Democratic gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms debates an empty podium after GOP nominee Rick Jackson declined to appear in Atlanta, Georgia, October 12, 2026. Abbey Cutrer/Pool via REUTERS
A growing number of Republicans are declining to take part in debates against their midterm opponents, and as one campaign communications veteran wrote for MS NOW, there is a "cowardly" truth that they are actually hiding from.
Symone Sanders-Townsend is an MS NOW host and contributor who also previously worked as a political strategist and national press secretary for Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign, as well as a White House spokesperson and senior advisor for former Vice President Kamala Harris. In a new piece published Sunday morning, she detailed the growing trend of Republicans ducking out of planned debates against their Democratic opponents.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, she noted, has taken part in election debates throughout his time in politics. Now, however, as polls show his current opponent, Gina Hinojosa, gaining on him, he suddenly "decided a debate is unnecessary," prompting Hinojosa to hold an event outside the governor's mansion. Elsewhere in Texas, GOP Senate candidate Ken Paxton has declined to debate his increasingly popular opponent, James Talarico.
"In Florida, Republican Sen. Ashley Moody has declined to debate Angie Nixon," Sanders-Townsend wrote. "In Mississippi, Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith said there’s 'no point' in debating Democratic nominee Scott Colom. Why are so many Republicans making the same decision in the same election cycle?... I have some thoughts."
Sanders-Townsend highlighted her own past experience working as "deputy communications director for the Democratic nominee for governor in Nebraska" in the 2014 midterms, which she said were anything but a "pleasant" time to be a Democratic candidate. Republicans had successfully turned President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act into a heated political issue, making it "difficult to keep the conversation focused on the issues we wanted to discuss" when the conversation would invariably get wrenched towards taking Democrats to task for the ACA.
Now, the tables are turned, she argued, and Republicans are running scared at the prospect of having to answer for their capitulation to President Donald Trump and his toxic agenda.
"That is the political environment I recognize today, except Republicans are now being asked to defend the president’s agenda," Sanders-Townsend wrote. "Donald Trump unilaterally imposed tariffs, raising costs for American businesses and consumers. Then came his war of choice in Iran. Gas and diesel prices climbed, raising costs for households and businesses. And Americans are still waiting for a clear explanation of how this war will end. Where were Republicans in Congress?"
She added later: "A debate means explaining those choices — or why you didn’t challenge them — while someone a few feet away questions your answer. I can understand why a campaign might not want that. But refusing to face those questions is cowardly... A politician who treats difficult questions as optional is telling us how they understand the power they hold. Perhaps the most revealing thing about these Republicans isn’t what they might say on a debate stage. It’s what they believe they no longer have to explain."
