Republican Shelley Moore Capito and Democrat Natalie Tennant will square off in a live televised debate for West Virginia’s open U.S. Senate seat.
The two hopefuls will meet Oct. 7 in Charleston for the race’s first announced debate. The West Virginia Press Association, West Virginia Public Broadcasting and AARP are organizing the event.
Capito, a seventh-term congresswoman, announced Thursday she would participate. Tennant, West Virginia’s secretary of state, confirmed her participation in June.
Press Association Executive Director Don Smith says the organizations are deciding whether to invite Libertarian John Buckley and Mountain Party candidate Bob Henry Baber.
“The organizers are very happy to have both Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito and Secretary of State Natalie Tennant committed to the debate. We will have more details next week,” Smith said.
Capito and Tennant are vying for retiring Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller’s seat.
Republicans are gunning for more than a half-dozen states like West Virginia, where President Barack Obama lost and remains unpopular.
“Residents in every county of West Virginia will be able to follow this U.S. Senate debate in their newspapers, through live-streaming on our newspaper websites, on West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s television and radio networks and through live-streaming on the WVPB website,” Smith said.