We are less than a week away from the June primary. As the countdown continues, the leading contenders for the U.S. House District 3 seat in California took questions Tuesday night in a debate hosted by KCRA 3 and CapRadio.

The three candidates who participated were Democrat Kermit Jones, a local doctor; Republican State Assemblyman Kevin Kiley; and Republican Scott Jones, who is currently sheriff of Sacramento County.

The contestants talked about a wide range of questions, so KCRA 3 did a fact check of some of their answers. Here is a breakdown:

Question: Do you think President Joe Biden was legitimately elected president in 2020?

Answers:

Kevin Kiley: It depends on what you mean by legitimate. The electoral college voted and that is how we determined the presidency in our system.

Scott Jones: I do not know. It depends on who you watch, what TV news you watch. But I know a lot of people are quite confused and don’t know the answer to this question.

Fact check:

Claims that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent have been repeatedly refuted by various recounts and audits.

Additionally, more than a dozen public opinion polls — including those conducted by Quinnipiac University and the Washington Post — have found that a majority of Americans, overall, believe the results of the election were legitimate.

Question: Short of creating more water reserves, which could take a decade or more, what should be done now to conserve water?

Answer:

Kevin Kiley: When you are told to take a shorter shower as the water pours abundantly into the ocean, your government is broken. We have more than enough water coming to us by the grace of God to sustain our needs internally, for industry and agriculture. We just didn’t plan properly.

Fact check:

Regulators said there isn’t enough water to protect the Sacramento-San Joaquin River delta, and without enough water flows, salt water can enter the system and threaten quality. some water. The delta system supplies water to about two-thirds of the state. Plus, it’s a lifesaver for the agricultural industry as well as a range of plants and animals.

Question: Last week, 19 children and 2 teachers were gunned down at an elementary school in Texas. Why do you think it’s only in the United States that mass shootings happen so frequently?

Answer:

Scott Jones: Blaming a gun is like blaming a car when a drunk driver kills someone. It is easy to treat the symptoms. It’s not as easy to deal with the issues, and the issues are dissociated youth, broken family structures, mental illness, violent video games and the effect they have on the impressionable.”

Fact check:

Research has shown that more gun ownership corresponds to more gun murders. According to a 2018 study by the Small Arms Survey, civilians in the United States own approximately 393 million firearms. This represents almost 46% of the estimated 857 million civilian firearms in the world. By comparison, the United States has only 4% of the world’s population.

Question: The average price of gasoline in California is now over $6 an hour, and inflation is making everything from cars to housing to groceries more expensive. As a member of Congress, what would you do to lower prices?

Answer:

Kermit Jones: We actually need to consider suspending the gas tax. It’s 75 to 80 cents state and federal. Various Democrats and Republicans have argued for this. This is money that should be in people’s pockets, not in the coffers of the federal government.

Fact check:

At the state level, Kiley presented a plan to suspect the state gas tax. It fell through in April, after a ruling by Democrats who largely voted against the proposal along party lines, signaling the idea that the plan would not advance in California. At the federal level, Democratic Congressman Josh Harder introduced legislation to suspend the federal gasoline tax.

Several other topics were discussed during the debate, including COVID-19 related restrictions, abortion rights and health care. Click here for a full recap.