Candidates vying for Esty’s Congress seat discuss Kavanaugh investigation

<p>The two candidates vying for Elizabeth Esty's seat faced-off Thursday in Prospect.</p>

News 12 Staff

Oct 4, 2018, 7:00 PM

Updated 2,199 days ago

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The two candidates vying for Elizabeth Esty's seat faced-off Thursday in Prospect.
While the FBI investigation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh did not come up at the hot-button debate between Democrat Jahana Hayes and Republican Manny Santos, the two candidates had a lot to say afterwards.
The seat that Hayes and Santos are vying for is in the U.S. House of Representatives, so they would not deal with Supreme Court nominees.  However, they were asked a lot about the investigation on the campaign trail.
The seat is open because of a scandal involving Etsy and a top staffer accused of abuse.
Hayes has gotten a lot of attention about her personal story of going from a teen mom to national teacher of the year. She said she is troubled by the lack of transparency in the FBI investigation.
"You have to at least hear everything," Hayes says. "So the idea of voting one way or another without having the information, I think was wrong."
Santos, the former mayor of Meriden, said that he believes Judge Kavanaugh has been treated unfairly and believes this is just another delay tactic by Democrats.
"The testimony of the accuser is falling apart," Santos says.
News 12 also asked Santos and Hayes about comments from President Trump, where he appeared to be mocking Dr. Christine Blasey Ford at a rally in Mississippi.
At first, Santos said that he never heard about that incident, but when News 12 reminded him, he said that the president speaks for himself.
Hayes said she found the comments reprehensible and unacceptable.
This was the first time the two candidates debated this year. Hayes and Santos will sit down with News 12 for another debate next week.