Spanberger pushes back against effort to have right-wing radio guy as debate moderator

The Abigail Spanberger campaign is fired up about the effort she says was initiated by her Republican challenger to have a right-wing radio host serve as a co-moderator of an upcoming Seventh District congressional debate.

Larry O’Connor, who hosts a radio show on WMAL in Baltimore, is a columnist for the right-wing website TownHall and is a guest host for the syndicated radio show of the neo-Trumpist Mark Levin, was announced on Thursday as a co-moderator of the Oct. 21 Prince William Committee of 100/League of Women Voters debate with PBS News correspondent Lisa DeJardins.

Vega, as it turns out, had appeared on O’Connor’s radio show on Tuesday, and O’Connor, in the segment, spoke negatively about Spanberger, the incumbent Democrat in the Seventh District.

In a statement, the campaign of Spanberger, who is running for a third term representing the Seventh District, said Vega’s campaign “knows she cannot be trusted to speak candidly in front of legitimate members of the press and voters, because she cannot defend her extreme positions,” and pushed O’Connor, “a right-wing radio host known for spreading lies, hyper-partisan vitriol, and hatred against Democrats,” as a “last-ditch effort to protect their candidate.”

“Yesli Vega does not want to debate; she wants a show, and she wants to be on stage with someone who has called Democrats ‘monsters’ and implored readers of his blog ‘you must wreak revenge. You must punish them [Democrats]. You must… make them [Democrats] pay.’ Virginia voters deserve better.

“Abigail has been clear: she wants to debate the issues, just as she has in her prior two campaigns. She is disappointed that her opponent has backed out of multiple debates and forums, tried to tip the scales in her direction, and attempted to turn a nonpartisan community event into a political game. Virginians deserve a good-faith debate on the issues impacting their lives, not political theater.”

O’Connor posted a statement on Twitter defending his impartiality, oddly, by noting on Twitter his participation in “the 2016 GOP Presidential primary debates in New Hampshire, the 2021 GOP gubernatorial primary debates in VA and the 2022 GOP debates in #VA10.”

“My track record as a fair, balanced and informed moderator stands for itself,” he wrote, apparently oblivious to the reality that his record as a “fair, balanced and informed moderator” is entirely on one side of the political aisle.

Later in the statement, O’Connor wrote that he “will not stand in the way of the people of #VA7 from seeing their candidates debate for this important congressional seat. If my presence is an impediment to the people being informed, I will withdraw from this debate.”

And then, unwittingly confirming why Spanberger had pushed back against his inclusion in the debate as a co-moderator, O’Connor concluded his statement with this: “@RepSpanberger has used her position to disparage me and my career. She has called me a liar. I demand she retract those lies or, at the very least, agree to a one-on-one interview so she can repeat them to my face. You’re a member of (C)ongress, start acting like one.”