Jeff Crank and Dave Williams, two Republican candidates vying to replace retiring 5th District U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, faced off at a debate Thursday night hosted by the Lincoln Club and AM 1460/FM 101.1 The Answer.

Allegiances took center stage, as each man called out the interests of the other’s endorsements. How national politics would affect the district, especially when it came to the military, was a key theme in the hour-and-a-half debate. 

Here are three moments that stood out. 

Space Command 

Crank and Williams weighed in on the combatant command’s location in Colorado Springs, a topic that sparked political fighting after former President Donald Trump announced its move to Huntsville, Ala., in 2021.  

The Air Force said in August 2023 that Space Command would remain in Colorado Springs due to a decision from the Biden administration, and the command became fully operational this past December

While the White House has not said that the reversed decision was influenced by legislation banning abortion in Alabama, the question of whether abortion laws were a sufficient reason to influence the location of Space Command was a topic of sharp disagreement between the candidates. 

“I’ll side with the taxpayers, and I’ll side with our military,” said Crank, sidestepping the issue of abortion entirely by naming Space Command a matter of military readiness and cost efficiency. 

In one of the starkest policy disagreements of the night, Williams said he also supported Space Command in Colorado Springs on its own “merits,” but that he would not put aside an anti-abortion agenda when it came to Space Command.

“If it’s an issue of abortion, I’m going to get behind it,” he said.   

Government spending 

The military was also on the table in Crank’s and Williams’ second major disagreement of the night as the two squared off over the National Defense Authorization Act, which governs budget and expenditures for the U.S. Department of Defense. 

Crank said the NDAA “should be protected at all costs,” mentioning salaries for servicemen and women. 

Williams rebutted that the NDAA has had funding in the past to “social engineer our military” and that he would not vote “for one red cent of a bill if it’s got that kind of crap in it.” 

Both candidates said they had plans to introduce legislation to lower government spending, reduce regulation on industry, and open federal lands for oil and gas exploration. 

Education 

Both candidates made bold statements about education during the debate. Williams said that he thought parents should have last say on education and advocated against the public school system. 

“Get your kids out of public school right now,” he said, addressing the audience. “Home-school them.” 

Crank, meanwhile, said he would push to abolish several federal agencies and programs, including the U.S. Department of Education.