ELECTION 2020: Candidates For Indiana Governor to Take the Debate Stage Tonight at 7 P.M.

WITZ RADIO NEWS IS AN AFFILIATE OF NETWORK INDIANA

ON-AIR: 104.7 fm WITZ will broadcast the debate live on-air beginning at 7 p.m. eastern.  We will also have a live video stream on our WITZ Facebook page and here on witzamfm.com.

SOUTH BEND -- The first of two debates among the candidates for governor is Tuesday -- but the candidates may never see each other in person.

Republican Governor Eric Holcomb, Democrat Woody Myers and Libertarian Don Rainwater will all be at the Indianapolis headquarters of Indiana Public Broadcasting, but they'll be in three different studios, with the moderator, Purdue Fort Wayne political science professor Andy Downs, in a fourth.

The campaigns and the Indiana Debate Commission spent Friday in discussions after Myers called for all three candidates to take a coronavirus test the day before the debates. The commission says it can't order anyone to take a test. And I-U South Bend political science professor Elizabeth Bennion, the commission's president, says testing would have created new issues. With the time lag before the virus shows up on a test, she says a negative test wouldn't guarantee a candidate wasn't infectious. And Bennion says if a candidate did test positive, it would create new last-minute uncertainty.

Bennion says the candidates' arrival times will be staggered to further reduce contact.

Holcomb tested negative last week after state health commissioner Kristina Box announced she and two family members had contracted the virus.

Bennion says all three campaigns agreed to the new format. She says next week's second debate will run the same way.

The Debate Commission already had other coronavirus precautions in place. There will be no studio audience -- the only people in the studios besides Downs and the candidates will be the production crew, timekeepers, and a single pool photographer.

In addition to airing the debate live at 7 tonight on WITZ, we will also have a video stream on our website, and on our Facebook page.