2022 sees fewest gubernatorial debates in decades ... Why?
By Pat Kessler
MINNEAPOLIS -- The top candidates in Minnesota's gubernatorial race are debating Tuesday night, one of the very few times in this campaign they are actually meeting face to face.
In fact, this year has seen the fewest debates in decades, fewer than any election since 1998, the year the former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura dominated the four governor debates and "shocked the world" by winning the election. In 2002, there were 12 debates. In 2010, there were at least 15. And in the last cycle, 2018, saw six debates.
WCCO's Pat Kessler says Gov. Tim Walz has turned down many opportunities for debate. Ultimately there will be only three total. If you blinked, you missed the first one, 75 days ago, in the middle of summer, when many Minnesotans were not paying attention.
Walz's office issued a statement, saying:
"The Governor is doing the same number of debates that were held in the U.S. Senate elections won by Amy Klobuchar in 2018 and Tina Smith in both 2018 and 2020, and is doing more debates than many incumbent governors this cycle."
That said, the number of U.S. Senate debates has nothing to do with the governor's race this year.
Not only is this the fewest number of debates in decades but the fewest number of people will see it, and Scott Jensen's campaign is complaining that neither of the last two debates will have a live audience. It will be broadcast on regional TV stations in Rochester, Mankato, and Fargo-Moorhead, but for the first time in 40 years it won't be broadcast live in the Twin Cities, and millions of people will miss it.
Nonetheless, Jensen is expected to go on offense early. He's been aggressively going after Walz on the rise in violent crime since he took office, and a huge scandal over the fraud theft of $250 million in pandemic funds on his watch.
Expect Walz to go hard at Jensen on abortion. Jensen first called himself 100% against abortion rights, but he's since appeared to soften his abortion views since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade