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Indiana gubernatorial candidates meet in debates this week, with libertarian partially excluded

Three separate images put together, of Mike Braun, Donald Rainwater and Jennifer McCormick. Braun is a White man with dark, graying hair. He is wearing glasses and holding a microphone. Rainwater is a White man, bald, with a white goatee. He is wearing glasses. McCormick is a White woman with blonde hair.
Brandon Smith
/
IPB News
From left to right, Indiana gubernatorial candidates Mike Braun, the Republican; Libertarian Donald Rainwater; and Democrat Jennifer McCormick. Braun and McCormick will participate in three televised debates, with Rainwater excluded from one of them.

Indiana voters will get the chance to view two gubernatorial debates this week, Wednesday and Thursday evening.

Both of this week’s debates are on commercial television stations. The first, hosted by Fox59-CBS4 in Indianapolis, will only feature Republican Mike Braun and Democrat Jennifer McCormick. Nexstar, which owns the stations, uses a polling requirement for candidates to participate in debates, one it said Libertarian Donald Rainwater has not met.

Rainwater will be on stage alongside Braun and McCormick in the second debate, hosted by Indianapolis station WISH-TV. Both debates will be broadcast around the state on station affiliates.

READ MORE: What do I need on Election Day? The general election is Nov. 5

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The three candidates will meet for a third debate later this month, Oct. 24, hosted by the nonpartisan Indiana Debate Commission.

Members of the public can submit questions for that debate on the commission’s website, IndianaDebateCommission.com.

Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.

Brandon Smith has covered the Statehouse for Indiana Public Broadcasting for more than a decade, spanning three governors and a dozen legislative sessions. He's also the host of Indiana Week in Review, a weekly political and policy discussion program seen and heard across the state. He previously worked at KBIA in Columbia, Missouri and WSPY in Plano, Illinois. His first job in radio was in another state capitol - Jefferson City, Missouri - as a reporter for three stations around the Show-Me State.