At what could become the last forum before the election, 5th Congressional District candidates discussed a litany of issues from federal spending to declaring war.
This happened at a Spring Hill forum on Oct. 21 among Republican nominee Charlie Hatcher, Democratic nominee Chaz Molder and Independent candidate Micheál O'Leary.
Hatcher is the former Tennessee Agriculture Commissioner, while Molder is the mayor of the City of Columbia.
Each candidate received the questions ahead of the forum.
War, tariffs and cost of living
Candidates addressed the war and its relationship with affordability after President Donald Trump launched the war in Iran over the country’s nuclear capabilities.
“The world is the craziest place in my lifetime. We’re in two wars,” Hatcher said during the forum.
Trump previously framed it as a weeks-long military operation against Iran. The conflict has since resulted in the deaths and injuries of numerous U.S. service members.
The war, along with Trump’s tariffs on adversaries and allies, have led to rising costs across the U.S. economy.
Hatcher previously asked voters to “just give it a little time,” regarding rising prices and the cost of living. Molder addressed that issue head on.
“(I will) work as hard as I can to work with as many people as I can across the political spectrum to reduce the cost of living by getting rid of the tariffs and bringing an end to the war,” Molder said.
Meanwhile, Hatcher defended Trump’s tariffs.
“It’s a tool in the toolbox, and it’s been very effective. There’s a right time. I’m not saying they were used effectively every single time, but they’ve been used very effectively in many cases,” Hatcher said.
Despite his support for the president’s priorities, Hatcher agreed with Molder in that the “quickest” way to reduce the cost of living would mean ending the Iranian war. But he would only support that decision under two conditions.
”No nuclear weapons, and they can’t have a stranglehold on the global oil,” he said, promoting a long-term fix to “unleash American energy.”
Presidential powers and war
Reporters asked Hatcher for context on what he meant by saying the world was the “craziest” he had witnessed. They also pressed why voters should believe he would vote any differently than current U.S. Rep Andy Ogles, who lost to Hatcher in the August primary.
Hatcher gave a rambling response, at first saying that “crazy is not the right word.”
“When’s the last time in my lifetime we had two wars going on at the same time?” Hatcher said, omitting and forgetting that just five years ago America withdrew from its longest war ever — the 20-year-long War in Afghanistan. The war resulted in more than 2,000 U.S. service members were killed, and more than 20,000.
For eight of those years (2003-2011), the U.S. also invaded and occupied Iraq in a war that saw the deaths of more than 4,000 service members and the wounding of some 32,000 others.
The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war, while the president, acting as commander-in-chief, has war powers — powers that have been debated and tested since Congress last voted to declare war during World War II.
So far, Republicans have succeeded in blocking Democrats attempts at ending the war through Congress. Hatcher defends Trump's (and all presidents') ability to wage war without Congressional approval.
“I don’t think they need author[ization],” I mean it’s happened multiple times in history. I don’t think it’s a big deal,” Hatcher said.
Since World War II, Congress has signed off on war funding, resolutions and broad presidential war powers following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, but did not formally voted to declare war.
While Hatcher doesn’t think it’s a “big deal,” polling has shown Americans have grown tired of “forever wars.” Trump himself campaigned on a platform that included a claim of “no new wars,” before attacking Iran.
When asked by reporters if he would support the impeachment of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Hatcher said “no” and seemed to be unaware of the growing effort to impeach the former Fox News host, especially if Democrats retake control of Congress in November.
When asked if he supports impeachment, Molder avoided the issue, telling reporters that he’s focused on affordability and healthcare and “not getting up there to play political games to talk about impeachment.”
The threat of impeachment is a bipartisan one, with U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) introducing a resolution to impeach Hegseth in September, alleging a slew of charges.
Epstein Files
In May, the Kentucky Republican was primaried and defeated by a Trump-backed candidate after Massie led a bipartisan push to release the Epstein Files.
While successful to a degree, Massie claims that the federal government is still withholding more than 3 million files related to the disgraced financier and sex criminal who had connections to Trump, former President Bill Clinton and many other high-profile politicians and government officials, celebrities and business people.
Hatcher said that he supports the “full disclosure” of the Epstein files, even if they were to be unfavorable or implicate Trump in any wrongdoing. Some of the already released Epstein files detail allegations that Trump sexually assaulted a teen girl, per a Federal Bureau of Investigation interview with the unidentified victim.
Commented
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.