Tillis, Cunningham debate tonight. Here’s how to watch, even if you don’t get Spectrum
For the third, and final, time this campaign, North Carolina U.S. Senate candidates Thom Tillis and Cal Cunningham will meet in a televised debate.
The one-hour debate between Tillis, a Republican seeking re-election, and Cunningham, his Democratic challenger, will begin at 7 p.m. on Spectrum News 1 in North Carolina, which is available to Spectrum cable subscribers.
The debate can also be streamed on the Spectrum News mobile app. Non-subscribers get one month free on the app.
Tim Boyum will moderate the debate from Raleigh. Candidates will be asked the same question and be given 90 seconds to answer followed by 30-second rebuttals.
Unlike in Tuesday’s presidential debate, Tillis and Cunningham have allowed each other to speak largely uninterrupted in their first two meetings and had substantive back-and-forth discussions on a number of issues.
In the first debate, Cunningham made headlines for saying that he would be “hesitant” to take a coronavirus vaccine if it were approved before the end of the year, citing potential political pressure on public health officials in Washington to rush the process. In the second debate, the candidates disagreed over the timing of filling the Supreme Court vacancy.
This week, Cunningham said he would meet with Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, something some Democratic senators have said they will not do. Tillis met with Barrett on Wednesday and said he will support her confirmation.
Tillis has been critical of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden for not releasing a list of potential Supreme Court nominees. Cunningham said after the last debate he would counsel Biden not to release a list, saying it would inject more partisanship into the court.
In the hours before the debate, Congress continues to wrestle with a coronavirus relief package, one that could include help for state and local governments and unemployed workers as well as small businesses and, perhaps, another direct check for many American taxpayers.
What Congress should do in the next package has been a topic in the first two debates and could again come up Thursday night.
Tillis has tried to tie Cunningham to Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in the previous debates, saying he would be a “rubber stamp” for Schumer in the Senate. Before the debate, Tillis released a campaign ad to that effect, repeating his assertion that Schumer is spending $80 million to help Cunningham. The number includes other spending from Democratic groups.
Cunningham said Tillis has not served a check-and-balance on President Donald Trump, but has instead given him “a blank check,” particularly on his Supreme Court nominee. Cunningham said it is Tillis who is beholden to Senate leadership, in his case Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Thursday afternoon, Cunningham announced that his campaign raised $28.3 million in July, August and September, a staggering sum of money in a North Carolina Senate race. Cunningham raised a record $7.4 million in April, May and June. Tillis raised $11 million total in his successful 2014 Senate bid and, through the second quarter of 2020, had raised $14.3 million for his re-election. Tillis has until Oct. 15 to report his latest fundraising totals.
Cunningham has led in polls throughout the summer, including in a series of polls released this week. Tillis has not led in a single poll, and there have been many in the swing state since mid-June, according to Real Clear Politics which tracks polling data. The race is considered a toss-up and could determine which party controls the U.S. Senate in January.
Libertarian Party nominee Shannon Bray and Constitution Party candidate Kevin Hayes will be on the Nov. 3 ballot. But, as in the previous two debates, they will not be on the debate stage Thursday.
More than 300,000 North Carolina voters have already cast their ballots, according to the N.C. State Board of Elections. The majority of them — more than 53% — have come from registered Democrats.
Tillis has been a proponent of absentee by-mail voting, saying he has done so in previous elections and planned to do it again. He even chided Cunningham in the previous debate, saying his challenger should cast his vote by mail after Cunningham said he planned to vote early in person.
But Tillis said he has changed his mind about the integrity of voting by mail after a recent settlement by the State Board of Elections altered some of the rules around absentee ballots. He said he has “grave concerns.”
The changes are being litigated in court, and a federal judge said Wednesday that the change around witness signatures “undermines and in effect eliminates the legislature’s intent in preventing ballot fraud.”
Along with the much more serious topics, it wouldn’t be surprising to see barbecue — a staple of North Carolina — get a mention in the debate from either or both of the candidates after Cunningham tweeted a photo of himself grilling but wrote BBQ in the message.
A Lexington native, Cunningham defended his barbecue bonafides after the tweet got attention.
In a grueling campaign season, with the nation and candidates divided over many topics, no doubt they’ll agree — if asked — that North Carolina barbecue is the nation’s best.
For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Domecast politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it on Megaphone, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.
This story was originally published October 1, 2020 at 10:43 AM with the headline "Tillis, Cunningham debate tonight. Here’s how to watch, even if you don’t get Spectrum."
