Two of 3 NC Senate Republican candidates agree to debate. Here’s what to expect.

In a sign of the campaign season gearing up, two of the top three Republican candidates for North Carolina’s U.S. Senate race have agreed to a debate this fall.

The debate, proposed by former governor and Charlotte mayor Pat McCrory, would be one of three, if the candidates are successful in organizing. Former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker agreed to take the stage with McCrory, saying on Facebook: “Thought you’d never ask.”

An advisor to Rep. Ted Budd’s campaign said in a statement, “It’s a bit early in the process for that discussion just yet.” Budd hasn’t committed to participating in a debate before the Republican primary. He said that Budd was currently focused on meeting voters and asking for their support.

The primary is currently scheduled for March 2022.

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Where the candidates differ

“All North Carolinians who plan to vote in the Republican primary deserve a chance to see the major candidates for their party’s US Senate nomination debate the issues in a public, easily-viewed forum,” McCrory said last week, in a press release announcing the debate. He added that all primary voters “need to be exposed to the candidates’ records, accomplishments, plans for the future, and their pathway to victory in the general election.”

Carter Wrenn, a Republican political operative and former campaign aide to Sen. Jesse Helms, said the candidates have yet to really focus on how they differ from each other on ideological grounds, though that should begin surfacing throughout the summer and fall. The debate, he said, is where many primary voters will be looking to find those differences.

About half of voters in Republican primaries describe themselves as “very conservative,” Wrenn said, “and a lot of the very conservatives are going to be looking at who is the most conservative candidate.”

Budd and Walker will likely both aim to claim this spot. Budd, with the endorsement of former President Donald Trump, will be able to lean on that as evidence. Wrenn said both of these candidates might try and paint McCrory as the less conservative of the trio.

Among the issues most interesting to conservative voters are the economy and government spending — particularly in the wake of COVID-19 and the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion relief package — as well as cultural issues; relations with China and Russia; immigration; and “the swamp,” a term used to describe corruption and insider-dealings in Washington. (Each of the three leading candidates has pitched themselves as a political outsider.)

A poll by FiveThirtyEight last year found that the economy, crime and immigration were the three issues deemed most important by people who supported Trump.

Perhaps most importantly, the debate — if Budd joins the other two candidates — will give voters their first glimpse at how the candidates interact with each other in real time.

“Their wits, their combativeness, their intensity of belief,” will all be on display, Wrenn said, along with how they respond to pressure. “The best thing about a debate is it’s unscripted.”

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