DAVENPORT, IOWA -- 10 presidential candidates made their case in the third democratic debate tonight, September 12th, 2019. One candidate made his pitch right here in the Quad Cities.
"Of course I am disappointed not to be there," Presidential Candidate Tom Steyer said. "I've kept doing exactly what I have been doing for the last eight weeks, since I announced I was running for president, which is going directly to people and talking to them."
Candidate Steyer came to the Davenport River Center and answered questions from voters.
"I am currently a college student at a community college and most of my friends are immigrants or here on a student visa, so it's important to me right now to ask about the student loan debt crisis and immigration," Bennett, Iowa resident Aubrey Doerscher said.
Steyer addressed topics including immigration, health care, climate change, and civil rights protections for LGBTQ members. When addressing health care reform, Steyer said he is for a public option over Medicaid.
"We're going to have to take costs out of this system through the public option," Steyer said. "That's going to mean taking on the drug companies and taking on the insurance companies. It's going to mean taking on monopoly hospitals."
If elected, Steyer said to combat climate change, he will declare a public state of emergency on his first day in office.
"The safety and health of every American is under threat," Steyer said. "That's the only reason I would do it. That's what an emergency means. If in fact we do this, we will create millions of net jobs and we will clean up our air and our water. We will grow faster and people will be better employed and better paid."
Steyer also told the audience about his family history.
"I want people to understand that I come from a family and a tradition of service to this country," Steyer said.
Steyer did not qualify for the National Democratic Debate, because he failed to meet standards set by the Democratic National Committee. Steyer says he already has qualified for the next debate in October 2019.