Republican Bruce Poliquin brought most questions back to Democrat Emily Cain in the first televised debate among the candidates for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District seat on Tuesday night.

The debate in Portland was the first of five in the next two weeks in the race to replace U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, a Democrat running for governor.

Questions focused on remedies for the 2nd District’s faltering manufacturing economy and national immigration reform – with the debate’s half-hour time limit stretched by rebuttals.

Those were required after Poliquin, a former state treasurer from Oakland, repeatedly criticized positions held by Cain, a state senator from Orono whom he called extreme and liberal.

Echoing attacks in ads that he and Republican allies have run against her, Poliquin said Cain’s support of a carbon tax would drive up the cost of energy for families and make it harder for manufacturers to hire workers in the 2nd District, which has been hit hard by mill closures this year.

“That would kill more jobs and would hurt our families here in the 2nd District,” he said.

But Cain shot back by highlighting her record in the Legislature: She voted for an omnibus energy bill passed by the Legislature last year that expands pipelines and aims to lower the cost of energy statewide.

“It’s ridiculous that anyone would ever want to increase the cost of energy,” she said. “And in fact, I’m the only one standing on this stage that has actually taken action, working with colleagues across the aisle to lower the cost of energy.”

The two also sparred on immigration, with Poliquin saying the government must ensure that employers hire only legal citizens, calling it “a jobs issue.”

He also criticized Cain for supporting the DREAM Act, a proposal that would give students in the country illegally a path to citizenship tied to completion of higher education or military service.

“We barely have enough resources here in the country to take care of our own,” he said. “We don’t need to provide amnesty for those who are here illegally.”

At the federal level, Democrats and Republicans have conflicting plans to address immigration reform, and House Republicans have said they won’t move forward with a plan to change the system this year. Cain said while Republicans and Democrats agree that it must be addressed, gridlock in Washington is stopping it.

“We need to get away from this partisan rhetoric and these silly attacks,” she said. “That’s just it, plain and simple.”

When an exchange continued between Poliquin and Cain, the third candidate, conservative independent Blaine Richardson of Belfast, intervened to say, “There you go again, Bruce: Attack, attack, attack,” while largely agreeing with him on the issue, saying the country can’t afford to give amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants.

The candidates agreed on one issue: opposing the referendum on the November ballot that would ban bear baiting, trapping and hounding in the state. A ban would largely affect guides in the 2nd District.

But on gun issues, they diverged, with Cain supporting mandatory background checks on private gun purchases. Poliquin, who is endorsed by the pro-gun National Rifle Association, opposes that, saying Maine has a high rate of gun ownership and a low level of crime.

Richardson he would fight “any incursion” on the Second Amendment.