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Final Gubernatorial Debate Canceled
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The second and final gubernatorial debate between Democrat Stacey Abrams, Republican Brian Kemp and Libertarian Ted Metz scheduled for 5 p.m. Sunday has been canceled.
The debate, hosted by WSB-TV was set to air less than 48 hours before polls opened on Election Day.
WSB announced the cancellation of the debate at 7 p.m. Wednesday because the candidates could not agree on a modified time and date after Kemp pulled out of the original time.
On Sept. 11, Abrams and Kemp agreed to the debate as scheduled. President Donald Trump announced Monday a rally on Kemp's behalf in Macon set to begin at 4 p.m. Sunday, one hour before the debate was set to begin in Atlanta.
On Tuesday, the Kemp campaign said it informed WSB of the scheduling conflict. In a statement, WSB said they worked with all three campaigns to propose another date and time: Monday at 7:30 p.m. for a half-hour live debate with no commercial breaks.
The Abrams campaign said it already had commitments to make campaign stops in southeast Georgia, and that Abrams would be unable to participate at the proposed new time.
While the decision to cancel ultimately came from WSB, the station said the chain of events began after Kemp pulled out of the Sunday debate.
Both campaigns are using the debate's cancellation as an opportunity to attack the other in the final days of a tight contest for Georgia's highest office.
The campaigns released a flurry of press releases Tuesday afternoon and evening.
Among other things, the Kemp campaign said that Abrams "has decided to duck the electorate," while the Abrams campaign said Kemp "[broke] his promise" to attend the original debate.
During that time, Kemp will attend the rally with Trump in Macon, and Abrams will answer questions from Georgians on social media.
The now-canceled debate was not the only big event scheduled in the waning days of the 2018 midterms.
Oprah Winfrey and former President Barack Obama are campaigning for Abrams, while Trump and Vice President Mike Pence will stump for Kemp.
You can watch the only debate with all three gubernatorial candidates below.
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