If Tennessee voters truly care about candidate debates, they should urge their members of Congress and their campaign staffs to participate in robust, bipartisan and respectful dialogue.
Tennessee Voices: U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn
Opinion and Engagement Director David Plazas spoke with U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn.
Nashville Tennessean
Tennessee voters would benefit from debates between the major party candidates for Congress.
On Sept. 10, Americans witnessed how presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris answered or did not answer questions, presented policy proposals, and reacted to criticism from each other.
The people of Tennessee deserve the same from their direct representatives to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.
Unfortunately, that does not appear to be in the cards.
Despite good-faith efforts over several months by the USA TODAY Network Tennessee and the desire from civic groups and members of the public, the incumbents do not see any need to defend their records or allow the public to compare them on stage with their opponents.
Vote in our poll: Should Tennessee U.S. Senate candidates Blackburn and Johnson vote?
Senate race pits Senator Blackburn against ‘Tennessee Three’ lawmaker
Republican U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn was first elected in 2018 to the Senate. She participated in a few debates against former Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen that year including one The Tennessean co-sponsored at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee.
Her office’s press releases say she has visited the state’s 95 counties and addressed questions in public gatherings, but she will not face her Democratic opponent state Rep. Gloria Johnson, one of the famed “Tennessee Three” who protested for firearms law reform on the state House floor after The Covenant School shooting in 2023. Johnson was spared from expulsion from the House by one vote.
Our network – which spans all three Grand Divisions and includes newsrooms in Nashville, Knoxville and Memphis – approached Blackburn’s campaign in 2023 to invite her to participate in a debate, town hall or forum.
Despite a few promising initial exchanges, a few months ago, her campaign stopped answering texts and emails requesting a “yes” or “no.”
Without her participation, key potential civic partners backed away from producing any event.
Perhaps this was a deliberate strategy to silently run the clock.
To be fair, her Senate office is typically responsive to media requests and has worked with our opinion team to produce guest opinion columns this year from the senator on U.S.-Mexico border security and, ironically, holding “robust, bipartisan and respectful debate.”
She may have meant the latter solely for her colleagues in the Senate and not for contenders for her job, which she is heavily favored to keep, according to Beacon Center polling from July.
Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn earns bipartisan win, but she’s still a political bruiser
Blackburn holds the seat once occupied by Sen. Jim Sasser, the last Democratic U.S. senator from Tennessee who died on Sept. 10. An 18-year incumbent, he agreed to debate his opponent Bill Frist in 1994.
Frist won that election. Perhaps Blackburn hopes to avoid a similar result. Good for her, bad for the public.
Middle Tennessee House incumbents snub Nashvillians
Nashville now has three Republicans members of Congress representing the city due to a 2022 gerrymandering of the district: Districts 5, 6 and 7.
None the three House members live in Nashville.
While supporters of the newly drawn congressional maps said this would increase the state capital’s clout instead of having one district representing the whole city, the majority Democratic voter base feels disenfranchised and disconnected from their members of Congress.
A debate would alleviate that perception, but this likely will not happen either.
District 5 U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles used to be the mayor of Columbia and now lives in Williamson County. His Democratic opponent is Maryam Abolfazli, a nonprofit executive and activist in Nashville.District 6 U.S. Rep. John Rose lives in Cookeville. His opponent Lore Bergman resides in Hendersonville and describes herself as a “very average disabled American.”District 7 U.S. Rep. Mark Green is in Clarksville. He faces former Nashville Mayor Megan Barry.
The Tennessean first sent out an invitation to congressional candidates in late April to fill out the editorial board Q&A and to participate in a forum after the Aug. 1 primary election.
Abolfazli, Bergman, Green and Barry filled out the questionnaire.
On Sept. 11, Abolfazli held a town hall meeting in Brentwood.
While it seemed there might be a possibility of a debate between Barry and Green, the congressman’s campaign never committed to any dates. The House is now back in session and he is in Washington, D.C.
Debates and forums take time and effort to plan and coordinate
Putting on a debate is not an easy task.
It requires planning, coordination and cooperation from campaigns, partners and the public.
In the spring and summer 2023, The Tennessean and four partners – News Channel 5, Belmont University, American Baptist College and the League of Women Voters of Nashville – produced the premiere Nashville Mayoral Debates four-event series. That process started in September of 2022.
In 2022, our state network partnered with the University of Tennessee system and Lipscomb University to produce forums in six Tennessee cities across the state for gubernatorial and congressional candidates.
The first one took place at UT Knoxville and Gov. Bill Lee participated in a pre-primary election one-on-one with Gannett Vice President/Local and The Tennessean Executive Editor Michael A. Anastasi. Meanwhile, UT President Randy Boyd moderated a pre-primary Democratic debate between Dr. Jason Martin of Nashville and Memphis Councilman JB Smiley.
Subsequent debates were in Nashville, Martin, Chattanooga, Memphis and Pulaski.
Ogles, who was running in a nine-candidate Republican primary at the time, initially agreed to come to the Nashville debate at Lipscomb, but he pulled out just a few days before the event.
It may have been due to the participation of primary opponent Robby Starbuck, who was kicked off the ballot by the Tennessee Republican Party for not meeting the party’s “bona fides” qualification for GOP candidates, but he was contesting it in court. In the interest of equity and inclusion, we agreed to let Starbuck participate.
After the 2022 primary, Anastasi interviewed Democratic nominee Jason Martin in a one-on-one at The Tennessean offices. No debate was organized between Martin and Lee because First Lady Maria Lee had diagnosed with lymphoma and the governor limited campaign events.
Due to COVID, The Tennessean did not produce debates in 2020, but, in 2018, the USA TODAY Network co-sponsored, co-produced and co-moderated the one Senate debate and multiple gubernatorial forums in a race that Bill Lee eventually won.
The Tennessean spent countless hours negotiating and getting candidates to agree upon debate rules.
I have received emails and seen social media posts urging The Tennessean and partners to produce debates where the Democratic candidates stand on one side of the stage with an empty podium on the other representing Republicans who did not show up.
We are not a theatrical company so someone else will have to commit to that type of production.
We do commit to informing the public, offering stories, context and analysis.
But if the incumbents have a change of heart on the debates, call me at (615) 259-8063 or email me at [email protected].
And, if Tennessee voters truly care about candidate debates, they should urge their members of Congress and their campaign staffs to participate in robust, bipartisan and respectful dialogue in the spirit of a democratic republic built upon passionate exchanges of ideas.
David Plazas is the director of opinion and engagement for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee. He is an editorial board member of The Tennessean.
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Publish date : 2024-09-15 23:01:00
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