new york sen. charles schumer and republican challenger wendy long clashed on a number of national issues in the lone debate in their senate race sunday night at union college. the debate was one of the last opportunities for the candidates to sway voters in a race that mr. schumer, a democrat, is heavily favored to win. early on, both criticized james comey, director of the federal bureau of investigation, for his decisions during an investigation of democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton. but mrs. long took it further, calling former rep. anthony weiner the <u+201c>old prot<u+00e9>g<u+00e9> and friend<u+201d> of mr. schumer. a federal investigation into mr. weiner<u+2019>s sexting habits led the fbi to look into more of mrs. clinton<u+2019>s emails. mr. schumer challenged mrs. long<u+2019>s support of republican presidential nominee donald trump. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s not a question of whether he<u+2019>s more conservative or liberal than other nominees, it<u+2019>s just that he<u+2019>s just not fit to be president,<u+201d> mr. schumer said. mrs. long responded by bringing up the vulgarity of radio host howard stern, rapper jay z, who supports mrs. clinton, and mr. schumer<u+2019>s second cousin once removed, comedian amy schumer. <u+201c>this is the pot calling the kettle black,<u+201d> mrs. long said. <u+201c>neither amy schumer nor jay z nor howard stern is running for president,<u+201d> mr. schumer replied. mr. schumer is seeking a fourth term on nov. 8. if he wins, the 65-year-old would be poised to become the senate<u+2019>s top democrat next year . if the democrats win control of the senate, the brooklyn native would become majority leader, one of the most powerful figures in washington. mr. schumer was asked by moderators if he was capable of challenging mrs. clinton if she becomes president. he cited his opposition to the iran nuclear deal, which president barack obama strongly supports. mrs. long then questioned why mr. schumer didn<u+2019>t hold more press conferences to advocate against the deal. get the best of the wall street journal<u+2019>s greater new york section delivered to your inbox every day. sign up for the newsletter here. mrs. long accused mr. schumer of prioritizing the interests of his donors and wall street bankers over the middle class. <u+201c>a very good nickname for him would be the senator from the big short,<u+201d> she said. mr. schumer said his support for the dodd-frank financial-overhaul legislation proved he was for regulation. mrs. long ran unsuccessfully against sen. kirsten gillibrand in 2012. an attorney and former law clerk for u.s. supreme court justice clarence thomas, mrs. long has acknowledged her slim chances of unseating mr. schumer. the latest wall street journal-nbc 4 new york-marist poll, from last month, showed mr. schumer leading mrs. long 70% to 24% among likely voters. write to zolan kanno-youngs at zolan.kanno-youngs@wsj.com
sen. charles schumer and challenger wendy long face off  - wsj
zolan kanno-youngs