Press release:
Wednesday, newcomer candidate Duane Whitmer (Libertarian), stunned virtually everyone present by convincingly winning the St. Joe’s NY-27 debate against two veteran politicians and lawyers who have run for office many times.
Duane had previously won an NY-27 debate for June’s special election sponsored by WBBZ against two lawyers and a former TV reporter.
The campaign heard from sources inside the school that the students thought Whitmer won the debate. Social media delivered the same verdict with hundreds of positive comments about Whitmer. The debate has been streamed more than 15,000 times so far.
A careful review of the debate will show that Whitmer had the best opening and closing statements and won each question on points. Throughout the debate, he showed a command of the issues, deftly emphasized the theme of his campaign that the Red and Blue Teams have failed, and demonstrated a detailed knowledge of public policy by citing a 1989 Cato Institute study that concluded that the drug war had failed.
He even paraphrased an obscure quote from 19th century French economist Frederic Bastiat, “When goods don’t cross borders, troops will.” In contrast to the vague rhetoric of Chris Jacobs, he repeatedly provided specific proposals for real change. These included:
- End the war on guns.
- End the war on drugs.
- End corporate welfare.
- End the foreign wars.
- Bring the troops home.
- Abolish the DEA.
- Abolish the ATF.
- End the lockdown that has destroyed the economy.
- Pass a Balanced budget amendment.
- Cut foreign aid.
As a result of the debate, Whitmer has received more media coverage than he has in the previous several months. Most of the media had ignored his campaign in spite of Whitmer running an energetic, issue-oriented campaign for well over a year.
The St. Joe’s debate marks a turning point in the race. It is no longer a coronation of Chris Jacobs. It is now a three-way race that is up for grabs. The Whitmer campaign now has the momentum to redouble its efforts in the remaining days of the campaign.
There are only 12 days left before the election. In the era of the internet, however, each day is an eternity during which tens of thousands of people can be reached by our campaign with Whitmer’s message that the Red and Blue Teams have failed and the voters need to send them a message by voting Libertarian for a change.
The campaign plans to release several major policy papers in the next few days and on Wednesday, Whitmer delivered a powerful condemnation of Speaker Nancy Pelosi right in front of Erie County Democratic Headquarters. Tomorrow, he will lead citizens on a 100-mile motorcade from Canandaigua Lake to Lake Erie to call for an end to the Lockdown and to Open Up Main Street.
Whitmer and his loyal staff and volunteers intend to fight to the finish.
Editor's Note: WXXI covered the debate and full audio is embedded in their story. Click here.
