Mund, Rep. Armstrong square off in final debate at NDSU

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — With Election Day less than a month away, Independent Cara Mund and Republican Congressman Kelly Armstrong are fighting for your vote in North Dakota’s only Congressional seat.

Former Miss America Cara Mund seeks to become the first woman to represent North Dakota in the House while Representative Kelly Armstrong looks to extend his stay in the nation’s capitol.

Both candidates oppose President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, but the hot button issue of the debate related to abortion.

“This isn’t about abortion, it’s about women’s health care. Not a single clinic does elective abortions. So, when you start criminalizing doctors, when you start telling doctors how they can treat their patients….that’s something you’re okay with?” Mund said.

“The bill I voted on the floor of the U.S. House allowed for elective abortions with taxpayer expense, no exemption for religious bullies, from religious hospital at anytime from conception to birth. It’s never been codification of Roe. By the way, when President Obama was President, they had 60 votes in the Senate and a majority in the house. You know why the Democrats couldn’t codify Roe? Because they didn’t think Roe went far enough. That’s the reality of the situation. The federal government has failed. Let’s get it back to the states,” Armstrong said.

Another topic had to do with the fentanyl crisis and how it ties into immigration and citizenship.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis sent migrants up north to Martha’s Vineyard.

Armstrong says, quote “It’s not a tough hitch” and it even got the White House to engage.

“You know what the White House didn’t do? Engage when 55 migrants died in the back of a truck. This is inhumane for everybody involved and when the Speaker of House goes out and says ‘We need them to help pick our crops.’ That’s not particularly helpful either,” Armstrong said.

Armstrong also emphasized the fentanyl crisis because of lax immigration laws and he adds immigration is the worst it’s been.

“Representative Armstrong voted against giving immigration to our farm workers, their immigration status. Again, we need these individuals especially when we’re seeing the worker shortage right now. We also need to treat them with respect, with dignity. Any bill that helps make it an easier pathway for citizenship so that we can secure our borders to go after the fentanyl crisis, the fentanyl coming across the border but at the same time also making sure that when people come here, they come here welcomed,” Mund said.

Both candidates agreed about the national security risk regarding the Fufeng Project near Grand Forks.

Election day is November 8th as absentee and mail-in ballots have begun hitting mailboxes. Click here to apply for an absentee ballot.