GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A prime-time episode of “To The Point” on Tuesday featured 3rd Congressional District candidate Hillary Scholten.

Scholten, a Democrat, spoke with political reporter Rick Albin about the most pressing issues facing West Michigan and took some questions previously submitted by viewers.

Albin started the conversation by asking Scholten if she would have voted to pass the Inflation Reduction Act. Scholten said she wouldn’t say whether she would have voted for it if she was in Congress. She said she believes it didn’t do enough to cap the cost of insulin for everyone and was flawed because it didn’t address how it would impact families making under $400,000 a year.

The two also discussed government spending and U.S. debt. She criticized tax cuts for the top 1% and where PPP funds went, saying “the businesses that needed the money the most didn’t get it.”

When asked about abortion rights, she said she believes a woman should have a right to choose.

“This is no doubt one of the top issues that I have been hearing about from folks on the ground,” she said. “As a woman, a mother, a person of deep faith, I approach this issue with all the complexity, the sensitivity that the issue deserves, and that is why I believe that a woman should have the ability to make these deeply personal decisions for herself.”

“When we start talking about, when and how far along, what we’re asking is, ‘At one point will we start trusting politicians more with this decision and when will we stop trusting women and their medical doctors to make these critical decisions?'” she later said. 

For the full conversation with Scholten, which also covered issues like gun control and student loan forgiveness, watch the video in the player above.

The Republican running in the 3rd District, John Gibbs, had agreed to meet Scholten in a debate hosted by News 8 on Sept. 13, but Gibbs last week withdrew, saying that date would not work. The two campaigns could not agree to a new date.

With the debate off, Gibbs will also appear on a prime-time episode of “To The Point” on Tuesday, Sept. 27.

The 3rd Congressional District, along with every other legislative district in Michigan, was redrawn this year. Including metro Grand Rapids and much of Kent, Ottawa and Muskegon counties, it is considered a political bellwether.

Gibbs, a former Trump administration employee who has been endorsed by the former president, beat incumbent Rep. Peter Meijer in the Republican primary in August. Scholten, a former U.S. Department of Justice attorney, was unopposed in the primary. She was previously defeated by Meijer in the general election in 2020.