Baumgartner, Conroy hold two election forums in two days

Michael Baumgartner and Carmela Conroy met in back-to-back campaign events as voting drew closer: an NAACP forum on Wednesday, followed by a Rotary debate on Thursday. Questions focused on household costs, healthcare, the Iran War, tariffs, Social Security and technology policy. Baumgartner pointed to lower fentanyl deaths and fewer illegal border crossings during his term. Conroy emphasized rising expenses for fuel, food and medical care, while criticizing Republicans in Congress and President Trump.

On affordability, Conroy blamed federal trade policy for raising what consumers and businesses pay. Baumgartner highlighted provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill, including exemptions for tips and overtime, a doubled child tax credit and new investment accounts. When asked about the temporary nature of several tax breaks, he said the reconciliation process required that structure and predicted Congress would extend them before expiration.

Their sharpest local-policy disagreement involved data centers. Baumgartner backed their development for national competitiveness but said communities should choose whether to permit them. He suggested the retired aluminum plant near Mead might be more suitable than Spokane. He also promoted his proposal barring data centers from shifting utility expenses to nearby customers. Conroy warned that communities could be caught off guard by environmental and other effects, and she supported a federal role. She also criticized another Baumgartner bill that would shield developers from lawsuits under environmental review laws.

The candidates split again on artificial intelligence and Social Security. Baumgartner supported, for now, a federal prohibition on state AI regulation; Conroy opposed it. To strengthen the Social Security Trust Fund, Baumgartner proposed raising the eligibility age for people who are not yet eligible. Conroy favored applying the same 6.2% payroll tax rate paid by the middle class to high earners. She also said deportations had reduced the immigrant workforce contributing to the fund, prompting Baumgartner to condemn relying on undocumented labor for that purpose.