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0000017b-f971-ddf0-a17b-fd73f4140000Coverage of the 2018 Elections in Spokane, throughout the region, and across the country. Support for SPR Election reporting is provided by Spokane Journal of Business, Express Employment Professionals, and SPR members.Click here for a list of 2018 Election Coverage Special Events

Debate Over Debates Starts in Eastern Washington Congressional Race

Doug Nadvornick/SPR

Just one day after the primary election, the debate over debates in the Washington Fifth Congressional District campaign has begun.

Today, Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers’s campaign released a letter from the congresswoman to Democrat Lisa Brown. In it McMorris Rodgers says she has accepted invitations to participate in two debates in Spokane and one in Walla Walla. She said the voters of the district deserve to hear the candidates engage in what she calls a “full, civil discussion of the issues.” She urged Brown to also accept the invitations.

A Brown spokesman says the letter is merely a formality. Her campaign had already said yes to the two Spokane events and is awaiting a formal invitation from the Walla Walla Chamber of Commerce. He says Brown has already participated in several forums that McMorris Rodgers skipped.

In her own letter released on Wednesday, Brown said the two Spokane debates are from members-only organizations. She says they should engage in debates that are open to the public. In addition, she says she has received three other invitations for debates, including a joint Spokesman-Review/KHQ televised debate. She urged McMorris Rodgers to add those to her schedule too.

McMorris Rodgers’s lead in the primary election extended slightly today to about seven-tenths of one percent. The congresswoman leads in eight of the district’s 10 counties.

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