Cruz campaign open to O’Rourke’s request for debate in El Paso

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s campaign is willing to hold a debate in El Paso, after Rep. Beto O’Rourke asked that the city be included.

Last week the Cruz campaign proposed five different dates and locations for the debates:

Aug. 31: Dallas Sept. 14: McAllen Sept. 21: San Antonio Oct. 5: Houston Oct. 12: Lubbock

O’Rourke agreed to the debates but offered suggestions. In a letter O’Rourke sent to Cruz strategist Jeff Roe, he said:

“I would propose adding a sixth debate to be held in El Paso, our state’s sixth largest city and the largest binational community in the hemisphere.”

UTEP Political Science and Communications Professor Richard Pineda said having a debate in El Paso is important for O’Rourke because a lot of his campaign messages center around his experiences of living in a border city.

“The congressman recognizes that bringing the issues that are important to the border, literally to the border, is valuable for the rest of Texas,” Pineda said. “It does help to have a debate like that on home turf. You always want to be able to have your biggest pool of supporters be in that space and build up the debate.”

O’Rourke also suggested that some of the debates be moved from Fridays, because he said many Texans will be occupied, presumably by high school football.

He also asked that the first debate in Dallas be moved to October, so to reach more Texans closer to election day.

Cruz’s campaign responded to O’Rourke’s demands. In a letter written by Roe on June 27, he said:

“As we attempted to make clear, our debate plan isn’t an open negotiation. Rather it is an offer for you to participate in a fair and fruitful debate program across the Lone Star State. However, given that El Paso is your home city, we are certainly open to your suggestion to swap out one of the current five host locations.”

Pineda acknowledged that it’s rare for an incumbent like Cruz to propose holding debates, but he said it’s part of the campaign’s strategy.

“I think Cruz and the Cruz campaign are operating from the assumption that Cruz will do very well in the debates,” Pineda said. “Cruz has always positioned himself as a debater. He was a successful collegiate debater and has carried that affinity forward.”

Chris Evans, O’Rourke’s communications director, tells ABC-7 nothing has been set in stone just yet. Emily Miller with Cruz’s campaign said they had still not received a response from O’Rourke from their last letter sent on June 27th.