Virginia senator Mark Warner claimed he did not offer a federal judgeship to the daughter of a Democratic state senator who was about to resign, but he did admit that they “brainstormed” about the idea.

At Monday night’s U.S. Senate debate between Warner and his GOP challenger, Ed Gillespie, the Democratic incumbent answered questions raised by a recent Washington Post story regarding the resignation of Virginia state senator Phillip Puckett earlier this year. Several political figures in the state, including Democratic governor Terry McAuliffe, are under scrutiny for potentially trying to influence Puckett’s decision to resign with political offers to him and his family. The Post reported that Warner called Puckett’s son three days before the resignation to discuss “an appointment to the federal bench as well as a potential corporate position” for Puckett’s daughter, Martha Puckett Ketron.