WASHINGTON — Rand Paul has largely ignored Charles Booker this year – except for a moment when his Democratic challenger for U.S. Senate had the chance to command statewide attention.
On the night Booker sat for an interview with KET earlier this month, Paul’s campaign unleashed a scathing digital commercial. It accused Booker and his supporters of encouraging political violence.
But an underlying goal of the strategically timed attack was to divert eyeballs away from Booker’s opportunity to drive his own narrative at a forum that Paul shunned.
“They’re ignoring Kentucky, they’re ignoring this race. He doesn’t really think he has a challenge,” Booker said in a recent interview.
Paul has not agreed to debate Booker and with just two weeks left until Election Day, it looks like the tradition of a face-to-face meeting between the two major party candidates will expire this campaign cycle.
It’s a trend that’s increasingly common across the country this year, as Republicans’ deepening distrust of long-standing media entities are leading them to bypass them altogether.
Candidates in Arizona, Nevada and Pennsylvania are also foregoing debates, and sometimes it’s Democrats who are refusing to lend their opponents a platform to launch attacks.
But in Kentucky, it’s the Republican incumbents who are acting as if their challengers don’t exist.
Like Paul, Rep. Andy Barr also declined KET’s invitation for a forum with his Democratic opponent, Geoff Young.
“I will take my case for reelection directly to the voters,” Barr said in explaining his decision.
Young, a heavy underdog against Barr in the Lexington-based 6th Congressional District, espouses a series of controversial foreign policy views, including calling for the indictments of U.S. officials who have visited Taiwan.
“I first met Andy Barr in person at a town hall he put on in Versailles in August, 2013. Since then, he has never dared to debate me in any format. He’s one of the most cowardly politicians in Kentucky. I think he chickened out of the … KET debate because he didn’t want me to say to his face that he has knowingly voted to send weapons to Ukrainian Nazis for the last eight years,” Young said.
Political debates always carry some inherent risks for front-running candidates with commanding leads, says Aaron Kall, the director of debate at the University of Michigan.
“Sharing a debate stage elevates underdog candidates and there is always the possibility that a major gaffe could fundamentally change the trajectory and media coverage of a race in its closing weeks,” Kall said. “If debates are consistent with the best political interests of candidates, they will continue to participate. Unfortunately, this has become less common recently and the voters will ultimately be less informed about their important democratic decisions.”
In Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, Democratic candidate Matt Lehman hasn’t been able to secure a debate or forum with Rep. Thomas Massie.
Lehman has blasted Massie as “a coward who doesn’t talk to his constituents.”
“To our knowledge, he has held no town halls in the last two years, and he’s skipped candidate forums, including the Lewis County Lions Club Candidate Forum and Cake Auction in Vanceburg where he lives, Gallatin County Chamber of Commerce in Warsaw, and Trimble County Public Library in Bedford,” said Lehman adviser Bob Driehaus. “Matt has attended every one.”
In a statement to McClatchy, Massie said that “given the political irrelevancy of the Democrat Party in this district, the consequential race is the primary contest in the spring.”
“My opponent this fall is not credible, well funded or in sync with the values of the district,” Massie said.
GOP Reps. James Comer and Hal Rogers both showed up for interviews on KET, but neither of their Democratic opponents met the network’s criteria required for an appearance, an indication of how uncompetitive their races are.
Rep. Brett Guthrie did not respond to KET’s invite to appear with his Democratic challenger, Hank Linderman.
The only two congressional candidates who jointly appeared on the network were Democrat Morgan McGarvey and Republican Stuart Ray, who are competing for the open seat occupied by Rep. John Yarmuth, who is retiring.
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