With just five days to go before the primary, the two Republican candidates hoping to seize Rhode Island's 2nd Congressional District seat in November met for their first, and last, debate at WJAR NBC 10's Cranston studio on Friday afternoon.
Vic Mellor, 56, and Dr. Stephen Skoly, 70, joined moderator Gene Valicenti to tape a roughly half-hour debate that saw them mostly abstain from the acrimony that has characterized the race over the summer.
They instead focused on policy.
Skoly, an oral surgeon who lives in East Greenwich, and Mellor, a Warwick entrepreneur and former Marine, overlapped on numerous points, including their mutual distaste for the socialist influence both framed as pervading the Democratic party.
They divided along a simple line: Who better embodies MAGA, and who can better wield its principles to electoral success in Rhode Island?
Mellor posts his military service records online in response to GOP rival's attack
Valicenti asked Mellor, who has acknowledged his participation in the Jan. 6 march on the Capitol, "You're an unabashed MAGA supporter. So is Dr. Skoly not MAGA enough for you?"
"No, he's not MAGA enough for me," Mellor replied.
"I voted for Trump three times. I'm a Republican," Skoly said. "I agree with a lot of his concepts and a lot of his policies."
President Donald Trump was elected to "secure our borders, to strengthen our military, to have the rule of law, and have law and order restored," Skoly said.
"And what was he not elected to do?" Valicenti asked. "Destroy parts of the White House, build a ballroom, put up a ceremonial arch, put his name on the Kennedy Center? What do you disagree with?
"I don't have enough information on that," Skoly said.
"On those three? You read the news," Valicenti replied.
The CD2 debate will air Saturday, Sept. 5, at 5:30 a.m., and Sunday, Sept. 6, at noon. It will also be available online.
Mellor, meanwhile, had a different definition of Republicanism. He questioned how a congressional Republican could be expected to work or accomplish anything with congressional Democrats.
"You have to work with Democrats," Valicenti answered.
"Why do you have to?" Mellor said, matter-of-factly.
"Because they sit next to you in Congress, and it's all about reaching a compromise," Valicenti said. "That's a fine tradition for Rhode Island Republicans. Ask Sen. Chafee. You have to work with Democrats."
"How's that working out for the state of Rhode Island? Do the Democrats work with Republicans here?" Mellor replied. "There is zero compromise going on in D.C."
The national debt, Social Security and Medicare — all these will require "unfortunately…some consensus," Skoly countered. He suggested Mellor "might be too hard-line to get elected" in Rhode Island.
"Is he too much of a pushover? Is he going to be too easy?" Valicenti then asked Mellor.
"Yes, he's too easy," Mellor said of Skoly.
Both men disagreed when Valicenti questioned why Republicans have long struggled to win support from Rhode Islanders in federal races. The state's Republican party leaders, Mellor said, initially told him he was "too hardcore," and that he should tone it down to win the support of moderate Democrats who supposedly vote more reliably than Republicans.
"Our party has shifted too far," Mellor said. "And I represent the back-to-the-right people. I represent the Republicans…It's way better than being a Democrat, especially a socialist."
"Steve is OK with representing Democrats," Mellor added. "I do not represent Democrats. I represent Republicans."
Skoly had a more inclusive idea of what a Republican congressman should represent.
"I represent the people in my district," Skoly said. "There are Democrats in my district."
Democrats are becoming disillusioned with the party's socialist currents, Skoly argued, and this apathy for leftism is something he suggested might help raise the profile of Republican politics in Rhode Island.
"I don't think the Republican Party is going too far left," Skoly said. "I think it's just the opposite. I think there's Democrats that now are looking at Republicans."
In early August, both men had been invited to a debate planned and organized by the Rhode Island Republican Party, which endorsed Skoly. Mellor rejected the invite, saying at the time that he would only debate his opponent at a "real television station with an actual audience of Rhode Island voters."
When WJAR reached out to both candidates last month, both accepted the invite.
Skoly, who had agreed to the canceled August debate, had initially wanted a matchup before early voting began Aug. 20. Friday's debate highlighted that both he and Mellor have been taking advantage of alternative voting methods, albeit somewhat begrudgingly.
Valicenti asked Mellor whether his campaign practiced what the moderator called "ballot harvesting" — collecting completed ballots from voters.
Our party has shifted too far. And I represent the back-to-the-right people. I represent the Republicans.
"The Democrats are very good at it. Are you doing that?" Valicenti asked.
Mellor said yes, and added, "It's the law. The Democrats do it. We would be stupid as Republicans not to do it. I'm just trying to even the playing field. It's my DEI version of elections."
Mellor added later of using every method at his disposal: "Do I like it? No, I don't like it. But I like winning."
Skoly likewise said Republicans were "catching up" using ballot collection practices legally available, but in general, he opposes mail ballots, which he claimed as the medium of most voting fraud.
"That's been proven," Skoly said. "It's in all the policy studies," although he did not cite specific ones.
The two candidates agreed on an opening question about Iran, specifically the Trump administration's characterization of the ongoing U.S. military action as not-quite-a-war.
Technically, Congress has not formally declared a war, both candidates agreed, and they found common ground in a shared desire to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons — something which would contribute to Iran's "radical Islamists…try[ing] to destroy Western civilization, including America," Skoly offered.
Both Skoly and Mellor agreed that President Donald Trump's crackdown on DEI programs and funding was the proper course of action. Skoly said he supported Trump's potential withholding of federal funding from colleges and universities over DEI, which he branded "just another form of socialism."
I don't think the Republican Party is going too far left. I think it's just the opposite. I think there's Democrats that now are looking at Republicans.
Mellor, meanwhile, described DEI as "woke liberalism" and said hiring should be based on merit alone.
"I'm going to hire the best person for the job," Mellor, an entrepreneur, said. "I don't hire just white people. I have businesses that are majority minorities because they're the best ones for the job, and they run it the best."
The candidates also discussed the flow of federal money to Rhode Island and how effective either man could be in a Democrat-controlled House.
And it all came back to Trump near the end of the debate, when Skoly and Valicenti questioned Mellor about a campaign mailer featuring a photograph of him with the president.
Had Mellor actually secured an endorsement from the commander-in-chief?
No, Mellor confirmed, he hadn't, then tacked on a prediction: "At some point Trump will endorse me. Yes, he will."
Valicenti asked Skoly what he would say in that scenario.
Skoly's response: "Good, good for you."
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