Still unclear whether Washington Sen. Patty Murray will agree to 2nd debate

It is still unclear whether Sen. Patty Murray will appear on stage for a second debate with Tiffany Smiley as the Washington State Debate Coalition, a nonpartisan organization that has handled debates across the state since 2016, said it has yet to receive a confirmation from Murray.

KIRO 7 is a media partner of the Debate Coalition, and we have been pressing Murray on her pending commitment for an upcoming debate in Seattle.

In a statement Thursday, the coalition said that it “asked for a commitment from the Murray campaign by the end of day yesterday, Oct. 5, and did not get a response.”

KIRO 7′s Graham Johnson caught up with Murray during an event with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Johnson asked, “What’s the holdup? Why is it taking so long?”

She replied, “We are working to get the folks who are putting it together to have the details done before we announce anything. So I want to wait until they do that.”

Graham asked, “So there absolutely will be two debates?”

She replied, “Well, we’re working on the details on the second one. I’ll have to have my campaign staff because I’ve been on the road, I haven’t had a chance to talk to them today.”

Murray and Smiley do have one debate set with the coalition in Spokane, but historically larger races have had two debates with the coalition.

Last week, Smiley said they had pushed back the proposed debates from early October to late October.

“I’m very disappointed that the debate is after ballots drop, but of course, I will be there,” Smiley said.

Graham asked Smiley, “Are you pretty confident that this second debate will come together?”

She replied, “I have no idea. I know I will be there, and there could potentially be an empty chair sitting there.”

The Debate Coalition said Thursday that Murray’s campaign may be finalizing a second debate with a different outside group.

Murray’s campaign isn’t the only one that has not committed to a debate. The coalition had to cancel its planned Secretary of State debate after it could not reach an agreement with current Secretary of State Steve Hobbs.

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