6th District Race: Planned Republican Debates Unveil GOP Discord

EAST COBB, GA -- A trio of debates sponsored by the 6th Congressional District GOP is drawing criticism from some Republican candidates who feel they will be excluded.

While 11 Republicans are in the race, the series of forums, which begin Sunday, will invite only five of them to debate each other -- something that obviously isn't sitting well with the others.

"In their infinite wisdom, they've decided that five of the 11 candidates should be in those debates," Republican candidate and Roswell businessman Kurt Wilson says in an online ad. "What's interesting is they're saying that the debates are going to be determined by who's leading in the polls. But they won't tell you what polls, they won't tell you when the polls are determined ... this is outrageous," he said.

Wilson along with candidates Keith Grawert and Amy Kremer sent a news release saying that whittling the debate down to only five candidates was unfair to the Republican field who has "campaigned tirelessly in a short period of time."

“Since this is a special election, there is no primary cycle to narrow the field of candidates from eleven. Therefore, the GOP’s failure to include each qualified candidate robs voters of the chance to make a properly informed decision and works to further discredit the GOP in a time when the Republican Party already faces much backlash and discontent from both voters and members of the party itself,” the candidates said, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The 6th District GOP says they want candidates who are doing well in “publicly documented, credible polls,” which is pretty vague.

Read more: Here are the 18 candidates in the 6th District race

In a survey last week, Republican pollster zpolitics/Clout Research found that Democrat Jon Ossoff had increased his lead to 41 percent while former Republican Secretary of State Karen Handel and former Johns Creek City Councilman Bob Gray were locked in a dead heat at 16 percent.

The first debate will be Sunday at 6 p.m. at Indian Hills Country Club in East Cobb. The second one will be April 2 in Dunwoody, followed by an April 9 debate in Alpharetta.

"Admission is FREE and open to all Republicans, Independents, and Democrats interested in hearing our leading candidates’ positions on the issues," the invitation says.

Image via Youtube / Kurt For Congress