This week incumbent Democratic Governor Tony Evers and his Republican opponent, construction executive Tim Michels, announced they would participate in a single head-to-head debate prior to November’s general election. The televised debate will air statewide on October 14th, and will be organized by the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association. The debate will be moderated by a panel of six journalists from markets across the state who will ask the candidates questions while an additional three journalists will interact with viewers on digital and social platforms by providing background and context to claims made by the candidates.
According to WisPolitics.com, this will be the fewest number of general election debates between Wisconsin gubernatorial candidates since 1998. In that election, then-Governor Tommy Thompson was heavily favored to win and faced off in a single debate against Democratic challenger Ed Garvey. Thompson was seeking a fourth term in 1998 while Evers is running his first re-election campaign.
The Evers and Michels campaigns released a joint statement announcing the debate that said in part “there are plenty of differences between the two candidates, but we agree that voters deserve this opportunity to hear directly from each candidate. This will be the only debate between the candidates before the November election.”
