ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Republican Laurel Lee and Democrat Alan Cohn squared off Thursday night in a debate hosted by Bay News 9 and the Tampa Bay Times.

Lee and Cohn are vying for the open 15^th Congressional District seat, which was created during a redistricting process. The district covers parts of Hillsborough, Pasco and Polk.

Lee, Florida’s former Secretary of State and Cohn, a former investigative journalist, were asked about top issues impacting Floridians like affordable housing, hurricane recovery and abortion.

And they clashed over topics like election security and climate change.

"The first question I have is whether my opponent believes that climate change is real,” Cohn said during the debate. “The second thing is that when it comes to dealing with climate change our economy and our life is dependent upon how we deal with this."

Lee countered, discussing the work done throughout her years of public service to protect the environment as well as grow the state’s economy.

"Our state has actually done some incredibly important work in recent years,” Lee said. “Focusing on resiliency and focusing on insuring that when we build and where we build that we're doing it in a way that will be sustainable, that will stand the test of time but that we're protecting those important greenspaces and the things that make Florida home."

The debate was moderated by Bay News 9’s Holly Gregory and Tampa Bay Times politics reporter Emily  Mahoney.

Watch a replay of the debate here: