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Candidates in 19th Congressional District appear unlikely to debate ahead of battleground midterm

NY19 Debates WEB

Both candidates in the 19th Congressional District have yet to agree to a formal debate, casting doubt on whether they will appear side by side before the Nov. 8 midterm elections.

Late last month both Marc Molinaro and Josh Riley said they’d agreed to a debate with Spectrum News, but that has not materialized.

"[We] provided a number of dates that we had held for a debate,” Riley told WSKG. “We have yet to hear back about that. It's been several weeks now. Our understanding is that that debate will not happen."

Molinaro said he also agreed to the Spectrum debate, but blamed Riley for not scheduling it.

"I'm told that there is a scheduling issue that Josh has,” Molinaro said. “So, we have agreed, I have agreed to three separate dates now."

Both candidates say they also agreed to a debate moderated by the Kingston Daily Freeman, though both said there has been no confirmation on whether it would indeed happen.

Molinaro and Riley participated in a forum with the greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce last month, but that event was closed to the general public.

Last month, Molinaro’s campaign failed to agree to a debate hosted by WSKG, within the deadline provided by organizers.

Vaughn Golden has been reporting across New York since 2016. Working as a freelancer while studying journalism and economics at Ithaca College, Vaughn has reported for a number of outlets including the Albany Times Union, New York Post, and NPR among others. Prior to coming to WSKG full-time, Vaughn was a reporter for the Watertown Daily Times. Vaughn now covers government and politics for WSKG.