By james art The University of Wisconsin-Madison hosted a candidate forum between Democratic U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan and GOP candidate Eric Olsen at the Red Gym on Wednesday ahead of the Nov. 5 race for the 2nd Congressional seat.
During the debate, moderated by political science professor and director of the Center for Election Studies Barry Burden, the candidates shared their positions on student issues and what they hope to accomplish if elected to office. Here are three key takeaways from the debate.
Invited hopes to codify abortion rights, Olsen says ‘abortion kills’
Pokan has expressed unwavering support for abortion rights and said he hopes to codify federal abortion protections into law because “women have the right to make medical decisions about their own bodies.”
Abortion rights were a critical issue for Wisconsin voters in recent years. In 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending a constitutionally protected right to access abortion. The decision reinstated an 1849 Wisconsin law, prohibition all abortions in the state without exception for rape or incest.
Abortion services resumed in the state in September 2023 after a Dane County Circuit Court judge ruled that the 1849 law applied only to killing the fetus and not to consensual abortions.
Pocan said the law was unfair, feeling it “paternally” told women how to behave.
“We need to start respecting women, and you’re doing that by not having that 1849 law in Wisconsin,” Pocan said.
In 2022, the US House of Representatives passed bill that would codify Roe v. Wade and restore access to abortion nationwide, but Republicans in the U.S. Senate blocked the account.
In contrast, Olsen said she believes “abortion kills” but believes there is “a way to end abortion” without “taking away anyone’s choices” by helping people take ” good decisions’.
Olsen later clarified that she did not plan to “interfere” in the abortion issue at the national level because she believed the Supreme Court decision made it “absolutely clear” that it was a matter for the states to decide.
Called for federal marijuana reform, Olsen says the issue should be left to the states
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Pokan expressed frustration with the controversial marijuana laws in the U.S., saying he hopes to implement more uniform regulations between the federal and state governments. He said “the time has now come” for marijuana reform at the national level.
“We just have a very backward position. The fact that we still have it as Schedule I[drug] like heroin, it doesn’t make any sense,” Pocan said.
Despite legalization in 24 states, federal law still forbids people to deposit money in a bank obtained from selling marijuana. Last year, Congress introduced Safe Banking Actwhich would allow people to deposit money from a state-sanctioned marijuana business into a bank.
Pokan expressed full support for the intent of the bill and opposed keeping the provisions prohibiting legal marijuana businesses from putting money in the bank.
Olsen took a similar stance on the issue, saying that while he is not in favor of the use of marijuana, he thinks the federal banking regulations are “absolutely ridiculous.” Olsen also said he believes federal marijuana regulations are part of an overall problem of too much national regulation of “state affairs.”
“This is a free country and people can do whatever they want and each state has to decide how they want to deal with that particular situation without the federal government interfering,” Olsen said.
According to a 2022 Marquette Law School Survey61% of people are in favor to legalize marijuana in Wisconsin highest percentage of support since the poll first started asking about legalization in 2013.
TikTok could be a threat to US users, Olsen says
Burden brought up the topic of the social media app TikTok, asking each candidate to assess their potential threat to national security. Olsen expressed concern over the widespread use of the app, claiming that it was affiliation with Chinese company ByteDance could pose a threat to US consumers
“Every company in China is basically an appendage of the Chinese Communist Party,” Olsen said.
Earlier this year, Congress passed bill forcing the sale of TikTok to a US-based company. In April, President Joe Biden signed the bill became law, giving ByteDance until January 19, 2025 to sell the app.
Olsen said that if the U.S. government has “any suggestion” that the Chinese government is “manipulating” the U.S. “with one of its companies,” Congress should force the sale of TikTok to a U.S.-based company.
Pokan called the TikTok law “one of the stupid things [Congress] did this year,” telling the audience that he had been to classified congressional briefings about the potential danger of the app and said there was nothing “remarkable” to prove that TikTok posed any security risk.
“I don’t need octogenarians who don’t know how to use social media giving us legislative advice on what to actually do and what social platforms to actually have control over,” Pocan said.
Pokan and Olsen will face each other for the 2nd Congressional District seat on Nov. 5. Voters can find their polling place by visiting MyVote Wisconsin website.
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