Cruz and Sadler To Debate At KERA

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ted Cruz and Democratic candidate Paul Sadler have both accepted a KERA invitation to debate.

The live, televised event will be part of KERA’s long-standing Texas Debates project and will air Friday, October 19 at 7:00 p.m.

The Cruz-Sadler debate will be made available to all television and radio stations across the state.  It will also be available via the Internet.   Debate partner Univision will provide a Spanish-language translation.

Cruz is the former Texas Solicitor General from Houston who upset Lt. Governor David Dewhurst to win the GOP Senate nomination.  Sadler is a former state representative and lawyer in Henderson.  He defeated retired educator Grady Yarbrough in a runoff election to win the Democratic nomination.

Green Party candidate David Collins and Libertarian candidate John Jay Myers are also on the Senate ballot.  KERA is evaluating their campaigns to determine whether they meet guidelines for inclusion in the debate.

The winner November 6 will take the seat of Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who is retiring from Congress.  

KERA considers a variety of established criteria when determining candidate participation in the Texas Debates.  We review the candidates' campaign activities and nonpartisan polling data.  We also look at efforts to generate public interest and campaign funding.  Then we make a viewpoint neutral editorial judgment of the candidates’ newsworthiness.   Take a look at our Texas Debates Guidelines.