The Ohio Debate Commission’s (ODC) intention to hold debates for the U.S. Senate, governor, and Ohio Supreme Court chief justice races prior to the November 8 midterm election have been cancelled after the candidates’ decision to decline participation.
On Monday, the commission announced that a forum between the two nominees for chief justice, Democratic Justice Jennifer Brunner and Republican Justice Sharon Kennedy, will not be held. This decision was made due to weeks of negotiations between the candidates and the commission resulting in a deadlock.
“We are extremely disappointed to have this process end in a stalemate, where we could not move forward with the forum. We are talking about a race to elect the leader of our state’s highest court, in an era when the court is deciding cases that are enormously important to the very workings of democracy, and in an environment where too many people actually forgo voting in judicial races because they don’t know who the candidates are and what the stand for,” Jill Zimon, ODC executive director said on social media.
The commission, which is made up of civil and media organizations and universities, had proposed three political events. Two would be traditional debates between the candidates for governor and U.S. Senate, and the last would be a forum between the chief justice candidates.
The elected candidates for chief justice and two other state supreme court seats will decide which party controls a majority on the court which will rule on hot-button issues throughout the state.
Last month, the Ohio Debate Commission also canceled planned debates for U.S. Senate and governor. However, the candidates for U.S. Senate later agreed to participate in two different debates, one that was held on Monday and a second debate scheduled for October 17.
Although candidate debates are not mandated by the constitution, they have generally been considered an intrinsic part of the election process. However, political debates in Ohio and around the country are becoming seemingly less obligatory as candidates pull out of participation.
Jill Zimon, Executive Director at the Ohio Debate Commission told The Ohio Star that the negotiations were off the record and the ODC is not at liberty to provide more detail about the specific impasse(s) that ultimately resulted in the cancellation of the event.
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Hannah Poling is a lead reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Hannah on Twitter @HannahPoling1. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Ohio State Capitol” by Becker1999. CC BY 2.0.
The 2020 Election Theft is going to look pale in comparison to what the Anti Americans are about to do with these midterms.
Who needs to debate when voting no longer matters.