Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said Thursday that she will debate her primary opponent, Tim Canova, who is backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, with less than a month to go until the primary.
“I have always said that when we got to August that I would focus on the question of whether or not I was going to debate my opponent,” Wasserman Schultz said in an interview with the Sun Sentinel, adding “I am going to debate my opponent.”
Canova responded to the news, saying he was happy but added a note of skepticism about whether congresswoman would follow through.
“I was happy to hear news that @DWStweets says she will debate me. I will believe it when I see it,” he tweeted.
Though Canova has been calling for debates for months, Wasserman Schultz has been silent on the matter up until now.
Wasserman Schultz, who up until last week served as Democratic National Committee chairwoman, was also criticized by many Sanders supporters during the Democratic presidential primary contest for skimping on the number of debates, which they say worked in favor of front-runner Hillary Clinton. She resigned after a WikiLeaks email dump last month, revealing documents suggesting Wasserman Schultz had been working to undermine Sanders. Afterwards she was named the honorary co-chair of Clinton’s campaign team.
Wasserman Schultz has been endorsed by President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, with the latter headlining a Florida fundraiser for her on Friday.
The primary contest for Florida’s 23rd Congressional District will take place on August 30. A poll released this week by Canova’s campaign shows him trailing the incumbent by 8 percentage points.
