Democrat Dr. Kristin Lyerly took to the debate stage with her opponent, Republican Tony Wied, at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay’s Mauthe Center on Sept. 27 for the only debate scheduled between the two District 8 congressional candidates for the United States House of Representatives. 

WBAY-Green Bay televised the event. It is available to view online.

The candidates responded to questions from a panel of local journalists and two UW-Green Bay students about the following issues: inflation and the economy, affordable housing, healthcare, including reproductive healthcare, immigration, and political polarization.

Lyerly and Wied are both relative newcomers to politics. Lyerly is an obstetrician and gynecologist who ran her first and only other political campaign in 2020 for State Assembly against John Macco, who won the seat. 

Wied is a business owner who ran a chain of Dino Stop gas stations until selling them in 2022 This is his first political campaign. 

The two candidates are vying for Republican Rep. Mike Gallager’s seat, which he vacated early in April 2024. The race will show up twice on voters’ ballots, once to fill Gallagher’s seat for the current term that will end in December 2024, and the new term beginning in January 2025. 

Primary sources such as original documents and verified studies were used to fact-check some of the statements and claims made by both candidates during the debate. When primary sources were not available, secondary sources were cited.

Even if technically true, some of the candidates’ claims were potentially misleading without clarification or background. In those cases, Knock’s reporting added the necessary context. 

Economy

Candidates were asked how they would assure voters that the trend of rising inflation and its impact on affordable housing won’t continue when they’re in office.

Claim: “We see during this current administration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, inflation that we haven’t seen in 40 years,” Wied said.

True with context: In 2021 and 2022, the inflation rate, or percentage of change in product and service prices each year, was the highest it has been since 1981, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index data. The inflation rate dropped back down to a moderate 3 percent in 2023. 

Republican leaders have blamed Biden administration spending as the culprit for recent inflation. The Federal Reserve did expand the money supply for Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act during the Covid pandemic, in response to a potential financial crisis. This contributed to recent inflation, but supply chain disruptions and other global factors not under Biden’s control influenced inflation as well. 

Claim: “50 percent of the price rise in inflation is due to corporate greed,” Lyerly said. 

The jury is out: Lyerly is likely referring to a statistic from a January 2024 report by the progressive advocacy group Groundwork Collaborative that found corporate profits were driving more than half of inflation in 2023.

Basic economic theory says inflation is caused by an imbalance between supply and demand. The Covid-era inflation that politicians are pointing fingers to explain is no different. According to a paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, recent inflation began in 2020 thanks to increased energy prices and supply chain disruptions during the pandemic.  

The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco published its own findings on the cause of post-pandemic inflation. Corporate price markups were high in the beginning of 2021, especially in the petroleum and automotive industries, but aggregate markups remained steady, or “flat”. This indicates that corporate markups were not likely to be the main driver of inflation, according to the report. 

Aggregate markups are weighted averages of all the amounts, across industries, added to the price of goods to cover overhead and profit, and give a more accurate picture of the whole economy instead of individual industries. 

Groundwork’s more recent report cites transcripts of corporate earnings calls that revealed “CEOs openly bragging to their shareholders about their ability to raise prices beyond their rising costs to increase profits” according to the report.

Even more recently, an antitrust suit against Kroger led to testimony from a senior executive that the grocery company had raised prices of milk and eggs above inflation levels. 

Where does this leave corporations in the blame game surrounding inflation? 

That continues to be debated and researched. Meanwhile,analysts and researchers agree that while high corporate profits were not the main driver of immediate post-pandemic inflation, some corporations may have capitalized on that inflation. 

Claim: “The tax cuts that President Trump passed in his last presidency really benefited the very wealthy and corporations,” Lyerly said. 

True: The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 was the biggest reform of the tax code since 1986. It permanently lowered the corporate income tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent. Corporate income tax payments declined by 22.4 percent from 2017 to 2018. 

The Act also lowered individual taxes in six of the seven income brackets. The lowest income bracket stayed the same at 10 percent. All individual cuts expire after 2025, when the majority of individual taxpayers will experience a tax increase. 

Takeaways 

Lyerly said she was in favor of expanding the federal child tax credit, lowering taxes for the middle class and raising taxes for the rich to help the country cope with inflation. 

She also said she would recommend creating more programs for first time home buyers and  increasing federal incentives for developers and builders. Lyerly also called for creative solutions to housing, such as using federal land for public development and mixed use development. 

“Mixed use developments will put people in homes and get leaders to buy in, because they all want the property tax money,” she said.

Wied’s solutions included cutting taxes as well as spending.  

“We need to extend those tax cuts,” he said, referring to Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. 

“Inflation is a tax that comes from reckless spending,” Wied said. 

The U.S. needs to become independent from other countries for its energy and work toward “energy dominance as a country to reduce inflation and boost the economy,” according to Wied. 

He also called on businesses to give employees incentives for housing.

Immigration

The question for Lyerly and Wied regarding immigration was whether they would support the funding of Trump’s border wall or vote for a similar bipartisan border bill to the one that was presented but not passed by Congress last year.

Both candidates agreed the southern border is a problem, and stopping drugs from getting into the U.S. through any border was of high priority. They differed on how to do it. 

Claim: “We need immigrants that are here legally to help out in agriculture, meatpacking and nursing homes. They fill a role in the economy,” Lyerly said. 

True with context: To expand upon the economic role immigrants play in the U.S., Census Bureau data from 2022 shows immigrants are most heavily represented in the following five industries: construction, other services, professional and business services, leisure/hospitality, and agriculture/forestry/fishing/hunting.

