Andy Barr knocks Amy McGrath for agreeing to debate only once

In 2010 and 2012, Andy Barr criticized his Democratic opponent for not debating. In 2016, he was criticized by his Democratic opponent for not debating. Now, he’s back to criticizing his latest Democratic opponent, former fighter pilot Amy McGrath, for dodging debates.

“I have committed to at least seven debates and forums, because my constituents need to hear firsthand the enormous differences between me and my opponent,” Barr said in a news release Monday. “Instead of participating in debates in Kentucky, Amy McGrath prefers to spend time with her donors in California, Massachusetts and New York.”

Barr and McGrath have agreed to appear in an Oct. 29 candidate forum on KET, alongside Libertarian Frank Harris, but couldn’t agree to a second televised debate. McGrath accepted a debate on WLEX moderated by Matt Jones and Lee Cruse, but Barr declined. Barr accepted a debate on WKYT, but McGrath has not accepted.

As politics have become more polarized, it has become more common for candidates to refuse to debate at the expense of voters looking for a non-partisan format to hear candidates’ ideas.

Mark Nickolas, McGrath’s campaign manager, said he thinks voters have been able to hear where McGrath stands on the issues. During a competitive primary, McGrath participated in several forums with her fellow Democratic candidates. Barr largely turned down the primary forums.

“Campaigns that complain about debates are campaigns that are about to lose,” Nickolas said.

It’s a stark role-reversal from Barr’s last campaign in Central Kentucky’s Sixth Congressional District. In 2016, Barr agreed to only two appearances with his opponent, Democrat Nancy Jo Kemper, as she repeatedly called on him to debate the issues.

“All his ads are attacks,” Nickolas said. “He’s a coward and now that he’s about to lose he’s trying to score political points. It’s what losing candidates do.”

Nickolas said he reached out to Barr’s campaign manager, Jonathan Van Norman, in June and asked to get together to decide which debates and forums that candidates would accept.

“...rather than simply use the debates as media fodder, I figured I’d reach out and at least offer for the two of us to visit privately to have a conversation about establishing a framework for how to deal with them,” Nickolas said to Van Norman in the email.

Nickolas said he got no response from Van Norman.

When asked about the email, Barr spokeswoman Jodi Whitaker said “this issue is about the people of Kentucky hearing firsthand from the candidates and nothing more.”

Stephen Voss, a political science professor at the University of Kentucky, said candidates have traditionally debated because they were concerned voters would hold them accountable for ignoring debates. Now that’s less of a concern.

“McGrath’s internal polls show that she’s winning,” Voss said. “Usually, the candidate who leads wants to avoid risky circumstances that could give her opponent momentum.”

Voss said candidates who make an issue out of shunned debates are generally trying to paint their opponents as remote and out of touch with voters. Barr has tried to paint McGrath as an outsider throughout the campaign, but the amount of time she’s spent traveling the district makes that difficult, Voss said.

“The idea that voters are going to see her as remote and out of touch are pretty small,” Voss said.