Part three of the coverage of the debate between U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, a Democrat, and her challenger Lisa Scheller, a Republican, covers issues involving civility in politics, foreign policy and democracy. They are running for the 7th congressional seat, which covers Carbon, Lehigh and Northampton counties and part of Monroe County.

Q: Do you feel your campaign has contributed to the divisiveness?

Scheller: “I have wanted to campaign as a job creator, as a problem solver, as an engineer, as an outsider.”

Scheller said that the attack ads were started by Wild, and she is defending herself. “I don’t want to contribute to divisiveness. We need to find places where we can agree on things, but I need to point out the fact that I’m looking to find solutions for the people here in the 7th District, while the problems the people are facing here - crime, inflation, immigration issues, fentanyl - are being addressed, when my opponent is not addressing those issues.”

Wild: “Let me be the first to say that I hate negative political advertising. What my campaign has done is try to inform voters about facts about my opponent, and I think it is critical that people understand those facts.”

Wild said that Scheller has closed factories in the U.S. and Pennsylvania, and has shipped half of her business to China. She said Scheller was a strong opponent of abortion, but has now back tracked on her viewpoints. “This has to be brought out, because inconsistencies and untruths are important.”

Scheller: “My position has never changed, and Congresswoman Wild has never created a job.”

Before being elected to Congress, Wild worked as an attorney and was the solicitor for Allentown.

Q: How do you describe the events of Jan. 6, 2021?

Scheller: “Jan. 6, 2021 was a terrible day. It was a terrible day, and America suffered. And you know what, everyone who committed a crime on Jan. 6 should be prosecuted and held accountable for the crimes that they committed. Just as those who committed crimes during the summer of 2020 should be prosecuted and convicted of those crimes.”

The moderator asked if she includes former President Donald Trump in the group of those who should be prosecuted. Scheller said, “In my opinion, people are not above the law.”

Wild: “Jan. 6 was a tragic day for our country and for our democracy. We can’t ever let it happen again. We have to make sure that people are not permitted to deny the results of elections just because they don’t like the outcome. … I think it’s very important that we hold people accountable, that means all people who had anything to do with or were responsible for Jan. 6.”

Q: Is democracy at risk?

Wild: “I think that democracy is fragile. I think that democracy is a choice that we must work on every single day. If you don’t, it ends up like it has in some other countries where you lose it. We absolutely need to make sure that we are following the rule of law. That no leaders are allowed to become dictators, and that we are respecting our military, our police, our Capital police, the FBI, which I might note the GOP has very much distanced themselves from. Democracy is incredibly important. It is the best thing about living in this country.”

Scheller: “I absolutely believe that democracy is at risk right now. And we do need to save it. Our elections are very important. We need to have integrity in our elections. We need to make it easy to vote and nearly impossible to cheat.” Scheller said she thinks it is a good idea for voters to show identification.

Q: Do you have faith in our elections?

Scheller: “We need to have faith in our elections because what I have seen is that some people have become disenfranchised because they don’t have faith in the elections. We need to make sure we have credible elections.”

Scheller brought up HR 1, which she does not support. “When we implement something like HR 1, which federalizes elections and gives campaign money, taxpayer money, to use for campaigns, that does exactly the opposite.”

According to the website congress.gov, the bill “addresses voter access, election integrity and security, campaign finance, and ethics for the three branches of government.”

Wild was asked about her level of confidence in the elections in the 7th District.

“I think we do a really good job of elections here in the 7th District. I know that other states are not as fortunate, particularly states where voters have to wait in very long lines, often in the heat. Talk about disenfranchisement.”

She said the main thing HR1 does is reform campaign finance laws. “It ends that horrible law known as Citizens United where dark money has permeated politics for years now. And by the way, that’s why we have so much negative advertising. Elections are far too expensive. It dissuades good people from running for office.”

Q: Is funding to Ukraine sustainable?

Wild: “Vladimir Putin is an evil dictator, and this aggression cannot be left unchecked.”

Wild said she supports the bipartisan funding, but it is not a blank check. “I support serious oversight and accountability for this and any other kind of government spending.”

She went on to say she has gone to Ukraine border with a bipartisan group of legislators, and the U.S. and NATO are 100% committed.

Wild said she thinks there is a need to increase the munitions supply chain for our own defense as well.

Scheller: “The war in Ukraine, I don’t believe it needed to happen. Putin is a thug and a despot, but he was emboldened. He was emboldened by our failed surrender in Afghanistan, which made an army out of the Taliban, and we need to make sure that never happens again.

“When the United States stands strong, other countries will respect us. When we stand weak, other countries will be emboldened. … We need to support Ukraine, but you know what, we need other nations need to get involved as well.”

According to the U.S. Department of State, the federal government sells about $55 billion worth of defense equipment to foreign allies and partners in government-to-government sales. About another $115 billion is sold between U.S. companies and foreign-end users.

Q: What should we do about the lack of affordable housing in the Lehigh Valley?

Wild: “Housing is one of the most complicated and troubling issues that we face here in the Lehigh Valley.” Wild said that because the area is a great place to live, it has attracted more people here, which has driven up prices.

She said some private and nonprofit groups have been involved in developing new public housing plans in Easton. “Having said that, we’ve got a long way to go on housing and it’s going to take a full out effort between the federal government, the state government, and municipalities to make sure that we are getting that done.”

Scheller: “That’s what the American dream is all about and that’s what the inflationary policies of Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Susan Wild are destroying. One of the things we need to do is make housing more affordable for people now, because people are deciding can I pay my rent or put food on my table. Can I pay my rent or my mortgage payment and actually put gasoline in my car. We need to find solutions to affordable housing, yes, so that people can find ways to get a hand up and not a hand out.”

“We have immigrants living on taxpayers dollars. That could be used to make sure that we are beginning to help reduce inflation, so people can afford their housing.”