2018 Midterm Elections—General Election U.S. Senate Debates

A total of 61 general election U.S. Senate debates were noted (significantly fewer than the 104 noted in governor's races).  Forty-seven of the 61 (77 percent) occurred in the month of October.  In most races there were either one (14) or two (14) debates. 

		< Sep.	Oct.																															Nov.
			01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
AZ	1																x
CA	1																		x
CT	1																											x
DE	2																		x													o
FL	1			x
HI	1																																	11/1
IN	2									o																						o
ME	4																							r							o	1,2
MD	1								o
MA	3																			x			x									x
MI	2															x	x
MNf	2	8/24																					x
MNs	2																																	11/01r 11/04r
MSf	0
MSs	1																																	11/20
MO	3	9/21o																		x							x
MT	2	9/29													o
NE	1	8/27
NV	1																				x
NJ	1																									x
NM	2													o														o
NY	1																										x
ND	2																			x								x
OH	3															x						x						x
PA	2																					x						x
RI	2										x											x
TN	2	9/25										x
TX	2	9/21																x
UT	1										x
VT	2																														x,o
VA	3	7/21 9/26		x
WA	2									x												x
WV	1																																	11/1
WI	3									x					x						x
WY	1																										x
			M 01	T 02	W 03	T 04	F 05	S 06	S 07	M 08	T 09	W 10	T 11	F 12	S 13	S 14	M 15	T 16	W 17	T 18	F 19	S 20	S 21	M 22	T 23	W 24	T 25	F 26	S 27	S 28	M 29	T 30	W 31
	61	8	-	2	-	-	-	-	1	3	2	1	-	1	2	2	2	1	2	3	2	4	2	1	-	1	3	5	-	-	3	5	-	5

Methodology: Debates were identified by a close reading of news articles on the various races which should have captured all the major debates.  To develop this research further one would want to double check the above information with key staffers from the campaigns, and also see if they would offer insights on their thinking and the debate negotiations.

"o" = debate with more than two candidates.  "r" = radio.

Senate Debates

# Debates	0	1	2	3	4
# Races	1	14	14	5	1

Analysis
The total number of Senate debates identified, 61 in 35 races, was significantly less that the 104 debates identified in the 36 gubernatorial races (indeed the difference was so great that I re-surveyed the Senate races to make sure I hadn't missed any!)  A key explanation can be found in the fact that in the 35 Senate races, 31 incumbent Senators were seeking re-election (+), and thus were in a strong position to dictate debate terms.  By comparison in the 36 governor races, only 19 incumbents were competing in the general election (+).

Negotiations on the number, timing and rules of debates usually involves a lot of back and forth.  Challengers often seek many debates, sometimes as many as ten.  Yet for an incumbent in a strong position there may be little advantage to participating in debates.  There is inherent pressure that, in terms of the functioning of our democracy, there should be at least one or two debates, but some candidates will not engage. In Mississippi, Sen. Roger Wicker (R) refused any debates with his Democratic challenger; he was the only Senate candidate to do so.  In 14 states there was just one debate.  In Minnesota, Sen. Tina Smith (DFL) did two radio debates late in the campaign, but none on television. 

Sometimes debates that the campaigns have agreed upon do not happen.  In Florida, for example, a second debate between Scott and Nelson was postponed and then cancelled following Hurricane Michael.  In North Dakota three debates were planned between Heitkamp and Cramer but the first, scheduled for Oct. 5 in Fargo, was canceled due to the vote on the Kavanaugh nomination.  Likewise in Texas, the Cruz and O'Rourke campaigns agreed to three debates, but the second one did not happen due to the Kavanaugh hearings.  In Montana the second debate, originally scheduled for Oct. 6, was not cancelled but was rescheduled to Oct. 13, again due to the Kavanaugh vote.

In terms of timing, late primaries are a consideration; four states had primaries in September.  The start of early voting is another factor, some of these debates occur after people have voted.  Campaigns usually avoid scheduling debates too close to Election Day.

Rules and formats vary considerably; some enforce strict time limits such as one-minute or ninety-second responses and others are more open.  The setting, whether in a studio or before a live audience, is very important.  Choice of moderator can be important as well.

Televised debates attract most of the attention because of the audience they can draw, but debates may be broadcast only on public access TV, radio or livestreamed.  From the point of view of educating voters, these events have no less merit.  Additionally there are candidate forums, where, for example, the candidates may appear on stage at the same time but be given the questions in advance or engage in more of a moderated conversation. 

Third party and independent candidates had a hard time getting on the stage as they usually do not meet a threshhold of support.  Public broadcasters are more likely to include these candidates than commercial broadcasters.  Only ten of the 61 debates noted had more than two candidates on the stage.