The leader of the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm admitted that the lack of debates this election cycle is putting voters at a disadvantage as the majority of Senate races across the country do not feature one general election faceoff between candidates.
Only 42% of Senate races across the country will feature a general election debate ahead of the November election, according to a recent analysis by the Washington Examiner.
“I like debates. I think debates are important for voters to see that contrast, and we like the contrast for all our races,” said Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, in response to a question from the Washington Examiner.
“Our candidates are willing to debate, and they’ll usually put out debates that they will accept and hopefully come to an agreement. But it hasn’t been happening, unfortunately. I think that’s not good,” Peters said while speaking with a roundtable of reporters at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast.
The Michigan senator admitted that debate negotiations in races across the country have, at times, become controversial, leaving some competitive races with an empty debate stage.
“As we know, it can get kind of tricky. You’ll agree to debates, and then the other side has a different set of debates, and you’ll go back and forth, and nothing happens,” Peters said.
With fewer than 50 days until the election, there are several highly competitive contests in which candidates have no plans to face off. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and his Republican challenger, Bernie Moreno, have not agreed to a debate in one of the most closely watched races in the country. In other tight races, such as in Montana, only one debate has taken place between Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) and GOP candidate Tim Sheehy.
“I can’t speak to exactly where we are on that,” Peters said of debate negotiations in specific states.
Control of the Senate is as close as ever, with only a handful of races likely to determine the majority this November. As discussions continue between some candidates, both sides are playing the blame game.
“Democrats have a financial advantage, so they are doing their best to dodge debates and instead run dishonest television ads papering over their support for open borders, inflationary spending, and every other disastrous policy pushed by the Biden-Harris administration,” said Mike Berg, the communications director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, in a statement provided to the Washington Examiner.
The decreasing number of Senate debates comes as debate dodging is taking place at the highest level, with former President Donald Trump announcing last week that he would not take part in another 2024 presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris.
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The number of debates in competitive Senate races declined steadily from 2010 to 2022, according to a Brookings Institution analysis. So far, there are 20 debates scheduled in 14 of the 33 Senate races this year.
For a comprehensive list of every Senate debate scheduled, click here.
Marisa Schultz contributed to this report.