Locals React To First Presidential Candidate Debate

Kinsey Cook (middle) watches the first night of the first Democratic Candidate debate at Wood Iron Grille Wednesday night.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – It happens every four years, the country listens to the candidates seeking to become the President of the United States.

For Republicans, President Donald Trump has little opposition, except for former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld, who has said he will challenge Trump for the Republican nomination for 2020.

As of June 2019, 25 Democrats are seeking the nomination of their party to challenge the Republican party nominee.

Gary Capps is a retired Oskaloosa resident, and one of the dozen people who watched the debate at Wood Iron Grille on Wednesday evening.

Capps shares that while he’s watching the debate, he wishes “that all of these people would have been around in 2016. We would have probably had a different outcome.”

Capps reflected back to the Caucus of 2016, “I mentioned at that time, my concern was, where does the Democratic Party go after Obama?’

“At the time, it didn’t look like anybody else was out there, and I thought what’s going to happen,” Capps said. “Now we have a wealth of candidates that seem qualified, and I’m real happy to see that.”

Capps doesn’t see the number of candidates as a problem for the Democratic Party, but instead an opportunity for them to give people their ideas. He believes that as the caucus and primary process happens, it will pair down to a “very manageable field.”

Former Vice President Joe Biden is one of Capps favorites and was “extremely disappointed” when Biden didn’t run in 2016. “He would be my first choice.”

Of the topics being discussed by candidates at this point, Capps says narrowing down which are a priority to him would be difficult right now. “After three years of the Trump administration, the train’s going off the track.”

Kinsey Cook is a college student, and she’s been paying close attention to the candidates and the conversations they are driving.

Cook says that’s she’s pretty open at this point in regards to the candidates she’s supporting. “There’s a lot of really strong Democratic candidates.”

“Elizabeth Warren is the one that I’m supporting,” added Cook. “She has very strong numbers and is very promising.”

“We just heard a lot of really great, promising things for the upcoming election,” said Cook as she was leaving the watch party.

Cook agrees with Capps that the Democratic party has a lot of really good candidates running for President.

Being able to afford college is one of those areas of concern for Cook, “And not be in such a giant hole of debt that I can’t raise a family or be able to send my children to college.”

Health care is one of those topics that is important to Capps, who is a senior citizen. “We just need to make sure that is taken care of.”

Only three candidates of the 25 have found their way to Mahaska County so far this caucus cycle, with one more scheduled to be in Oskaloosa on Tuesday at Smokey Row.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” says Capps of the low candidate turnout to this point.

Mahaska County is vastly a Republican county. “I would hope that as things move into fall, and the caucus gets closer, that people will start showing up more often and we’ll get an opportunity.”

“I think even though the Democrats are a minority here in Mahaska County, that there is such an opportunity to talk to all of the Independents that’s here and bring them into the fold.”

For Cook, that one-on-one time she had with Elizabeth Warren was a big reason she became a supporter. “She’s just such a personable candidate and she really takes the time to think about the people.”

We asked Capps about talking politics with others and if we as a society have lost the ability to debate politics with each other. ‘I don’t think we’ve lost the ability.”

“If you want to sit down and have a discussion one-on-one with somebody, I think that’s still possible. And I think if you have an issue that crosses party lines, that two people in the legislature can work together, I think that’s still possible. I think it happens. It’s when we get pigeon-holed into that identity you’re either this or you’re this,” said Capps.

For Cook, she believes that her generation will struggle to learn to debate with each other across platforms of communication like social media. “We haven’t really experienced much of a proper debate platform. You heard it a little bit with them [candidates] talking over each other.”

“As we grow older, I think it will get easier, but I think having a proper debate like this, with moderators and time limits is really important for the process. If they just tweet back and forth at each other, you’re not going to get their full platform,” added Cook.

Cook says that she’s lost friends on social media over her political ideology, and has been unfriended, or found herself in heated arguments. “Ultimately I think that it’s a really important thing for us to have those discussions and try and find the best route for us politically, and as friends and the community moving forward. If we don’t have those discussions to improve your community then nothing is going to improve.”

“It’s very important for people to just look at the issues, figure out where they stand on the issues, and try and find somebody who agrees with them, and it doesn’t matter if they are a conservative or liberal or anywhere in-between. It doesn’t matter if they’re a Democrat or a Republican, or anywhere in-between, you just need to concentrate on issues to fix the things that need to be fixed,” added Capps in closing.