RALEIGH — Two little-reported questions asked during North Carolina’s first U.S. Senate debate last week centered around the surge of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria in the Middle East and the shooting of an unarmed teenager by police and subsequent unrest in Ferguson, Mo., which has ignited a national debate over police militarization.
Those are two public safety and national security issues that Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan or Republican candidate Thom Tillis likely would have to deal with if and when they spend the next six years in the U.S. Senate. The answers from the candidates highlighted differences between them, two months before the Nov. 4 election.
The first question moderator Norah O’Donnell asked Tillis and Hagan was whether the United States needs to strike ISIS in Syria to protect American national security in response to recent beheadings of two American journalists and the growth of the organization.
Tillis, the N.C. House speaker, questioned why President Barack Obama doesn’t have a strategy on a dangerous organization that’s almost 10 years old. (Note: Obama is expected to unveil his strategy this week).
“The American people deserve better than that, and Sen. Hagan should be pounding the table for this president versus rubber-stamping a failed policy that’s not working,” he said.
Tillis didn’t offer a specific plan for how to address the situation, but said: “I think that the U.S. needs to take all actions to protect American citizens and protect freedom-loving people all over the country.”
Hagan also cast blame on the president, saying the United States should have provided weapons to moderate Syrian rebels earlier to counter ISIS. The incumbent senator said she has “never seen a more evil terrorist group” and deemed the beheadings a “direct attack on the United States.”
Hagan said Obama needs to bring a plan to Congress to work with moderate Syrian rebels and allies.
“Time is up,” she said. “Action must be taken.” (Note: Neither of the candidates’ websites have much information on their positions on foreign policy, and neither has information on the ISIS threat.)
On the troubles in Ferguson stemming from the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, the candidates were asked whether local police agencies have become too militarized and whether a federal program to provide military weapons and other gear to local governments goes too far. The answers revealed a contrast between the Senate hopefuls.
Tillis said law enforcement officers wake up every day and put their lives at risk. He said he would leave it up to police officials and municipalities to decide the best way to keep the peace but also keep officers safe. “We owe it to them to make sure that they’re protected,” Tillis said. “I’m not going to rethink what’s necessary to do that.”
Hagan said she supports police and first-responders, but that the issue of militarization of police “has gone a step too far, and we definitely need to be looking at that program.”
Hagan, during debate over access to contraception: “When I look at Speaker Tillis’ record on women, it is abysmal. I will never back down supporting women, and I will fight for them, and he will not.”
Tillis, during debate about Hagan’s voting with Obama: “The only instance of independence that I’ve seen in Kay Hagan over the last six years is independence from the citizens of North Carolina.”

Gannon writes for Capitol Press Association.