OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna has challenged his Democratic opponent Jay Inslee to 15 debates in the coming months. Inslee’s campaign says they had already confirmed three so far.
But Inslee spokeswoman Jaime Smith said Monday that the former U.S. representative won’t participate a June 12 Spokane debate sponsored by the Association of Washington Business. She says the organization had operated in bad faith by releasing a statement in January confirming the debate before the Inslee campaign agreed to it. The AWB has hosted gubernatorial debates since 1992.
Smith says that the campaign has already confirmed three: a Rotary club debate in Seattle in June, one sponsored by the Washington Clean Technology Alliance in August and another sponsored by the University of Washington-Tacoma and others in Tacoma in September.