Candidates Debated Less Often This Year
Bucking decades of tradition, Senate and gubernatorial candidates debated less often this year than in previous election years.
When we collected the data last month, we found 58 percent of this year’s contests for Senate hadn’t had a debate, while 58 percent of gubernatorial elections had debates. While more debates took place after our count, candidates didn’t catch up to previous election years.
There are a number of possible reasons for this. Earlier this year, the Republican National Committee left the Commission on Presidential Debates, claiming bias and ending a partnership with the Democratic Party that began in 1987. And across the country, Republican candidates declined debate opportunities.
But in some states, it was Democrats refusing to debate their opponents. Most notably in the Arizona governor’s race, Democratic Katie Hobbs did not debate Republican Kari Lake, citing Lake’s election denialism.
There is not a lot of evidence that debates help voters make decisions, at least in presidential elections, but a candidate misstep could be embarrassing, making debates high risk and low reward. The bigger question is whether debates will make a comeback in the next election cycle, or whether they’re yet another democratic norm that’s shifting.