RICHMOND, Va. — The 2025 People's Debate between gubernatorial candidates Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears and former Rep. Abigail Spanberger has been canceled, AARP Virginia announced on Wednesday.
AARP's announcement said that Earle-Sears' campaign declined the invitation to the debate due to a scheduling conflict. Spanberger's campaign accepted the invitation on her behalf in July.
The debate was scheduled for Sept. 16 at Virginia State University. It would have been produced by CBS 6 and moderated by anchor Bill Fitzgerald.
"We're disappointed that voters won't be able to hear the candidates' plans to rein in the skyrocketing costs of prescription drugs, support family caregivers, and help our state's most vulnerable people by improving the quality of nursing home care," said AARP Virginia State Director Jim Dau.
In a statement to CBS 6, Spanberger's campaign manager Samson Signori said: "Abigail formally accepted the statewide “People’s Debate” more than a month ago with AARP Virginia, Virginia State University, WTVR-Richmond, WJLA-Northern Virginia, and WTKR-Norfolk — confirming her participation for September 16 at Virginia State University. Unfortunately, her opponent just declined to participate in this statewide debate."
The People's Debate, which is the most widely-broadcast television debate in the Commonwealth, has been held for statewide election races since 2006.
Earle-Sears did announce on Wednesday that she accepted an invitation to a debate on CNN.
The network says Spanberger has not yet responded to them.
A Spanberger campaign spokesperson told CBS 6 that no confirmed date, time, nor venue has been shared with them about a proposed debate on CNN.
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