SPENCER — Four of the six candidates running for the newly-drawn congressional NC-district 6 squared off at the First Community Center of Spencer on Friday. 

Retired green beret Christian Castelli, former High Point mayor Jay Wagner, former congressman Mark Walker and Greensboro-based Dr. Mary Ann Contogiannis formed the quartet at the Douglass Debate Series presented by The Frederick Douglass Foundation of North Carolina.

Candidates Bo Hines and Addison McDowell were not in attendance. A spokesperson for McDowell said on Monday that he did not attend the debate because he was at a grassroots event organized by the NC Young Republicans talking to undecided voters.

Each candidate was given the opportunity to introduce themselves.

Castelli made his case as not being a career politician or corporate lobbyist, adding that his military experience offered a unique insight. 

Wagner pitched himself as a hometown hero, having served as a mill-town mayor. 

“I am running to represent my home, these towns, our farmers and our cities,” Wagner said. 

Walker pointed to his previous stint in Congress and his pastoral and community service. Meanwhile, Contogiannis stood on her support of law enforcement and her background as an embodiment of the American Dream. 

“My parents immigrated from Greece, but they came the right way,” Contogiannis said, adding that those parents learned English and gave her a better life than they had expected for themselves. “They taught me to love my family, love God and love my country.”

What recent federal policy has caused the most hardship?

Walker said that the continued budget resolution is the most damaging federal policy because it is just Congress “kicking the can down the road and passing more debt down” to the next generation.

For his part, Wagner believes that federal policy has resulted in over-regulation in general, pointing to farmers dealing with the Environmental Protection Agency as one such example.

Castelli said that the Green New Deal was the most impactful policy, calling it “Biden’s assault on energy independence.”

According to Contogiannis, the answer to that question is the Inflation Reduction Act. “Even Biden has said that, unfortunately, it did not accomplish the goal that it wanted it to do,” Contogiannis said. “Instead, inflation is up.” 

A webpage from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce used similar language, describing the act as unsuccessful in its goals. 

Is former president Donald Trump the kingmaker of the party?

Each candidate said they hoped to work with a second-term President Trump if elected while refraining from calling him a kingmaker outright. 

“I respect Trump, and I look forward to him being president and me being there working with him,” Contogiannis said. “(But) Kingmaker can have a negative connotation.”

Walker mentioned that a word like kingmaker is a little strong.

“His endorsements do impact (races),” Walker said. “Having said that, he does not always get it right. After all, he did endorse Dr. Oz (failed Pennsylvania senatorial candidate).

“No one individual is bigger than the idea that the republic was started on Judeo-Christian principles. The concept of America is bigger than any one man or woman.”

Castelli said that he had the utmost respect for Trump but echoed Walker in that he does not always get it right. 

“(In 2022) he endorsed Bo Hines, who ran in a Republican-leaning district and lost,” Castelli said. 

Wagner also took a shot at the absent congressional candidate.

“America first is not about one person,” Wagner said. “It’s America first, not Donald Trump first. He was a great president, and I think he will be again, but he does not always get it right,” citing Jeff Sessions, Bill Barr, Rex Tillerson, (Anthony) Scaramucci and Hines.”

Was Jan. 6 an inside job?

Castelli told attendees that he took offense to the events that unfolded at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as an insurrection, adding that it was Nancy Pelosi and Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser’s fault for not listening to Trump when he said that protestors were coming to the capitol that day. 

Contogiannis similarly blamed Pelosi and the mayor but added Senator Chuck Schumer to the list of responsible parties for “not listening to Trump.” 

Despite introducing herself as someone who supports law enforcement, Contogiannis did not disparage the actions of protestors that left 174 law enforcement officers injured that day. 

When it was his turn to speak, Wagner said that he did not think that it was an inside job but rather a protest that spiraled out of control.

“I think it was a protest that got way out of hand,” Wagner said. “I don’t think it’s OK to attack the police.”

Walker: “I am going to tell you this — I don’t put anything past the Department of Justice. I have seen how these guys operate from different hearing and things. There were some bad actors involved.” 

Walker went on to say, without citing specific cases, that there are murderers and rapists that have received more due process than Jan. 6 supporters.

What legislation would you support or propose to bring down inflation outside of energy independence?

Castelli said that he would move to reduce the infusion of capital.

“It’s a supply-demand issue,” Castelli said. “Too much capital chasing too few goods.” 

He added that he would vote to reinstate the Trump tax cuts and restore manufacturing from overseas.

Walker said the only way to bring down inflation is to stop spending. Contogiannis said she would support eliminating the Department of Education, control wasteful spending and stop raising the debt ceiling. 

Wagner similarly said that the federal government needs to cut off the spending spigot. 

“We don’t have a taxing problem, we have a spending problem,” Wagner said.

Any benefits to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs in government?

Contogiannis said that she prefers to think of the acronym as meaning “division exclusion and indoctrination” and suggested that DEI does not benefit anyone before evoking the late civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“Even MLK said you should be known by their character and not the color of their skin,” Contogiannis said. “You don’t want the worst doctor taking care of you.”

Walker voiced similar concerns to Contogiannis. 

“Equity is no longer based on merit,” Walker said. “I would hate to have a surgeon working on me because they needed someone to meet a quota.”

Castelli: “It should be DIE. DEI is destroying our military right before our eyes. Military exists for peace through strength and if we have to fight a war, we win with as few casualties as possible.” 

For his answer, Wagner said that “racism does not solve racism” and that DEI programs put people into groups of the oppressor and the oppressed.

Would you favor closing the southern border entirely until all pending asylum claims are heard?

Castelli: “We have no choice but to shut our southern border.”

Contogiannis said that “known terrorists” were coming in through ports of entry and being given “cell phones and bus tickets.” She added that she would pay for bus tickets to deport undocumented immigrants. 

Walker called the border closure imperative.

Wagner indicated that he was angry at what he described as an invasion at the border that could be stopped tomorrow if Biden would just stop watching Matlock.