(Updated to reflect details about the other planned debates; will be updated as warranted)
Republican Congressman Kevin Yoder and Democratic challenger Sharice Davids are moving closer to a debate.
Earlier in the day, the Sunflower State Journal learned that the Kansas City Star offered to arrange a debate between Yoder and Davids at the local Fox 4 affiliate.
The Davids campaign, which already passed on two invitations to debate before local chambers of commerce, said Thursday it had agreed to participate in a televised debate arranged by The Star so that it can be seen by the “greatest number of voters.”
The Davids campaign didn’t disclose any details about the debate, referring questions to The Star’s editorial board.
This afternoon, Yoder spokesman C.J. Grover said the campaign is working directly with Fox 4 to set up details for the debate.
He said Yoder will not participate in the debate with The Star’s involvement. No date and time have been set.
“The Star editorial board has already endorsed Sharice Davids, and they by definition are not a neutral arbiter,” Grover said.
“As anybody can note with the last six to eight weeks, they have an obvious bias against my candidate,” Grover said.
The Kansas City Star could not be reached for immediate comment.
Yoder, he said, would still agree to a televised debate by KMBC as well as one debate in each of the three counties of the 3rd District.
The debates have been in the news all week after KMBC television reported that local chambers of commerce were having difficulty getting Davids to commit to debate. The first was set for Friday at a Kansas City, Kan. chamber luncheon.
Both the Kansas City, Kan. Chamber of Commerce and the Johnson County Public Policy Council, which is made up of 10 local chambers of commerce, couldn’t get Davids lined up for a forum.
Tom Robinett, vice president of government affairs for the Overland Park Chamber, worked on setting up the debate for the policy council.
Robinett said work on the debate began shortly after the primary but planners had trouble reaching Davids’ campaign. The policy council finally reached Davids’ campaign and then conversations subsided.
At one point, Davids’ campaign manager sent a list of questions about the debate’s format to the policy council, Robinett said. The policy council responded and didn’t hear back.
Last week, Robinett said the Davids campaign was alerted that the deadline for the debate was approaching but still didn’t hear back.
When KMBC reported on the debate cancellation, Davids campaign issued a statement saying it was working with media partners to arrange a “fair” debate, a comment that irked the policy council.
The statement was very similar to one she sent to the Sunflower State Journal Thursday, except it inserted The Star’s name and Channel 4.
Organizers of the Johnson County event were offended by the suggestion that their event wouldn’t be “fair.”
“Such a suggestion demonstrates a disappointing lack of understanding of the (policy council) and its long history of sponsoring candidate debates from local to national races,” the policy council said in statement responding to the “fair” remark.
“The dozens of candidates – Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians and Independents alike – who have participated in our business-oriented, balanced and non-partisan forums over the years can attest that our forums offer an excellent, fair and objective opportunity to take their message to a key constituency.”
