Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island is looking to win a fourth term in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday.
Whitehouse faces Patricia Morgan, a Republican state representative who was the first woman to serve as minority leader in the Rhode Island House. Whitehouse had a huge financial advantage, outraising Morgan almost 25-1.
Whitehouse has long championed efforts to combat climate change and campaigned on a promise to protect Medicare and Social Security benefits. More recently, he has worked to reform the U.S. Supreme Court. He served as Rhode Island’s U.S. Attorney and state attorney general before being elected to the Senate in 2006.
Whitehouse said he and fellow representatives from Rhode Island helped bring in about $200 million in federal funds for replacing the Washington Bridge.
"I think (that) shows a Congressional delegation that is doing its job,” he said during a debate with Morgan.
Morgan campaigned to close the U.S. border and finish building a wall on the southern border with Mexico. She supports the Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade. In the debate, she said she opposed a plan pushed by the senator that would help stabilize Social Security funding by increasing taxes on people making more than $400,000 a year.
She said the plan would hurt the economy and officials should instead direct money away from other things like climate subsidies.
“I will do everything I can to strengthen Social Security. I think the way is to prioritize it,” she said. “We can’t keep spending money on stupid stuff.”
Whitehouse said his tax plan targeting wealthier earners would protect the two programs.
“Our tax code right now is not fair,” he said. “It is not fair when billionaires pay lower tax rates than schoolteachers.”
During his three terms in office, Whitehouse wrote the bipartisan legislation providing funding for communities, health workers and law enforcement fighting the deadly opioid overdose crisis and long championed the Affordable Care Act.
Michael Casey, The Associated Press
