Republican Sen. David Perdue will need every vote he can get if he’s to keep his Senate seat during one of Georgia’s critical runoff elections this January. But when given the opportunity to appeal directly to his constituents and show them why his Democratic opponent, Jon Ossoff, is unfit for the job, Perdue did not even show up.

Perdue declined to debate Ossoff on Sunday evening, allowing Ossoff to participate in a one-sided televised event in which he repeated Democratic talking points that went unchallenged. Ossoff was also able to slam Perdue as an uninterested “coward” who couldn’t even be bothered to debate important topics during one of the most consequential races of this year.