AURORA | Democratic state Sen. Morgan Carroll, who is running against incumbent Republican Aurora Congressman Mike Coffman for his 6th Congressional District seat, plans to participate in three televised debates this fall but has surprised her competition after pushing back against a debate proposed by The Denver Post.
Her schedule includes a debate at Entravision, to air on Oct. 8; CBS4-KBDI to air on Oct. 14; and 9News on Oct. 20.
The Aurora Sentinel is considering a broadcast roundtable discussion with the two candidates and members of the metro-area media, according to Editor Dave Perry.
“We believe that the public deserves an open and honest forum to discuss the challenges facing Colorado and our country,”Carroll for Colorado spokesman Drew Godinich said in a statement. “People deserve to know why Mike Coffman and the current Republican-led Congress has failed to address the needs of the people in our community.”
Coffman campaign spokeswoman Cinamon Watson told the Denver Post she was surprised by Carroll’s hesitance to debate as often as possible. She told The Aurora Sentinel that Mike Coffman had agreed to several other debates with Morgan Carroll that Carroll’s campaign declined, including an Aurora Chamber debate.
“I’m not sure why Team Carroll has been dragging their feet. You would think an experienced, personal injury lawyer would be anxious to debate. On second thought, Marine Corps combat veteran vs. Ambulance-chasing trial lawyer may not be the fight she wants.”
Watson said Coffman’s campaign has agreed to do the CBS and 9 News debates. She said they also want to do a Spanish language debate on Entravision but may have a conflict with the date proposed.
Godninich later said the campaign is open to The Denver Post and other publications partnering in some way with the three televised debates as a way to participate in them. He said in the statement the three televised debates were chosen in order to reach the largest possible audience this election season.
Greg Griffin, an editor at The Denver Post, confirmed that Carroll’s campaign declined to participate in a debate with the newspaper, citing they were only working with some TV stations.
“We proposed a debate and sent both campaigns a set of rules that were straightforward, similar to what we have done in the past,” Griffin said. He said the debate format would’ve have been similar to the debate the Denver Posted hosted with Coffman and Democratic challenger Andrew Romanoff in 2014.
Griffin said The Denver Post did not receive an official response from Coffman, but that the campaign had indicated an interest as long as the date for the debate worked for Coffman’s schedule.
Carroll campaign officials said they are considering an event at the Aurora Chamber of Commerce, but that the Chamber’s proposed debate was unwieldy for both candidates, saying that they would agree to a forum instead, if it was acceptable to the Coffman campaign.
Morgan Cullen, director of public affairs with the Aurora Economic Development Council, said AEDC had reached out to both candidates about an Aurora Chamber debate two months ago. He said Coffman’s campaign agreed to do the debate in July. He said Carroll’s campaign reached out to AEDC only a week ago after the organization made several attempts to contact Carroll.
“They responded but did not give us a definitive answer about whether or not they were going to do it,” Cullen said. Cullen said he received a call from Carroll’s campaign staff where they stated they were not comfortable with the way the debate was organized.
“We can’t do it now because too much time has gone by,” Cullen said of whether Carroll could participate in a future Aurora Chamber debate.