McAuliffe Agrees To Participate In Five VA Gubernatorial Debates

VIRGINIA — Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe has agreed to participate in a series of five general election debates this summer and fall, his campaign said Tuesday.

On June 8, McAuliffe won the primary to serve as the Democratic candidate for governor in the November general election. McAuliffe previously served as governor from 2014 to 2018.

McAuliffe is running against Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin and independent candidate Princess Blanding, whose campaign collected enough signatures across the state for her name to appear on the ballot.

The Youngkin campaign had not responded to an email on whether he planned to participate in these debates when this article was published.

It is unclear whether Blanding will be invited to participate in the debates, despite meeting the state's ballot access rules. In 2017, the Libertarian Party candidate for governor, Cliff Hyra, was excluded from the debate sponsored by the Virginia Bar Association, even though his name appeared on the ballot.

The bar association said it opened the event only to “significant” candidates with “a reasonable chance of being elected” and concluded Hyra does not meet that definition, The Washington Post reported in July 2017.

In 2021, the Virginia Bar Association said it hopes to host a debate on July 24 in Hot Springs in conjunction with its summer meeting. The group is in touch with the major parties about the debate.

"We also are watching any others who will be on the ballot to see if they will meet our criteria for an invitation as a 'significant' candidate at least 30 days before the scheduled debate," a VBA spokeswoman said in an email. "Significant candidates have a reasonable chance of being elected, with demonstrated substantial voter interest and support, including competitive showings in major, nonpartisan public opinion polls, wide news media coverage and broad financial support and contributors."

Two of the five general election debates still do not have exact dates. The tentative dates and locations for the five debates are:

• Hot Springs, sponsored by Virginia Bar Association, on July 24
• Hampton Roads, sponsored by Norfolk State University. No date.
• Southwest Virginia, sponsored by the Appalachian School of Law, in August or September.
• Northern Virginia, sponsored by Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce, NBC4/Telemundo 44 and the Schar School of Public Policy and Government at George Mason University, on Sept. 29.
• Richmond, sponsored by AARP Virginia and WTVR, on Oct. 12.

In the general election for governor in 2017, eventually won by Ralph Northam, the candidates participated in three debates.