September 14, 2022
While the establishment candidates Ted Budd (R) and Cheri Beasley (D) trade barbs over which candidate is more averse to a televised debate, Green Party candidate Matt Hoh is demanding an open debate with Beasley and Budd including both him and Libertarian candidate Shannon Bray, to allow voters to hear from all the candidates on the ballot so that they can make an informed decision about whom they vote for in November. After a public battle against the Democratic Party’s attempts to keep the Green Party off the ballot that concluded when U.S. Federal Judge James Dever ordered the North Carolina Green Party and its candidate for U.S. Senate on the 2022 ballot, Mr. Hoh took his spot as the only candidate in the race prioritizing the needs of working people over corporate greed and profits.
Says Hoh, “If I am not included in the debates, North Carolina voters will not be given the opportunity to hear someone speak in support of Medicare for All, affordable housing as a right, annually adjusted living wages, universal pre-k through higher education, a Green New Deal, and ending the war on drugs. These are not only issues that have majority public opinion support but are true life-or-death issues for North Carolinians and their families.
To have a debate for US Senate, and to not include a ballot-qualified candidate who is willing to speak without having to appease big-money donors, about issues that are of critical concern to North Carolina, our country, and our planet, would be a miscarriage of democracy.
Both Shannon Bray and I are on the ballot for US Senate and any institution sponsoring a supposed “debate” that locks us out would be complicit in perpetuating the ruinous two party system that is so corrupt, harmful, and undemocratic that over 60% of U.S. adults now say we need a new party. What are the Democrats and Republicans afraid that voters will hear if we are allowed to participate?”
Our message is clear: let Matt Hoh debate, and let the voters decide.