ATLANTA — Sen. Raphael Warnock and his Republican challenger Herschel Walker on Wednesday morning renewed their dueling challenges about where and when to debate, without appearing to be any closer to actually setting a hard date.
With Election Day roughly two months out, there remains no confirmed date or place for when Warnock and Walker might engage in a debate.
Warnock's side has said the Democratic senator has already agreed to three independently scheduled debates in Savannah, Macon and Atlanta - while Walker's side, demanding an "equitable format and unbiased moderator," has declined to agree to any of those three events.
Walker instead made headlines last month by proposing an Oct. 14 debate in Savannah during an appearance on Sean Hannity's Fox News program. His proposal would have WSAV, a Nexstar-owned NBC affiliate in Savannah, host the debate instead of the Gray Television-owned CBS affiliate WTOC - which invited both candidates to an October debate that only Warnock agreed to.
Wednesday morning, Walker reiterated his call for a Savannah debate on Oct. 14.
"Let’s lock down Savannah Oct 14th, Senator. I don’t care what the topics are. It’s a fair debate. Open to the public. Televised statewide. And it’s not run by your donors. You in? Let’s do this for the people," the Republican tweeted.
Warnock responded that he would agree to Walker's proposed Savannah debate - if Walker in turn would agree to either of the independently scheduled debates that would take place in Macon or Atlanta.
The Republican has already turned down an invitation from 11Alive's Macon sister station, WMAZ, for a debate that would have taken place on Oct. 13 at Mercer University. The Atlanta debate would be hosted by the Atlanta Press Club, ostensibly on Oct. 16.
"Tell you what Herschel Walker, how about this: I’ll agree to your debate if you also agree to either of the debates in Atlanta or Macon. You can pick which one. No topics provided ahead of time. I’m ready. Are you?" Warnock tweeted.
Walker had once previously signaled a willingness to attend the Atlanta debate, but his campaign spokeswoman Mallory Blount later walked that back, saying any debate he would agree to "must have a fair and equitable format and unbiased moderator," according to The New York Times.
Asked specifically last month why he wants to do the Savannah debate with WSAV instead of the independently scheduled debate with WTOC, Walker echoed his campaign spokeswoman's comments about wanting it to be "fair and equitable."
"Debate, debate, debate - what I'm doing is campaigning. There's been a debate, that I wanna make it fair and equitable for both sides, which is the fairest debate that you could ever have, and he knows," Walker said.
On Wednesday, Warnock followed up with a tweet saying: "Enough with the games, Herschel Walker. Let's debate."