PHOENIX — As former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris squabble over the terms of their coming presidential debate, a similar dispute is taking place in the Arizona Senate race.
The state’s GOP Senate candidate, Kari Lake, has long challenged her Democratic competitor, Rep. Ruben Gallego, to take the debate stage. Now that Gallego says he’s game, Lake is insisting the debate deviate from its traditional format.
“I am ready to debate Ruben Gallego right now, right here,” a defiant Lake said at a news conference in Phoenix on March 15.
“I’ll debate him at that table right now,” she added, pointing to the distance, summoning chuckles from the crowd. “I’ll debate him any time.”
More than four months on, after the Gallego-Lake electoral matchup was formalized once both candidates won their respective primaries, Gallego confirmed to NBC News that he is ready for a debate — but Lake has appeared more selective about who should organize one.
On Tuesday, just hours before she clinched the GOP nomination, NBC News asked Lake whether she would participate in a debate against Gallego organized by the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission, the state’s traditional administrator for political debates.
“I think we should talk about which debate we do,” Lake said after having cast her vote in the GOP primary at a polling location in Paradise Valley.
“I think our two teams can discuss a fair place, a fair platform to do that,” she added after she expressed skepticism about the Arizona Clean Elections Commission.
In 2022, the Democratic nominee for governor, Katie Hobbs, then the state secretary of state, refused to participate in an Arizona Clean Elections debate against Lake, the Republican nominee for governor. When Hobbs declined, the commission invited Lake for a 30-minute Q&A. Hobbs proposed that she and Lake each receive separate town halls organized by Arizona Clean Elections, but the commission rejected the offer, saying it would be a deviation from the traditional debate format.
Hobbs still did not agree to the Arizona Clean Elections proposal for a traditional debate, saying Lake would create a “spectacle.” Her decision allowed Lake to have a 30-minute town hall on Oct. 23, 2022, organized by the commission in Hobbs’ absence. Hobbs then participated in a separate Q&A with Arizona PBS, which has no affiliation with Arizona Clean Elections.
The commission said it was “surprised” by Arizona PBS’ decision to invite Hobbs for a town hall.
“This decision is disappointing, especially following the multiple attempts on behalf of all the partners involved in producing this year’s General Election debates, to organize a traditional Gubernatorial debate between the two candidates,” Arizona Clean Elections said ahead of the dueling town halls, noting the announcement “broke from our shared practice.”
Two years on, Lake still harbors resentment toward the commission despite its lack of involvement in Hobbs’ Q&A in 2022. Lake explained her gripe with “how they treated people in the last election cycle, back in ’22, where people who decided not to do the debate, namely Hobbs, ended up getting her own half an hour.”
“I don’t want to work with people who are, you know, operating that way,” she said.
Given Hobbs’ Q&A was not affiliated with Arizona Clean Elections, the organization’s executive director says Lake’s frustration is misplaced.
“The Lake campaign is mistaken about the facts from 2022,” executive director Thomas Collins said in a statement to NBC News.
“Clean Elections did not sponsor any debate or interview with then-Secretary Hobbs (now Governor Hobbs) in 2022,” wrote Collins, who noted the commission discontinued its relationship with Arizona PBS for the duration of the 2022 election cycle after it announced it would invite Hobbs for the Q&A.
Collins remains hopeful that the commission can still sponsor the square-off between Gallego and Lake, writing, “We look forward to hosting the US senate debate between Mrs. Lake and Mr. Gallego with our partners.”
Asked about Lake’s hesitance about participating in the Clean Elections debate, Gallego noted its history in Arizona.
“Traditionally, for the last, I think, three Senate races, every Senate debate has happened at the Clean Elections debate,” Gallego said last week. “So I don’t understand why Kari Lake is afraid of even-grounded debate.”
He accused Lake of “running away from tradition” and tossed barbs at her for refusing to accept her loss in the 2022 governor’s race.
“Traditionally, you also concede after you lose an election. You don’t wait until two years later and file to overturn the election. But I guess now she’s comfortable and wants to get rid of another tradition,” Gallego said.
Gallego also told NBC News he is not taking Hobbs’ reservations about Lake’s turning a debate into “spectacle” into consideration.
“The consideration is that we need to talk to the voters of Arizona, and I trust the voters of Arizona that they’re going to listen to both sides,” he said.
Arizona Clean Elections debates typically occur in October, about a month before Election Day. Lake’s firebrand style and tendency to go for the jugular with incendiary attacks, coupled with Gallego’s proclivity to get wonky on policy, would make a debate a highly anticipated affair.
But before it comes to fruition, the Lake and Gallego campaigns must go through the same exercise the Trump and Harris campaigns are grappling with: agreeing to the terms.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
