FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aug. 8, 2018
Hawley Sends Letter Offering Debate Times to Senator McCaskill
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – On Wednesday morning, Republican Senate candidate Josh Hawley sent Senator Claire McCaskill a letter offering her times and locations for debates. The full letter is below:
Dear Senator McCaskill,
Over a decades-long career in politics, your prowess as a debater is unquestioned in Missouri. From the courtroom to the state house to the U.S. Senate, you have shown that you are willing to engage in open and free debate. You rarely shy from confrontation – even on social media in the late hours of the evening.
I was glad to read that you are interested in holding four town halls across the state. This is a good start, but Missourians deserve more. These are not debates. Missourians deserve to hear directly from us and to watch as we question each other directly. No stifling rules. No buzzers or bells. No pundits or moderators.
In 2006, when you first ran for the U.S. Senate, you said you would like to debate “Anytime, anywhere, as often as possible.” I agree. Let’s do that. You relish in telling the press how much time you have spent in our state’s smaller communities, like the one I grew up in, so let’s go debate there, in front of county courthouses, over and over.
That’s why our campaign has set-up a flatbed truck that we can take anywhere across the state. I’ll take it to any courthouse – or if necessary to any airport tarmac to meet your plane. You name the time and the place. We will invite Missourians and press outlets. I am certain the cameras will be there and a crowd of engaged Missouri citizens will form at every stop.
In fact, we have a number of times for debates like this set up over the next few days. Today, we will have the flatbed truck in St. Charles at 3:30 PM. Tomorrow, we will have the flatbed truck in Blue Springs at 1 PM. On Friday, we will be at the Missouri Farm Bureau in Jefferson City for their candidate interviews in the morning. We will have the truck and we hope you join us for an hour of free-wheeling, wide-open, old-fashioned debating.
In the meantime, since last Fall, a number of local and national TV stations have reached out about hosting debates. We have accepted debates with KMOV, KSDK, KFVS, KOLR, Fox News and CNN. If other stations are interested in hosting a debate, we will accept. We hope that you do too. I’m sure that if you agree, most of these outlets will be willing to air our wide-open, direct, flatbed truck debates as well if we’re only willing to give them a little notice.
This is a chance to make this Senate race the most substantive contest in America, without the filter of journalists or outside advertisers. If you and I tour this state and debate over and over in a direct, candidate-to-candidate style, like Lincoln and Douglas, those conversations will become the basis for every voter’s decision.
Let’s make history, Senator. Meet me in Blue Springs tomorrow. I’ll be waiting.
Sincerely,
Josh Hawley
Attorney General