Adrian Fenty and Linda Cropp, the two leading candidates for D.C. mayor, will finally go head-to-head later this month during a live, televised debate — in Virginia.
The two sides agreed to the format Wednesday, both campaigns said.
The debate will held at 4 p.m. Aug. 28 at the News Channel 8 studio in Arlington during the channel’s NewsTalk program, a daily public affairs show.
The program’s host, Bruce DePuyt, summoned both camps, ending days of back-and-forth rhetoric.
Cropp, the D.C. Council chair, had called repeatedly for a debate while Fenty, the Ward 4 council member and poll leader, was waiting for a personal phone call.
“I reached out to them and they accepted,” said DePuyt, calling the event a “coup” for the station.
The five major mayoral candidates have participated in dozens of forums during the course of the campaign.
But the public interest in a one-on-one has surged since Cropp and Fenty became the two clear front-runners.
Trailing by 10 points or more in multiple polls, Cropp has recently gone on the offensive, attacking Fenty’s record on education and crime and as a private attorney.
Fenty went head-to-head with Marie Johns last weekend, in a debate spurred when the former president of Verizon Washington called Fenty while he took questions on a local radio show.
DePuyt, who has already moderated a number of forums this year, said the Fenty-Cropp debate will “just be a discussion” with no opening or closing statements.
Ron Eckstein, Cropp’s campaign spokesman, said the chairman wanted to debate Fenty during an Aug. 29 event hosted by the D.C. Federation of Civic Associations.
Fenty declined, citing a scheduling conflict.
“We hope there will be more,” Eckstein said. “It would sad if the one one-on-one debate is in Virginia.”
