Talks Progress On Gubernatorial Debate

West Virginia Metro News Talkline host Hoppy Kercheval said both Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and Huntington Mayor Steve Williams’ gubernatorial campaigns have “confirmed their willingness to debate” with the outlet in a Sept. 24 email to WVPB. Kercheval wrote that no date is set, but the debate “will likely be the week of October 28” with statewide radio and video streams.

On Tuesday morning, the Williams campaign released a statement that a different debate at Huntington TV station WOWK had been canceled. However, none of the five registered gubernatorial candidates told WVPB they had confirmed their or other campaigns’ participation with WOWK. On Tuesday afternoon, WOWK released a statement that they were “unable to reach an agreement with the candidates.”

WOWK Station Manager Sean Banks sent invitations to all five candidates – including Libertarian candidate Erika Klie Kolenich, Mountain candidate Chase Linko-Looper, and Constitution candidate S. Marshall Wilson. In documents Linko-Looper and Wilson forwarded to WVPB, that invite included an Oct. 30 live air date for “qualified candidates,” with an attached “Nexstar Debate Participation Criteria” document.

Those qualifications required that candidates pass a 5 percent primary or 10 percent general election polling minimum and have a minimum of $100,000 in monetary donations “on the most recent official forms filed with the appropriate election authority.”

While third party candidates told WVPB they would have accepted the invitation at WOWK, none met the polling qualification. The West Virginia Secretary of State’s campaign finance reporting system lists Williams with only $77,481.81 in total contributions.

“We have another reporting period that falls at the end of this month, for the end of the quarter,” Williams Campaign Manager Mike Plante said when asked about the campaign’s fundraising. “So no, it’s not a barrier.”

Morrisey Campaign Manager Jonathan Ewing did not directly comment on the WOWK debate.

Looking ahead, Metro News did not invite third party candidates.

“AG Morrisey is looking forward to debating his Democratic opponent this fall,” Ewing said in a statement to WVPB. “We’ll be finalizing details in the near future.”

“We’re ready for [Morrisey] to to appear and discuss the issues, and we’re happy to be there,” Plante said.

WVPB will report the time and format of the debate when finalized.