Macy Declines Cline’s Proposed Debate Schedule in Virginia’s 6th Congressional District

Voters in Virginia’s 6th Congressional District will be able to attend or observe a debate between sitting Republican Rep. Ben Cline and Democrat challenger Beth Macy. However, it won’t be this week.

Macy challenged Cline to three exchanges this year. Last week, Cline announced that not only had he accepted, but he also had scheduled the events: Sept. 3 in Frederick County, Sept. 10 in Salem, and Oct. 5 in Harrisonburg. “I appreciate these opportunities to engage in meaningful dialogue with voters about the issues that matter most in their daily lives,” he said.

But Macy’s team told the Daily Signal that she never signed off on those dates.

“Rep. Cline’s team unilaterally decided on this ‘debate’ schedule (the whole schedule is candidate forums not debates, which was made very clear in the invitation) without consulting us at all, and we’re unfortunately not available that night [Sept. 3] and will not be able to attend,” Macy’s team wrote. “However, we will be attending the candidate forum with the Harrisonburg Rotary in early October.”

Macy’s campaign team added that it still wants more public appearances. “We are also going to be trying to coordinate several town halls across the district on issues that voters are particularly concerned about and will share information as soon as details are finalized,” the team wrote to the Daily Signal.

Other candidates are also going back-and-forth about debates. In Virginia’s 5th Congressional District, Democrat challenger Tom Perriello said he would agree to a debate at the University of Lynchburg on Oct. 20. But Rep. John McGuire told WSET that he hasn’t signed off on that debate yet. “I would love to talk to him about that, but my first caveat is he needs to go on national TV and apologize for accusing me of insider trading; I don’t even do trades.”

In the 9th Congressional District, Democrat challenger Joy Powers asked eight-term Rep. Morgan Griffith to attend three debates. She asked him to accept by Saturday. “We’re looking at it,” Griffith told the Roanoke Times. “We have not made a final decision.”

Meanwhile in the 10th Congressional District, Democrat Rep. Suhas Subramanyam will debate Republican Dave Beckwith on Sept. 22 at Loudoun’s National Conference Center. In the statewide race, AARP Virginia invited U.S. Sen. Mark Warner and his Republican challenger, retired Army Maj. Gen. Bert Mizusawa, to debate on Oct. 7 at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture.

Political debates occasionally produce memorable moments. Sometimes, they even change the course of a campaign. For example, in 1976, President Gerald Ford seemed out of touch when he insisted “there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford administration.” In 2024, President Joe Biden’s confused and confusing assertion that “we finally beat Medicare” probably ended his run for reelection.

Sometimes, too, debate gaffes don’t seem to harm a candidate. “They’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats,” then-candidate Donald Trump insisted in 2024. “This is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a shame.” It wasn’t true, but Trump prevailed.

These examples highlight extreme cases, of course; most debates go by uneventfully and are essentially unnoticed. Still, incumbents have more to lose in a debate, since they are known entities with a public record, while challengers are usually attempting to raise their name recognition.