Candidates to represent Maine in the U.S. Congress will soon take the debate stage, starting this week. Clockwise from top left: U.S. Sen. Angus King, Demi Kouzounas, David Costello, Jason Cherry, Ron Russell, Ethan Alcorn, Austin Theriault, U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, and U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree. (Official candidate photos)
Debates for Maine’s three federal races kick off this week, starting with a series of face-offs for the two candidates vying to represent Maine’s 2nd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Incumbent U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat, will take the stage with Republican state Rep. Austin Theriault Thursday night for a debate hosted by WGME-TV and the Bangor Daily News. This is the first in a series of three debates the candidates will have over the course of the next week and a half.
While 2nd District voters will be able to see at least one debate before in-person absentee voting starts Oct. 7, candidates for the 1st Congressional District and the U.S. Senate won’t debate until weeks after absentee voting is underway.
While each television station and its partners have their own policies for hosting debates, Jon Small, the news director for WABI in Bangor, said televised debates start as a discussion among newsroom leadership about which races are rising to the top in a given election year.
This year, that was the House race in the 2nd District.
“In a perfect world, I would do debates for all the races,” Small said, but he noted that they take extensive planning and resources.
Even if a race doesn’t get a debate, Small said the station airs candidate profiles and other election information that can help viewers stay informed about who is running. Partnerships with other stations such as WAGM in Presque Isle also help resources go a little further because they can share content.
Details about CD2 debates
The other two 2nd District debates are scheduled for next week. NEWS CENTER Maine and the Maine State Chamber of Commerce will co-host one on Oct. 7 and WABI-TV and WAGM-TV will host the final face-off on Oct. 9.
Golden outlined half a dozen terms for the debates including that each will last one hour without a live audience and no more than two moderators. Each candidate will be given two minutes for an opening statement and again for a closing argument with the order determined by a coin toss.
The terms also emphasize a substantive debate, saying that it should focus on local and national issues such as the economy, immigration, national defense and civil and personal rights and freedoms. Golden’s conditions also prohibit any rapid-fire or yes-or-no questions.
Details about CD1 debates
Republican candidate for Maine’s 1st Congressional District Ron Russell said NEWS CENTER Maine invited him to debate incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree at 7 p.m. on Oct. 17.
Russell said he’d like to have more than one debate, if possible, and said it’s “horrible” that the debate is scheduled after in-person absentee voting starts, given that it has the potential to influence who a voter selects.
“There’s a good chance that the folks I really need to reach — Democrats and unenrolled — may have already voted” by the debate, Russell told Maine Morning Star.
Russell said he reached out to Pingree’s campaign about a month ago to see if the congresswoman would be interested in scheduling two or three debates.
Russell is hoping the mid-October debate will provide a chance to talk about the “issues that are first and foremost on Mainers’ minds and Americans’ minds,” such as the economy, border security and education.
Similar to some of the Senate candidates, it is not yet clear if independent candidate Ethan Alcorn will be able to participate because he only received 4% in the September Pan Atlantic Research poll.
Pingree’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
Details about the Senate debates
Last June, Democratic candidate David Costello challenged incumbent independent U.S. Sen. Angus King and the other two Senate contenders, Republican Demi Kouzounas and independent Jason Cherry, to a series of five 90-minute debates across the state. He suggested they start in July.
“I’ve always thought it’s important to have as many town halls, debates, public forums as possible to really inform voters,” Costello said.
Costello had wanted the debates to begin months before in-person absentee voting, but now the candidates aren’t expected to debate until late October, just days before the election.
Costello told Maine Morning Star the first of the two Senate debates is scheduled for Oct. 28 with WGME and the Bangor Daily News. The Maine State Chamber of Commerce is hosting the second one with NEWS CENTER Maine on Oct. 30 at the Augusta Civic Center.
NEWS CENTER Maine did not respond to a request from Maine Morning Star for this story.
It’s still unclear which challengers will be able to square off with King at either debates.
Costello said each debate has a required polling threshold to participate. While he knows he’ll be able to join in the first debate, which has a lower requirement, he said he is still waiting to hear about the second one because he met the requirement in one poll but is a couple percentage points shy in others.
According to information candidates shared with Maine Morning Star, the polling thresholds are 5% for the WGME debate and 10% for NEWS CENTER Maine.
Costello argued that he should be allowed to participate regardless of his polling numbers because he’s representing one of the two major parties and received more than 54,000 votes in the Democratic primary.
Cherry told Maine Morning Star he will likely be eliminated from both debates because he did not meet the polling requirements. The highest Cherry has polled thus far was 3% in an August poll from the University of New Hampshire Survey Center.
Amanda Post, news director for WGME in Portland, confirmed that as of Monday everyone except Cherry has qualified for the debate. However, she said that could change up to and including the day of the event if new polling emerges.
Kouzounas did not respond to a request for comment, but she has polled between 23% and 33% in three polls since April — enough for her to qualify for both debates.
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