Political Debates Are Going Out of Style: Katie Hobbs is the Democratic nominee for governor in Arizona. Once it became clear she will not debate her GOP opponent Kari Lake, the Republican Governors Association had some choice words for her. “Bawk, bawk, bawk…” RGA spokesman Will Reinert said in a news release.
Calling someone chicken might be enough to start a fight in seventh grade, but it’s not enough to convince a politician to debate. Around the country, numerous candidates for governor and other offices have decided that participating in debates is not in their own best interest. At this point, it looks like there won’t be any debates in Ohio’s governor race, or in the New York governor race, or Pennsylvania, or California, or … you get the idea. In some other states that have traditionally held three or more debates, such as Iowa and Wisconsin, this year there will only be one.
“Our proven strategy remains the same: meeting Nebraskans face to face, one handshake at a time,” said Kenny Zoeller, campaign manager for Jim Pillen, the GOP gubernatorial nominee, who’s not debating. “Jim is a livestock producer, not a politician, and he doesn’t do political theater.”
Saying you won’t do political theater is, of course, political theater. But why are so many candidates deciding they’re better off not debating? There are multiple explanations, but it basically comes down to the risk-reward ratio. Engaging in a high-stakes debate is a chance to make a mistake that will hurt your campaign. That’s what Terry McAuliffe, the losing Democrat in last year’s Virginia race, found out when he made an ill-phrased comment dismissing parental rights in education.
“Politicians don’t like debates unless they’re very talented at them, and even then they know it can be a risky business,” says Jacob Thompson, a communication professor and former debate coach at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “Even talented debaters can make a gaffe that can derail a campaign.”
Campaigns often fight about the setting, ground rules and formats of debates. In a time of polarization and complaints about media bias, Democrats might shy away from debates hosted by an affiliate of the conservative Sinclair Broadcast Group, for example, while Republicans might object to a public media outlet. Doug Mastriano, the GOP nominee for governor in Pennsylvania, called for a debate run by the campaigns themselves, with no media involved at all.
In some states, various media organizations, retired politicians, universities or good-government groups have banded together to form debate coalitions. In effect, they present politicians with take-it-or-leave-it options, keeping them from debating the terms of the debates themselves. Candidates don’t have to participate, of course, but the prospect of “empty chair” debates if they don’t show up amounts to handing their opponent an hour’s worth of free airtime.
For the most part, though, candidates pay only a small price for refusing to debate. Their opponent might try to make an issue out of it, and the editorial boards won’t be happy, but it almost certainly won’t sway any race’s outcome. “There’s really little price to be paid for skipping out on a debate,” says Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. “Have you ever met a single person, recently, who said they’d base their vote on whether a debate took place? Of course not.”
If candidates don’t like debates — unless they’re behind and hope to gain a boost — and the public doesn’t care all that much, you can count on fewer and fewer debates in the future. Will anything be lost? Thompson, the UNLV professor, says citizens will end up less informed. With so much horse-race coverage and so little media exploration of respective issue positions, debates offer voters a rare chance to find out what candidates think about Medicaid or education or other pertinent matters. Not to mention being able to check out and compare the demeanors of those running.
“Debates are the only time when the vast, vast majority of potential voters have the chance to see candidates in unscripted venues,” Thompson says. “These are not just soundbite moments, otherwise candidates would not be afraid to do them.”
