Congressional candidates Max Della Pia, left, and Joe Sempolinski, right, sit next to moderator Marcia Merrins at a League of Women Voters debate Thursday. Photo by M.J. Stafford

Democrat Max Della Pia and Republican Joe Sempolinski don’t seem like the partisan firebrands that dominate American politics these days. But they still have deep political disagreements.

That was the takeaway Thursday from a debate between the two candidates looking to fill the rest of Tom Reed’s term representing New York’s 23rd Congressional district. The debate was organized by the League of Women Voters of Chautauqua County and took place at the BOCES LoGuidice Center in Fredonia.

The winner of Tuesday’s special election will only be in Congress until the final day of December. A separate election in November, to fill a full two-year term, will pit Della Pia against the winner of Tuesday’s Republican primary between Nick Langworthy and Carl Paladino.

Sempolinski, a former congressional aide and current Steuben County Republican Party chairman, said in his opening statement that inflation is the most important issue in this year’s elections.

“It affects everyone, and it affects those of limited means the most. People who are living paycheck to paycheck, people who are on a fixed income,” he said. “The way we deal with it is to stop the loose spending in Washington city. The so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which was just signed into law, will do nothing of the sort. I would have been against that, my opponent would have been for it.”

Della Pia is a 32-year Air Force veteran and attorney. “I’m also concerned about our democracy,” he said in his opening. “I think it is not just the New York 23rd’s most important issue, it is the nation’s most important issue. We need to listen and speak with one another. We don’t have to agree on everything. But we do, or we should, focus on the things that bring Americans together.”

The debate featured questions from audience members and others who emailed the League of Women Voters prior to the event. The opening question probed the candidates’ stances on wind turbines in Lake Erie.

Sempolinski said he thinks local people should oversee such things, not state or federal authorities. He added that he is aware many in Chautauqua County oppose turbines in the lake. “It sounds like something the local folks don’t want. I certainly understand that position,” he said.

Della Pia said, “There are some legit concerns that should be raised first,” citing environmental issues such as disruption of the lake bottom and of aquatic life. He noted that a project has just been approved off Cleveland, and said if that project is not working, it should be stopped.

Another question asked the candidates about New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s plans to support abortion services in the state after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Della Pia said her plans are “not sufficient” to protect abortion rights and he criticized the Supreme Court, stating its decision is a “road map to taking away people’s rights.” He garnered a bit of applause when he said Roe v. Wade ought to be made law at the federal level. Della Pia also complained that recently named Supreme Court justices had lied at their confirmation hearings about their views on abortion.

Sempolinski said he has a daughter with Down’s syndrome and she is the first thing that comes to mind when he thinks about abortion. That’s because most pregnancies where the syndrome is detected pre-natally get terminated, he claimed. Sempolinski added that both sides of the debate can come together on things such as funding for mothers’ pre- and post-natal care.

Sempolinski was later asked which Democratic party policies he thought were radical. He immediately brought up the Inflation Reduction Act again. He lamented, “To add tens of thousands of new IRS agents — there’s not tens of thousands of new billionaires,” and declared that the agents will end up investigating “regular people.”

Della Pia said the act is aimed at everyone making $400,000 per year or more. “If you are in that category and you cheat on your taxes, you should be concerned,” he said. Della Pia added that Sempolinski’s claim about the extra agents being used to go after lower-income people is “just not true.”

The candidates were asked about high gasoline prices. Della Pia called it a “business decision by the gas companies … they made a decision not to increase refining ability or increase drilling.” Sempolinski shot back that Democrats, in control of Congress and the White House, refuse to take any responsibility for high gas prices.

Sempolinski said he would not support a federal ban on assault weapons, while Della Pia sounded open to one if it is strictly defined. He expressed fears that hunting rifles could fall under a ban that was badly written.

A question was asked concerning the candidates’ position on the events of Jan. 6, 2021. The questioner referred to the breaching of U.S. Capitol security that day as an “attempted coup.” Sempolinski called it a “riot” and said that there were crimes committed, and if people broke the law, they should be held accountable. Della Pia said people responsible for “the insurrection or conspiracies that led to it” should be punished. Calling the polarization caused by it “frightening,” he said he never wants to see anything like Jan. 6 again.

The hour-long debate drew a few dozen spectators and was run by veteran League of Women Voters moderator Marcia Merrins. At one point she demanded that a man who did not have a question for the candidates, but wanted to make a statement about taxes, hand back a microphone. The man did so and faced laughter from the audience.

The entire debate is set to be posted on the League of Women Voters of Chautauqua County’s Facebook channel.