Final Gubernatorial Debate Looms in Dallas
SMU Political Science Professor Cal Jillson talks about the race for Texas governor between Democrat Wendy Davis and Republican Greg Abbott.
By Jay Root
Democrat Wendy Davis has one more chance to share a debate stage with the Republican front-runner in the race for Texas governor, and if the recent past is any guide, she’ll use most of her hour in Dallas to crank up the heat on Attorney General Greg Abbott.
The debate, which gets under way at 8 p.m. Tuesday, is the second of two televised encounters. At the last debate, held Sept. 19 in Edinburg, Davis issued one attack after another on Abbott, who mostly ignored her accusations and stuck to his rehearsed lines . . .
KERA is co-producing the debate with NBC 5, KXAS-TV, Telemundo 39 and The Dallas Morning News.
Viewers can watch or listen to the debate across the state; C-SPAN will also cover the debate live, and The Texas Tribune will be livestreaming it. A list of TV and radio stations carrying the one-hour exchange can be found by consulting texasdebates.org, which has more information about the debate.
Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University, said the debate gives Davis one of her last opportunities to change the dynamics of a race that still leans heavily in Abbott’s favor.
“She needs to land telling blows in a number of issue areas to have Abbott against the wall,” Jillson said. “She’s never been able to do that in the course of this campaign.”
# # #