Indy mayoral candidates agree to two televised debates

Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett and Republican businessman Jefferson Shreve have agreed to debate on TV twice before Indianapolis residents cast their votes in November’s mayoral election.

The debates will be broadcast on WISH-TV Channel 8 and WXIN-TV Channel 59, respectively. The first, hosted by WISH, will be Oct. 23 at 6 p.m., the station announced. It will be an hour long and shown on both the TV station and its website.

Fox 59 has not yet released a date for its debate.

The agreement, which was announced by the Hogsett campaign and confirmed by Shreve’s campaign, ends a dispute between the candidates that began a week ago.

Shreve accused Hogsett of avoiding a formal debate during the Indy Chamber’s annual political social event, the HobNob on Aug. 30.

During mayoral election years, past HobNob events have featured a traditional debate. Hogsett has previously debated Republican challengers Chuck Brewer and Jim Merritt, respectively, at the event. The format this year instead consisted of 10-minute stump speeches.

At the start of his remarks, Shreve accused Hogsett of requesting the format be changed for the event.

“Until this year, the HobNob was the signature mayoral debate in Indianapolis,” Shreve said. “And this change was made not at my behest—I would love to be standing alongside our mayor—but this is the ground rule that he set for this conversation.”

Shreve campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Erbacher told IBJ at the time that the Hogsett campaign was “slow-walking,” debate deliberations. Several dates had been presented to the Hogsett campaign, she said, but it had not committed to one.

Hogsett campaign manager Blake Hesch told IBJ that any perceived delay in response from the Hogsett campaign was due to discussions about debate formats.

Election Day is Nov. 7.