What Happens When Candidates Stop Debating?

Ahead of the upcoming election, many major races still lack a scheduled debate

When it comes to our upcoming elections, there’s no debate. Literally.

Texas Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton doesn’t seem so eager to debate his opponent, James Talarico, who proposed a Fox News debate. Gov. Katie Hobbs, an Arizona Democrat, is refusing to debate her opponent Republican Andy Biggs. She did the same in the last election and narrowly won.

In Alabama, GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville is running for Governor, and apparently has no interest in debating his Democratic opponent Doug Jones. ABC reports Tuberville told a local station: “I mean, there’s no reason to get up there and argue about differences of opinion.”

I guess that’s that then; when there’s a difference of opinion, our brave elected leaders, wannabe elected leaders (and evidently the former coaches) just decide not to debate.

I remain a big fan of debates, a few personal photos from debates here.

Sadly not debating seems en vogue, another “trend” led by President Trump who sat out all the primary debates in 2024 before cruising to the GOP nomination. It probably didn’t help that former President Joe Biden offers a clear example of what can go wrong if you do debate. He will likely go to his grave wishing the first and last 2024 debate never happened.

So I guess I wasn’t surprised when I read an ABC News analysis, released Sept. 25, that found 21 of 35 Senate races still had no debate scheduled, while 21 of 36 Gubernatorial races had no debate scheduled.

The people who are losing here are voters. Just a month or so before the balance of power could shift dramatically in this country, some of the most important races don’t have a single debate scheduled. That’s an ominous sign in a country that, as I’ve written, gets more and more partisan, and in politics more and more driven by money.

Doing the math

When you’ve worked on campaigns, you know that it’s a math game.

You need enough of your voters to show up to outperform your opponent. Lots of variables exist, and what ultimately motivates voters can be pretty mundane. Something as simple as the weather forecast can dull turnout. But you only have so much time to close your number.

It used to be debates were a critical moment to juice those numbers. You could get in front of a large number of people, frame your ideas and contrast against your opponent. This was true even before television cameras. The Lincoln-Douglas debates were different, but legendary.

There is so much on the line this year. Many races have the potential for massive generational changes, policy differences. We’re dancing in and out of a war with Iran, President Trump is challenging every check and balance and we’re living in silos. And yet many candidates evidently feel like there’s still no need to debate.

The brave debaters

The only good news is we are seeing some important debates.

Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed will meet Republican candidate Mike Rogers to debate on Nexstar’s WOOD-TV October 8 (I hope it will be fair). Interestingly Rogers skipped a Sept. 15 debate accusing a Fox 2 Detroit moderator of being biased. They’re scheduled to meet again at a debate hosted by WXYZ October 21.

This Sunday there was also a Congressional debate so long it required a bathroom break in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional district. In it Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. and Democrat Rebecca Bennett were hosted by The New Jersey Globe and Rider University.

The district, home to President Trump’s New Jersey golf course, is a swingy district already. But this race is notable for a trend story, it has the old guard (Kean comes from a heavily political family) against a political newcomer (in this case Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot and mom of two).

The debate touched on experience, holding their own party accountable and how much government can actually bring down the cost for Americans.

It also has another layer: Congressman Kean was out 4 months, which he later disclosed was for treatment of depression. Debate moderators brought up that at the state level he had previously voted against paid sick leave and paid family leave.

But Bennett didn’t pounce. She said she was happy Kean sought treatment and pointed more to Kean’s stock trades, investments in oil and gas and support for President Trump in his war with Iran, which she argued is driving up costs for average Americans while making Kean money.

Bennett talked about the high price of gas, health insurance and groceries. She said she opposes the war in Iran, she wants to see a public option for healthcare and wants to end individual stock trading by members of Congress.

While she was strong in the debate there was one moment that seemed to catch her off guard. She was asked a fairly straightforward question about her net worth. She was asked the same question multiple times and didn’t give a number (though she did promise to follow up).

In California tomorrow we’ll have a high-stakes debate for Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton at 6 PM Pacific on CNN. The state is unlikely to vote for the Republican and Hilton has had trouble getting oxygen, so he obviously sees this platform as an opportunity. We’ll see whether he’s right.

Will they make a difference?

When you zoom out we’re at a pivotal moment. Voters have serious questions about the direction of the country, whether it’s healthcare, the regulation of artificial intelligence or data centers, the conflict in Iran or gas prices. Then there’s the questions of corruption and accountability.

I would think then we would want to demand more debates. Whether it’s with the local organizations or national news networks.

But we’re also at this moment where elections are still a math game, and media is siloed, so it’s getting harder and harder for debates to make the difference.

I certainly want a democracy where our candidates are forced to show up and answer questions. But we’re in such a partisan moment that the lean is already there for most voters. That’s why in so many cases the equation for candidates just doesn’t include a debate.

The equation only changes if we change it. Demand debates, or at least make candidates on all sides feel the heat. Otherwise I guess we’ll just have to trust what the attack ads say.