Washington state Republican Senate candidate Tiffany Smiley called out her opponent, 30-year incumbent Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), for supporting school closures that forced learning loss and developmental issues on children.

“Our children are set back terribly,” Smiley said at Sunday evening’s debate in Spokane, Washington. She pointed to a massive decline in test scores and an increase in childhood anxiety and self-harm as results of Democrat pandemic protocols for schools.

“You doubled down,” she said to Murray. “You said you have no regrets how we handled the pandemic. You were a champion of mandates and shutdowns and our children suffered.”

Murray, who was given the first opportunity to answer, defended herself saying, “what I did from the first was to make sure that we had the funds to get to our schools to make sure that they could reopen safely.”

“My opponent keeps talking about this like it was a national decision,” Murray continued. “It was up to local school boards based on public health reasons.”

Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) speaks during the House Committee on Appropriations subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies hearing. Murray faces Republican Tiffany Smiley in the November election. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)

Murray appeared to forget that Democrat-run school boards across the country were closing their doors, and it was the recommendation of the federal government for them to do so. Many pediatricians warned about the effects of such shutdowns.

Smiley said Democrats had “no plan to catch them up” after their disastrous policies wreaked havoc on children’s learning, saying the issue was not an issue of money but rather an issue of bad leadership.

The Washington Republican spoke further about her education policies, including having money follow the child, not the school.

She said she wants to ensure “that your zip code doesn’t determine your destiny in Washington state — that parents have a choice in where they send their children for education.”

Smiley also called to “expose children to trades at a much younger age,” arguing that a “college education isn’t the only pathway to the American dream” and that culturally we must “reduce the stigma that college is for everyone.”

Murray replied that “our public education system is the backbone of our democracy,” arguing that the government “cannot funnel that money to private, for-profit, unaccountable, public [sic] schools.”

The Washington Senate race is polling closer than expected, with Smiley within the margin of error to beat Murray.

Breccan F. Thies is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter @BreccanFThies.