Vilsack Announces Slate of Debates, Iowa Congressman King Upset

In May, Iowa Congressman Steve King released a schedule surprising his challenger Christie Vilsack but now King is the one who says he is surprised. The pair are running against each other for Iowa's new 4^th District.

Vilsack, announced on that she has accepted a series of debates/forums with the Congressman set to begin this fall.

Vilsack's campaign said she and King will face off in a total of 10 debates and public forums will take place starting with the first 7 p.m. Sept. 6 on WHO Radio. One of the debates will also be held right here in Ames 7 p.m. Sept. 22.

Then King released a statement Wednesday afternoon stating that King and Vilsack had met privately on June 7 to discuss the debate schedule and had agreed to issue a joint statement on the debates and that Vilsack released the schedule without finalizing all details, according to King.

King for Congress Campaign Manager Jake Ketzner released the following statement on debate negotiations:

“Christie Vilsack’s campaign, which continues to run a negative, misleading smear campaign against Congressman King, today showed their true colors by abandoning good faith debate negotiations after agreeing to announce the debates jointly when details were finalized.

“The King Campaign has agreed to nine debates in principle.

“At this point our campaign continues to work with debate sponsors to finalize details as Congressman King has a strong desire to share his plan to restore our American Dream and make sure 4^th District voters finally learn where Christie Vilsack stands on the issues.”

The list of debates/forums follows below, some of them are not on King's approved list and King has only agreed to debates not forums, his campaign stated.

 4th Congressional District Debate and Forum Schedule

Sept. 6: WHO Radio Debate (7:00 pm, 1040 AM and whoradio.com)

Sept. 8: Clay County Forum (King says it's a debate)

Sept. 17: Franklin County Forum sponsored by the Greater Franklin County Chamber of Commerce (King said it's a debate)

Sept. 22: Ames debate sponsored by the Ames Tribune, Iowa State University, Ames Chamber of Commerce, and League of Women Voters (7:00 pm, Iowa State University)

Sept. 27: Orange City debate sponsored by KTIV-TV and Northwestern College (This time is not on Vilsack's list.)

Oct. 9: Sioux City debate sponsored by the Sioux City Journal and KCAU-TV 

Oct. 23: Fort Dodge Candidate Forum sponsored by the Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance, Iowa Central Community College, the Fort Dodge Messenger, and Three Eagles Communications (7:00 pm, Iowa Central Community College) King said it's a debate.

Oct. 25: Carroll - The Iowa Press Debates: Fourth Congressional District

Oct. 30: Mason City Debate sponsored by Three Eagles Communications, Mason City Globe Gazette and KIMT-TV (7:00 pm, North Iowa Area Community College)

TBD: KCCI / Des Moines Register Debate *

* Debates are not on King's approved list.

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