Independent information and archive site. Not affiliated with Paul Davis, any campaign, party or committee. Not a campaign website.

Paul Davis Public Recordan independent Kansas archive

Campaign archive · 2018 campaign

September 20, 2018: KSNT asks the candidates about tariffs

This post shared a KSNT story from September 20, 2018, in which all three candidates for the 2nd District criticized the tariffs then hitting Kansas farm exports. Here is the story summarized, with what each candidate said.

Original address
/2018/09/ksnt-congressional-candidates-voice-disdain-for-tariffs
Date of the original item
Status
Archive note written by the Public Record editors. The campaign's original text is not reproduced.

The setting

That week the administration put tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods, and China announced retaliation aimed at U.S. products, including crops grown in eastern Kansas. KSNT asked the three candidates for the open seat what they made of it.

What each candidate said

  • Paul Davis (D) said tariffs on soybeans would hit every farmer and ripple through the local economy, called trade with China a concern that had to be addressed, and urged Kansans to ask the president to change course: "We need to put party politics aside, just be Kansans."
  • Steve Watkins (R) said he opposed tariffs and supported free trade, and that "it's the government's role to step out of the way and allow for farmers to find consumers for their product."
  • Kelly Standley (L) said the president had moved too fast: "Putting tariffs on different countries is not the first thing we should have done."

How it played out

Trade remained one of the few points of near-agreement. At the October 18 WIBW forum both major candidates again criticized the tariffs' effect on farmers, Watkins describing himself as "a free-trade thinker." Watkins won the seat on November 6. See agriculture and rural Kansas.

Sources

  1. KSNT: Congressional candidates voice disdain for tariffs (Sept. 20, 2018)
  2. WIBW: Davis, Watkins clash during WIBW-TV forum (Oct. 18, 2018)

This page sits at an address once used by a campaign post. It is an independent archive note, not campaign material, and it does not ask anyone to vote for, support or oppose any candidate. Spotted an error? See corrections.