Four Viral Moments From the Midterm Debates: Gasps, Boos, Potatoes and More

As the midterm elections approach on a wave of shifting momentum, voters across the nation have sat down to watch their candidates debate.

The path to Election Day has been riddled with surprises. Early on, forecasters expected the Republicans to take control of both houses of Congress—the party in the White House typically loses seats during the midterms. Those predictions changed over the summer when the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe V. Wade elicited public outrage at the same time as a slate of GOP nominees were deemed too extreme for many swing voters.

But the pendulum has recently swung back in the GOP's favor, as voters worry about an impending recession and Republican ads flood the airwaves. Meanwhile, voter turnout is expected to break records for non-presidential years. As Election Day creeps up, candidates are fighting for votes in heated debates—some of them bringing us moments that caught fire on social media.

Here are four viral moments from the midterm debates so far.

Facing Off Over Firearms

In the only debate of Florida's Senate race, Republican Senator Marco Rubio and Democratic Representative Val Demings debated hot-button issues including abortion, the economy, Hurricane Ian and immigration policy.

But one the most impassioned debates broke out over gun violence. Two major mass shootings have rocked the state during Rubio's Senate terms—the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre and the 2018 Parkland high school shooting.

In a clip that racked up 4.5 million views on Twitter, Demings said the majority of people want gun control policies.

"How long will you watch people being gunned down in first grade, fourth grade, high school, college, church, synagogue, a grocery store, a movie theater, a mall, and a nightclub and do nothing?" she asked.

Rubio is favored to win the battleground state, which has shifted to the right in recent years.

'The Party of Child Abuse'

Georgia's race between Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and Democratic challenger Marcus Flowers left some viewers' mouths agape—but Flowers appeared just as quizzical when he was accused of representing "child abuse."

Greene opened a question for her opponent by saying, "The Democrat Party is the party of child abuse. It's the party that represents grooming children and sexualizing them in school, teaching anti-white racism in the terms of CRT education and genital mutilation of kids, kids that can't even get a driver's license, can't get a tattoo and cannot vote."

The congresswoman proceeded to ask how Flowers could "stand there and represent the Democrat Party as a father" and whether he believed in "genital mutilation of children under the age of 18."

Flowers replied, "Boy! That was a lot."

In another viral moment, Flowers asked Greene whether President Joe Biden won the 2020 election. Greene answered that "there was election fraud" and her husband had "proof of it."

Greene has been projected to win in her staunchly Republican district, which has been held by the party for almost 30 years.

Audience Boos

The Wisconsin Senate debate hit a sour note when a moderator asked Democrat Mandela Barnes and Republican Senator Ron Johnson to express what they admired about each other. The final question was posed to combat political divisiveness.

In a video with 2.1 million views on Twitter, Barnes answered that his opponent was a "family man."

Johnson said, "I appreciate the fact that Lieutenant Governor Barnes had loving parents. A schoolteacher, father worked through shifts. So he had a good upbringing. I guess what puzzles me about that is with that upbringing, why has he turned against America?"

A chorus of boos filled the room while a moderator interrupted, "We said something admirable."

New polls have shown Barnes falling behind Johnson in the hotly contested state won by Biden in 2020.

'Useless as a Bag of Potatoes'

In Utah, Republican Representative Burgess Owens pulled out of a scheduled debate because the moderator was the executive editor of The Salt Lake Tribune. In a video posted on YouTube, Burgess said the newspaper ran a "racist" cartoon about him last year. The cartoon criticized Burgess's statements about migrants at the U.S.-Mexico Border and used caricatures comparing him with a Klansman.

One of his opponents, United Utah Party candidate January Walker, attempted to leave a sack of potatoes on Owens's empty lectern. The potatoes were quickly removed by officials with the Utah Debate Commission as the broadcast was starting.

Asked about the move, Walker said that Burgess Owens was "essentially the kid in class that is in your group and then puts his name on your work."

"At this point, he is as useless as a bag of potatoes and I felt that he should be represented here today," said Walker.

The candidate posted her response on TikTok, where it has been viewed over 440,000 times.