Political experts weigh in on Mike Rogers skipping Detroit debate
Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed appeared solo at a televised town hall hosted by Fox 2 on Tuesday.
His opponent, Mike Rogers, said he never agreed to the town hall format and joined CBS News Detroit Tuesday night to answer questions about why he feels he's best suited for office.
"Stay tuned, we are going to get a debate," Rogers said.
But El-Sayed said he's confident squaring off against Rogers.
"He's not going to have much to say because at the end of the day, I'm going to hold him accountable to his record, which is awful," said El-Sayed.
CBS News Detroit talked with two political science professors on Wednesday, who both said political debates are meant to be a job interview of sorts.
"There aren't a lot of opportunities, I think, that voters get to see the candidates really being put on the spot and having to potentially defend their positions or defend the way they campaign or explain and justify or defend their policy positions. And a debate, when it's done well, I think, gives that opportunity to the voters," said Peter Trumbore, a political science professor at Oakland University.
These days, there are fewer debates than in the past, and getting candidates to agree to them can be a months-long negotiation. But Aaron Kall, professor at the University of Michigan, says debates still have an impact on the campaign.
"Sometimes these debates have life of their own and can bleed into days or weeks afterwards," said Kall.
Kall adds that a particularly bad debate performance can have a major impact.
"The Trump and Biden presidential debate that basically caused sitting President Joe Biden to not run for office and get out," said Kall. "So that still shows the impact of the debate, but also something that can be so negative like that, I think, increases people's apprehensions about participating."
Trumbore says he thinks not debating gives a candidate's opponent more time to sell themselves to the voters.
"One thing about not showing up is you lose the opportunity to make the case for yourself, and instead, what you do is you give your opponent the ability and the opportunity to make your case as negative as possible," said Trumbore.
El-Sayed and Rogers are going to debate in Grand Rapids next month.
