The top candidates in one of Arizona’s most competitive congressional districts are finally going to debate after arguing over the issue, just like they did when they faced off two years ago.
There will be at least one debate between incumbent Republican Congressman Juan Ciscomani and Democrat Kirsten Engel on PBS, according to both candidate’s spokespersons.
Campaign spokespersons for both teams also say they will debate in a forum facilitated by the Arizona Clean Elections Commission on another date.
Ciscomani bashed Engel for declining to debate him within the district at an event facilitated by the Sky Islands Regional Partnership in Sierra Vista.
Congressional District 6 is one of the state’s most competitive districts in terms of divided voter registration. Engel lost by just a few thousand votes in 2022.
“She apparently does not want to debate in the district,” Ciscomani’s advisor CJ Karamargin said of Engel.
“Kirsten Engel is hiding from the voters of Arizona’s Sixth Congressional District, now declining the only scheduled in-district debate with Congressman Juan Ciscomani. This is a pattern for Engel who dodged debates last cycle, and seems particularly averse to any in Cochise and Pinal Counties,” Ciscomani’s team said in a press release.
Ciscomani continued to say that it’s “no surprise” that Engel doesn’t want to answer questions and accused her of not living in the district.
Engel’s spokesperson Alia Kapasi said there is no particular reason that Engel didn’t want to do the Sky Islands debate.
“The scheduling piece wasn’t super convenient for us, but that wasn’t, like, the reason why,” Kapasi said. She added that Engel’s team has a good relationship with Sky Islands.
Engel got flak from Ciscomani in 2022 for similarly not debating at a local forum in Casa Grande.
Also in 2022; Engel and Ciscomani were set to debate through Arizona Public Media, but it fell through. Engel accused Ciscomani of dodging it at the time, but his staff told the Arizona Republic that he wanted to do the debate, and it was canceled.
Engel has consistently criticized Ciscomani for declining to debate other Republicans in the primary election season both in 2022 and in 2024.
“This year, Ciscomani refused to debate his primary opponent, who was able to garner more than 40% of the vote,” Engel’s team said in a statement.
A spokesperson for PBS said that this year’s debate will air in Tucson, so it will be viewable in CD6 as well as the Valley-area.
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