Virginia Republicans will host three debates among its U.S. Senate candidates next year, the state GOP announced Thursday.
Pat Mullins, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, contacted the campaigns of the five candidates asking them to participate in a series of debates in the weeks leading up to the June 12 primary. It’s the first attempt to get the entire Republican field on a stage together before the election.
“Now that we have achieved our goals for the 2011 election cycle, we will immediately shift our focus to 2012,” Mullins said in a letter to the candidates.
“It is critical that we allow the voters of Virginia to hear from all of you about how our shared conservative principles can solve the problems our nation faces. I strongly encourage all of you to participate in these debates.”
The first debate will be held the second week of April in Roanoke, followed by two debates in May, one in Northern Virginia and another in Hampton Roads.
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Frontrunner George Allen is already slated to participate in a December debate against Democrat Tim Kaine, seven months before Republican voters will decide their party’s candidate. The four other Republican candidates — Jamie Radtke, Tim Donner, Earl Jackson and David McCormick — don’t have enough support in the polls or fundraising totals to qualify under the strict parameters laid out by debate host The Associated Press, for which they have been extremely critical.
Republican candidates are reviewing Mullins’ invitation, but already Allen’s opponents are baiting him to accept the challenge.
“We can’t imagine anyone who wants the nomination from the Republican Party will skip it,” Radtke spokesman Chuck Hansen said. “What would that say about what they think about Republican primary voters if they skip this?”
