McConnell wants a Lincoln-Douglas-style debate with his Democratic challenger.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/19/us/elections/mcconnell-wants-a-lincoln-douglas-style-debate-with-his-democratic-challenger.html

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Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, challenged Amy McGrath, his Democratic opponent, to a single Lincoln-Douglas-style debate in the coming weeks as he seeks to hold off her attempt to unseat him in one of the most closely watched Senate races this fall.

“This would be a debate just between the two of us,” Mr. McConnell wrote in a letter to Ms. McGrath on Wednesday. “No notes at the table, no props and no audience. Kentuckians deserve clear answers from each of us on the issues that matter most, and this is the best format to deliver those answers.”

Mr. McConnell noted that the session would have to be socially distanced and suggested the candidates agree on a neutral timekeeper and a local television station to broadcast the debate. But the terms — no moderator asking the candidates questions and just a single meeting — appeared conceived to give advantage to Mr. McConnell, a seasoned senator who has represented his state since 1985.

Most major campaign debates in recent years feature moderators — usually journalists — who ask a rapid-fire series of questions on a wide range of topics and allow opportunities for only brief rebuttals.

Inspired by a series of debates in 1858 between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas as the two men sought a United States Senate seat representing Illinois, the format suggested by Mr. McConnell leaves it to the candidates to more freely lay out their visions for policy and governing and then engage the arguments of their opponent more directly and at length.

Ms. McGrath, a former Marine fighter pilot who narrowly lost a Kentucky congressional seat in 2018, did not immediately reply to his offer.

She faces long odds in trying to defeat Mr. McConnell, one of the most powerful Republicans in the country in a state Mr. Trump won by about 30 points in 2016. But Democrats have poured tens of millions of dollars into her campaign hoping to at least make the majority leader sweat, and public polling has showed the race may be tighter than previous challenges to Mr. McConnell.