Democratic candidates are asking a local organization to reconsider their recent decision to scale back an all-day forum after a majority of invited Republican candidates failed to sign up for the event.
Futuro RGV originally planned to host Futuro Fest which was an all-day forum featuring Democratic and Republican candidates in as many as 12 races, but only three Republicans responded. Two Democrats also failed to respond, but as a result the forum was scaled down to host only three of the 12 forums.
“We think it’s a serious mistake for these organizations to penalize the Democratic candidates who are willing to face the public and answer tough questions just because the Hidalgo County Republicans want to avoid them,” Hidalgo County Democratic Party Chair Richard Gonzales said in a statement Thursday.
Gonzales pointed out that no local candidates replied to Futuro RGV’s invitation, only Republicans for state races.
Nedra Kinerk, president of Futuro RGV, previously expressed dissatisfaction in the lackluster response.
“How can the voters determine how they want to vote if they are not able to hear the candidates discuss the issues that pertain to our communities, to our RGV, and to our families,” Kinerk told The Monitor on Tuesday. “My personal opinion is that it’s a threat to democracy when the candidates are not available to present their issues.”
Kinerk believes some candidates prefer to wage their campaigns online, but she believes it doesn’t help undecided voters.
“If they do everything online, on social media, yes, that gets a lot of information out, but that only gets information out to the ones who agree with you. It does not help people who might be wondering which way they want to vote,” Kinerk said Friday.
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While Kinerk did not speculate why Republican candidates did not respond to the forum invitation, Gonzales did.
“Gonzales speculated that the Republicans do not want to answer for their party’s failure to enact sensible gun laws, better healthcare for women and families, adequate funding for public school safety and teacher salaries, and infrastructure improvements in the Valley,” Gonzales’ statement read.
The Monitor asked Hidalgo County Republican Party Chair Adrienne Peña-Garza if they encouraged candidates to participate or whether Futuro Fest’s schedule was inconvenient for some of the candidates.
Peña-Garza replied that it’s up to the campaigns to decide to attend forums.
“The GOP’s role is the primary. Candidates and, ultimately, voters decide what they believe is best for the general election,” the party chairwoman said.
Republican candidates for District 34 participated in Futuro RGV’s primary forum in January, and some candidates like U.S. Rep. Mayra Flores agreed to debate U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez in an upcoming debate but in a different venue.
The Democratic nominee for Texas’s 15th congressional district, Michelle Vallejo also criticized her opponent, Republican nominee Monica De La Cruz on Friday for not accepting the forum invitation and noted that De La Cruz has previously advocated for debates.
“By declining to meet me on the debate stage, Monica De La Cruz is sending a clear message that she knows her views are too extreme for Texas’s 15th Congressional District,” Vallejo said via Friday’s statement.
Vallejo went on to characterize the failure to respond as “an insult to South Texas voters,” and said she hopes her “radical far-right opponent” is “brave enough to join me on stage.”
Gonzales concluded his statement by saying their candidates are “ready, willing and able” to participate in the forums.
“We don’t think that it’s fair that the other side can sabotage the public’s right to be informed,” Gonzales added.
On Friday, in response to the Hidalgo County Democratic Party’s request, Kinerk said they may consider one-party forums.
“We would consider all alternatives, and that would be one alternative,” she said. “If we were to do that, we would try very hard to find some way to accommodate the other party in a way that they could get their message across. But at this point in time, we don’t have a solution for that. We will be working on it, though.”
The forum is scheduled to move forward with three races on Sept. 17. Futuro RGV will be livestreaming the event on their Facebook page starting at 9:30 a.m.
“At this point in time,” Kinerk assured, “we intend to do the best job we possibly can with the six candidates who did respond and make an effort to work with us.”
