Political debates have become a subject of contentious debate in themselves this midterm cycle, but some progress was made this week toward holding the forums in key states.
Candidates in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia and other states have been going back and forth for months over whether to debate, when to debate, how many debates to have and what the rules for the debates should be.
In Georgia, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and Republican challenger Herschel Walker confirmed this week they would appear at one debate together on Oct. 14 after the campaigns wrangled for months. The Senate race is considered one of the most competitive this cycle and new Quinnipiac University poll released yesterday shows the senator leading Walker by 6 percentage points.
Over in Pennsylvania, Republican contender Mehmet Oz's campaign has pushed Democratic nominee John Fetterman to commit to a series of debates. Fetterman is recovering from a stroke and his camp has said he has always intended to debate Oz, but the Republican nominee has argued voters deserve to hear from the candidates sooner rather than later.
Fetterman's team this week agreed to a Nexstar debate on Oct. 25, which Oz's team has said they're ready to do if several requests on their side are met, including 30 extra minutes of debate time due to Fetterman's use of closed captioning.
But in Arizona, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs declined to debate Republican candidate Kari Lake, calling her a "conspiracy theorist." Lake has accused Hobbs of trying to "hide" from media outlets and Lake herself.
The midterm cycle has shown that the debate over debates is not a partisan issue — both parties' candidates have dragged their feet on wanting to go head to head in a televised debate.
In Nebraska, GOP gubernatorial candidate Jim Pillen has refused to debate Democratic contender Carol Blood. Pillen's campaign manager Kenny Zoeller told the Nebraska Examiner last month, "Our proven strategy remains the same: meeting Nebraskans face to face, one handshake at a time," and adding that "and he doesn't do political theater."
And while refusing to debate an opponent is not necessarily a new tactic, the back-and-forth over candidates' refusals or initial hesitation to debate one another underscores the nation's increasingly partisan climate.
The lack of participation in debates also offers the public less of a window into the candidates or how they're contrasting themselves and it gives constituents less of an opportunity to see how candidates speak to an audience, handle tough questions or address an opponent.
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