Slotkin, Rogers set to face off in 2 Senate debates

DETROIT — Michigan U.S. Senate candidates Mike Rogers and Elissa Slotkin will face off in two debates in October, after Rogers' campaign said Friday that he agreed participate in a pair of televised debates next month in Detroit and Grand Rapids.

Slotkin, a Holly Democrat, had previously accepted the same invitations from WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids for an Oct. 9 debate and from WXYZ-TV (Channel 7) in Detroit for an Oct. 14 debate.

Rogers, a White Lake Township Republican, said he's also accepted a third debate on Sept. 23 at WDIV-TV (Channel 4) in Detroit at the invitation of the Michigan AARP and the Michigan Chamber of Commerce. His campaign said it's "imperative" that voters get to see both candidates debate prior to the opening of ballot drop boxes on Sept. 26.

"Mike Rogers is ready and excited to debate Slotkin over her rubber stamping the Biden-Harris agenda that’s made life unaffordable for families who are living paycheck to paycheck," spokesman Chris Gustafson said in a statement.

"We hope that she agrees on the importance of voters getting a chance to hear from both candidates prior to casting their ballot, and await her response.”

Slotkin's campaign didn't immediately comment Friday afternoon on the Sept. 23 debate at WDIV. A spokesman previously said the October debates are the two that Slotkin is doing, "fully keeping with precedent in past statewide races."

The U.S. House is currently scheduled to be in session on Sept. 23.

It appears that both candidates have now snubbed invitations to take part in three debates this fall organized by the new Michigan Debate Task Force, an initiative modeled after the presidential debate commission. Slotkin's campaign had not responded to the task force invitation, Oakland University political science professor Dave Dulio, one of the task force's organizers, told The Detroit News in late August.

Those debates had been set for Sept. 12 in the studios of WXMI-TV (Fox 17) in Grand Rapids; Oct. 10 in the Milliken Auditorium at Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City; and Oct. 22 at the Sound Board theater in the Motor City Casino in Detroit. Rogers previously told The Detroit News that he'd “do all three, absolutely."

The invitations to the task force debates were sent out right after Slotkin and Rogers won their respective primary elections on Aug. 6.

The task force is comprised of universities, chambers of commerce and the Urban Leagues of Detroit and west Michigan, among others.

Part of the intent behind the task force's proposal earlier this year was to shift the control of the debate rules, timing and formats away from political campaigns ― which tend to prefer more controlled environments and fewer debates ― and into the hands of a neutral entity in Michigan that would prioritize higher quality information being disseminated to the broader public, organizers have said.

The task force's initiative was in part a response to a drop in the frequency of Senate debates in competitive contests nationally, as tracked by Brookings Institution research from October 2022.