Mountain Gateway Community College and the Alleghany Highland Chamber of Commerce have extended invitations to Ben Cline and Beth Macy for a Community Conversation that would be held on Wednesday, Oct. 14, at the Historic Masonic Theatre in Clifton Forge.
Macy confirmed, in a release from her campaign on Friday, that she has accepted the invite.
We haven’t heard from Cline about his interest in participating, though we can presume that he would be eager to do so, given his recent messaging on the topic of debates.
From the archives
- Coverage of the Sixth District congressional race: click here.
On Tuesday, the Cline campaign sent an email to supporters to reinforce his claim that Macy had skipped out on three “debates” that his campaign had committed to, though the final of those, to be hosted by the Harrisonburg Rotary Club on Oct. 5, was actually canceled by the Rotary Club.
The club cited its internal “Four-Way Test,” which it says includes “asking whether what we do will build goodwill and better friendships,” and said its board determined that “cancelling the forum is the most responsible way to honor those principles and preserve the Club’s nonpartisan role in our community.”
Anyway.
The first of the “debates” was a forum held by a MAGA business group in Frederick County; the second was a quick lunch event with the Salem Rotary Club that Cline’s folks didn’t run by Macy’s schedulers.
Cline was quoted in the campaign email saying that Macy “asked for the fight and then left the chair empty. I will not.”
So, ball in his court, with this Oct. 14 thing in Clifton Forge.
“I greatly look forward to the opportunity to meet with the Clifton Forge community once again and hear what is on their minds as Nov. 3 approaches,” Macy said, per her campaign’s news release. “This is the most important election of our generation, and Sixth District constituents deserve a chance to talk directly with all of the candidates.”
Dr. John Rainone, president of Mountain Gateway Community College, will serve as the moderator for the Oct. 14 Clifton Forge event, which is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
The big thing to me: that this debate is made available for people across the district to view online, that night and thereafter.
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Chris Graham