“Other services” includes automotive repair, barber and beauty salons and religious organizations. Professional and business services include legal, accounting, and veterinary services. 

As far as contributing to the economy via taxes, both documented and undocumented immigrant households paid $579.1 billion in total taxes in 2022. Undocumented immigrants paid $240 million in taxes in Wisconsin alone. 

Claim: “Under Biden-Harris, the border has been wide open,” Wied said. 

False: Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone in the world to immigrate to the U.S. unless they fall into narrow and specific categories. The U.S. does not have an open border. 

Title 42, a pandemic rule that the Border Patrol used to expel anyone attempting to enter the U.S. during Covid travel restrictions, was implemented on March 21, 2020, by Trump and ended on May 11, 2023, when Biden officially ended the Covid national emergency. 

Takeaways

Lyerly said the GOP is using the border to induce fear. 

She focused on the bipartisan border bill and said “it’s not perfect but it would provide 1,500 new border patrol agents, an efficient path to citizenship and stem the flow of fentanyl…Immigrants get stuck in a cumbersome system, put in impossible situations. The border bill solves that problem and it’s languishing, doing nothing.” 

Wied said the bipartisan border bill “didn’t go far enough,” and Trump’s border wall should be finished. 

“Close the border,” he said. 

Reproductive healthcare

Candidates were asked what the abortion policy for Wisconsin should be on the heels of the Supreme Court decision that left abortion policy in the hands of states. 

Wied did not answer the question with any suggested policy for Wisconsin, rather he said it was not a federal issue any longer, therefore not under the purview of the Congress. 

Lyerly responded to Wied and said, “That’s a copout. IVF and contraception are national issues, legislated at the federal level. This is reproductive healthcare too. We all should have freedom to make choices about our own bodies.”

Claim: “This is not on my plate… (abortion) it’s not a national issue,” Wied said. 

False: Whether Wied or Lyerly wins the race and makes it to Congress, abortion and other reproductive healthcare legislation will very much be on their plate. 

In vitro fertilization and contraception are both legislated at the federal level. There are several reproductive healthcare and freedom bills before Congress as well, including one to pass a national abortion policy that would apply across the U.S. 

Democratic members of Congress have tried passing national protections for abortion, and will continue to do so, with several bills waiting for action. 

The 118th Congress could also consider legislation surrounding the regulation of medication abortion drugs, including bills that would set federal standards for the prescribing or dispensing of medication abortion. 

Claims: Lyerly cited statistics regarding state abortion bans and their effects on health outcomes:

“In states with bans where mothers die at a rate three times greater than in states without bans,” Lyerly said.

“Texas where they have a major abortion ban, infants die, babies die at a rate 12% higher than in states without bans,” Lyerly said. 

True: Several studies have determined negative health outcomes for mothers and infants rise when abortion bans exist. 

Lyerly is quoting a statistic about maternal mortality from a 2023 Gender Equity Policy Institute report that studied maternal mortality rates before and after the Supreme Court decision to reverse Roe v. Wade.

JAMA Pediatrics, a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal published by the American Medical Association, published a study in 2024 determining whether Texas Senate Bill 8, which banned abortions after fetal heartbeat with no exemptions for congenital abnormalities, had an association with higher infant mortality in Texas. 

According to the study, between 2021 and 2022, there was an increase of 255 infant deaths in Texas, increasing from 1,985 to 2,240 deaths. This change represents a 12.9 percent increase in infant mortality in Texas. All other states show an 1.8 percent increase in infant deaths in the same time period.  

Healthcare

Candidates responded to a question about how Americans can have access to quality affordable healthcare and if private insurers play a role. They were asked specifically about rural health, the Affordable Care Act and the government’s role in healthcare.

Both candidates agree healthcare is too expensive, rural health outcomes are poorer than urban ones and the system needs to change, but they disagree on how to do it. 

Claim: “We saw Republicans pulling back on provisions of the ACA making it less available, less affordable,” Lyerly said. 

Partially true: Under Trump’s administration, there was the intention to destabilize and roll back the Affordable Care Act. Whether or not that was successful is less clear. 

In 2017, Trump cut the open enrollment period for ACA in half, from 12 weeks to six, cut the advertising budget for the plan by 90 percent, and cut funding for enrollment assistance. Trump also cut federal payments to reduce deductibles and out-of-pocket costs for low-income users. He also signed an order to open access to insurance policies with lower premiums than ACA plans, but with less benefits. 

The ACA remains stable today according to reports. 

Claim: “Employers have to pay 15 to over 30 percent increases for the cost of healthcare,” Wied said. 

Needs more context:  Employer-sponsored health insurance has never taken a 15 to 30 percent jump at once. According to a report from Mercer, a human resources consulting firm, the cost of employee health insurance for large corporations rose roughly 5 percent every year for 2023 and 2024, and is projected to rise at the same rate in 2025. 

Cost increases for small businesses (with 50-449 employees) are higher, averaging a 7.8 percent increase in 2023, with a 7 percent increase projected for 2025.

Takeaways

Lyerly said if she were elected she would work to support and strengthen the Affordable Care Act, get rid of inefficiencies within the system such as prior authorization, and work toward universal healthcare. 

Wied called for governmental regulation to increase competition in the health insurance industry.  He said he would add more transparency in pricing so when you go to a doctor or hospital you know what the costs will be up front. He also called for the government to look into preventative care and guidelines. 

“Why are we continuing to have all of these health issues, chronic issues that we have here in America, that maybe aren’t happening in other countries? What exactly is causing that?” he said.