Excuses, Excuses of Ben Ray Lujan

After weeks of saying he won't attend the October KOB-TV debate with Mark Ronchetti, Rep. Ben Ray Lujan now has a new excuse for ducking it.

According to the Associated Press:

RIO RANCHO, N.M. (AP) — Democratic U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján said Sunday that work on a COVID-19 relief bill and other pressing Congressional business might keep him away from an early October U.S. Senate debate against Republican challenger Mark Ronchetti. 

Luján’s campaign told The Associated Press that his duties in Congress to pass a coronavirus relief package and rescue the U.S. Postal Service may prevent him from joining a scheduled October 5th debate on KOB-TV. 

He has not confirmed that he’ll join the KOB-TV debate. The station said it would still hold the debate with an empty podium for Luján. 

Ronchetti has accused Luján of “hiding” from voters by not accepting debate offers from the other outlets. His campaign said it wasn’t buying Luján’s reasoning about possibly skipping the KOB-TV debate. 

“It’s disappointing that Ben Ray Luján continues to make excuses for ducking debates,” Ronchetti campaign spokesman Jeff Glassburner said. “He’s had no problem coming to New Mexico to film false TV attack ads, but he refuses to commit to debate.”

If a candidate is unwilling to debate the issues with his opponents, he does not deserve to even be considered for the position.

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