The Primary Election Campaign between Congressman John Shimkus and challenger, State Senator Kyle McCarter, had some back and forth on Tuesday over debates. To start off, Senator McCarter’s campaign put out a release challenging Shimkus to Town Hall debates across the 15th District. McCarter says this is what the voters need to see and even put out some audio to that fact.
Senator McCarter even had a schedule of events, one being a Town Hall debate tonight at 7 pm at the Danville American Legion, the next one being at the Effingham VFW on Monday at 7 pm. And, then the one actually scheduled debate—which is to be held here at the WKRV-WPMB Studios, and is an in studio debate, on March 12th at noon.
Later in the day, the Shimkus campaign responded to the scheduled Town Hall Debates. Kayleen Carlson, the campaign manager for Congressman John Shimkus’ re-election, said in a statement:
“Our campaign was never contacted by the McCarter campaign to schedule these town halls. Congressman Shimkus is in Washington working on behalf of the families of the 15th Congressional District. For Senator McCarter and his campaign to suggest that we were notified and engaged in scheduling these town halls is misleading and an outright lie. The Congressman looks forward to discussing the issues in the agreed upon debate on March 12th.”
McCarter did add that the Town Halls tonight in Danville and on Monday in Effingham will be held regardless of Congressman Shimkus’ availability. Again, the only scheduled and agreed upon debate between the two is an in studio debate to be held on Saturday, March 12th at noon at the WKRV-WPMB studios and is sponsored by the Cromwell Media Group and the Vandalia Chamber of Commerce.