “free is never free,” and higher education is part of this kind of state issue.
The candidates were asked about AI and the challenges and opportunities it brings.
“Congress needs to listen to the experts who are already speaking,” Reinhold said. “We need to listen to warnings from experts.”
“The federal government can’t regulate social media or the internet,” Jacob said. “So they are not great.”
“This is a global race; we’ve got to make sure that we do not lose to China,” Mann said. “We need to make sure that it’s not used for, you know, things that are criminal; we need to beef up, maybe increase some of those protections for premises people.”
Early voting starts October 14. Voting is on November 3.
The State House representative candidates for the 110th and 111th Kansas House Districts will have their open forum at 7 p.m. on Monday at Beach Schmidt Performing Arts Center.