Arizona Senate debate plans in flux

On the day Kari Lake won the GOP primary to replace outgoing Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) last week, she expressed resentment with the handling of debates in the last electoral cycle, raising questions about whether she will square off against Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) in a debate.

“I think we should talk about which debate we do,” Lake said last Tuesday, speaking to reporters outside a polling location, complaining about Arizona Clean Elections‘s management of the situation during the gubernatorial race in 2022. 

Then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs refused to participate in a gubernatorial debate hosted by the commission and proposed separate town halls, a proposal that was rejected by the group, claiming it was looking for a more traditional debate format. Arizona PBS later hosted a Q&A with Hobbs that was separate from the Arizona Clean Elections.

“We know how [the commission] treated people in the last election cycle in ‘22, where people who decided to not do the debate, namely Hobbs, ended up getting her own half an hour, and that was my problem with that particular group,” Lake added. “I think our two teams can discuss a fair platform to do that, but I don’t want to work with people who operate in that way.”

Since March, the Senate GOP hopeful has been challenging Gallego to take the debate stage, claiming she was “ready to debate Ruben Gallego right now, right here,” during a press conference in Phoenix.

Gallego has said he is committed to debating Lake, unlike Hobbs, who avoided a debate on the grounds that she was worried it would become a “spectacle.” 

“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,” Gallego said, speaking to NBC News.

Spokespeople for both Gallego’s and Lake’s campaigns said they want to participate in a debate, but what exactly that will look like is still unknown. Arizona Clean Elections debates usually take place about a month before Election Day. The Lake and Gallego campaigns have yet to agree to the terms of a debate.

An average of recent polls shows Gallego leading by 3.4 points.

Lake’s GOP primary rival, Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, earned about 40% of the vote Tuesday despite being outspent 5-to-1 by Lake, giving hope to Democrats that her Republican support remains soft.