5th District Congressional debate: Frank Drake and Keith Ellison

DFL incumbent Keith Ellison and Republican challenger Frank Drake joined us in studio for a debate moderated by MPR News host Tom Weber.

Below are key points from the debate. Use the audio player above to hear the entire thing.

On supporting the candidates at the top of the ticket

Drake

"There are many Muslims, black Americans, and Hispanics for [Donald] Trump. People are not deplorable like [Ellison's] candidate says we are. To say that is disrespectful of over half of Americans. What is [Hillary Clinton] going to say when [Trump] wins?"

"All throughout Minneapolis they've been running this engine of Democratic party operatives and that's what people are upset about. And that's why all these elections, down the line, they're throwing people out."

"Absolutely I support [Trump]."

Ellison

"Donald Trump is the single most dangerous presidential candidate our country has ever seen on a major party ticket. He wants to call for a ban on Muslims. That's on the record. ... I absolutely oppose Donald Trump. I support Hillary Clinton."

On the federal government's role in rising health care costs

Ellison

"There's never been a piece of legislation that hasn't needed to be adjusted ... over time. And I believe the Affordable Care Act is no different. We do need to address these price spikes and cost drivers."

"I share people's concerns, these price spikes are not good, but we need to work together to get them [down]."

"Yes I do [support a single payer]. It would be much cheaper, we could control costs much better. It is right that we pay the most in the world and we don't have the best outcomes."

Drake

"MNsure is a disaster. They need $300 million from our reserve fund just to keep it solvent. Obamacare is about one year away from being insolvent. And all they're trying to do is take money from other things like Social Security to pay for things like his fiasco that was voted along party lines. There are better options."

"The Netherlands, the best option is the Netherlands. It's costs about $100 a month. You get catastrophic care. if you want additional care, you can pay for that. That is the model we should use ... public and private."

"There's a better option. We're number ten in health insurance [worldwide] we pay the most for health care and we're rated ten in the world."

On the role of the federal government in race and policing

Ellison

"I believe we need to have implicit bias training for the police all over the country. I think we need to have body cams. I also think local communities need to engage with police and community about how we live together."

"You can't have a situation where African-American community income is half that of white income. Where African American unemployment rate is 16 percent, white unemployment rate is like 3, 4 percent. We've got to have a more shared prosperity, because when you find these places where police community relations is bad, they're always accompanied by neighborhoods where unemployment is high, poverty is high, and jobs is low. We've got to address the context."

Drake

"There are tensions in our community, but it doesn't have to be that way. We need respect for our citizens. We need respect for our police. Police are not going to come to an area if they're not respected. We need more officers of color in uniform. And we also believe that, and it's a fact, that half of our kids are not graduating here in the Fifth District."

"We've come to a point where people want change and this is the last opportunity where they have a great chance to clean the slate top to bottom."