得克萨斯州州长候选人吉娜·希诺霍萨（民主党）周四在该州州长官邸前的空讲台旁发表讲话，此前州长格雷格·阿博特（共和党）未接受她的辩论邀请。阿博特未出席活动后，希诺霍萨说：“我看州长是爽约了，这并不奇怪，因为他多年来一直对得克萨斯州民众爽约。”这位民主党候选人指责州长封锁了行政官邸前的街道，她原本计划在那里举办辩论。
Texas gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa (D) spoke next to an empty lectern in front of the state’s governor’s mansion on Thursday after Gov. Greg Abbott (R) did not accept her debate invitation. “I guess the governor is a no show, which is not surprising because he has been a no show for Texans for years,” Hinojosa said after Abbott did not appear at the event. The Democratic nominee accused the governor of shutting down the street in front of the executive residence where she originally planned to host the debate.
“如果格雷格·阿博特没有勇气和我辩论，那他就不配当得克萨斯州州长，”希诺霍萨对人群说。得克萨斯州民主党发言人雅各布·朗周四下午在一份声明中抨击这位共和党州长拒绝与民主党挑战者辩论。“这场竞选的对比再明显不过了，”朗说。“吉娜·希诺霍萨正在全州奔走，举办了150多场公开活动，并直接与数千名选民在家中和社区会面。似乎只有亿万富翁捐款人能接触到格雷格·阿博特，他们正在往他腰包里塞钱。”
“If Greg Abbott’s not man enough to debate me then he doesn’t deserve to be the governor of Texas,” Hinojosa told the crowd. Texas Democratic Party spokesperson Jacob Long slammed the Republican governor for his refusal to debate the Democratic challenger in a statement on Thursday afternoon. “The contrast in this race could not be more clear,” Long said. “Gina Hinojosa is traveling the state, hosting more than 150 public events and meeting directly with thousands of voters in their homes and in their communities. The only people who seem to have access to Greg Abbott are the billionaire donors lining his pockets.”
周四活动期间，根据当地福克斯7台记者在网上分享的一段视频片段，独立州长候选人珍·麦克走上舞台，站在第二个讲台后面。“你们来辩论阿博特的记录，而我来辩论你们两人的记录，”麦克说，引来人群的大声嘘声。后来，一名警官和另一名男子将麦克从讲台处护送离开。阿博特的竞选团队在社交媒体帖子中批评了这一时刻，分享了麦克被从舞台上带走的视频。
At one point during the Thursday event, independent gubernatorial candidate Jenn Mack took the stage and stood behind the second lectern, according to a video clip shared online by a local Fox7 reporter. “You came to debate Abbott on his record, and I came to debate both of you on your record,” Mack said, eliciting loud boos from the crowd. Mack was later escorted away from the podium by an officer and another man. Abbott’s campaign criticized this moment in a social media post, sharing a video of Mack’s removal from the stage.
“对一位前来辩论的候选人所表现出的厌女情绪，证明吉娜·希诺霍萨有多么不真诚和虚伪，”竞选团队在一份声明中说。
“The misogyny shown toward a candidate who came to debate proves how insincere and hypocritical Gina Hinojosa is,” the campaign said in a statement.
此外，该共和党人的连任竞选团队指责该活动并非“真诚的辩论尝试”，并指出空置的讲台——一座仅可通过楼梯到达的站立式讲台——对使用轮椅的阿博特来说无法进入。在向《国会山报》发表的声明中，希诺萨竞选团队发言人汤米·库比切克表示，这位民主党候选人已同意与四家新闻机构进行辩论，而她的共和党对手尚未接受任何辩论邀请。
Additionally, the Republican’s reelection campaign accused the event of not being a “sincere attempt to debate,” pointing to the fact that the empty lectern — a standing podium only reachable by stairs — was inaccessible to Abbott, who uses a wheelchair. In a statement to The Hill, Hinojosa's campaign spokesperson Tommy Kubitschek noted that the Democratic candidate has agreed to four other debates with news outlets, while her Republican candidate has accepted no debate invitations.
库比切克说，希诺萨的竞选团队给了阿博特一周时间，接受在州长府外举行的周四辩论挑战，但未收到其竞选团队的回复。“这是一次完全真诚的尝试，旨在让德克萨斯人听取两种关于州未来的不同计划，阿博特已经拥有候选人所能期望的每一次机会，以诚意进行讨论，”他说。周四在泰勒市的一次竞选活动中，阿博特为自己不与民主党挑战者辩护的决定进行了辩护。
Kubitschek said Hinojosa's campaign gave Abbott a week to accept Thursday's debate challenge outside of the governor's mansion but received no response from his campaign. "This was an entirely sincere attempt to allow Texans to hear two different plans for the state's future, and Abbott has had every opportunity a candidate could hope for to engage in good faith discussion," he said. During a campaign stop in Tyler on Thursday, Abbott defended his decision not to debate his Democratic challenger.
“州长能做的最重要的事情就是出现在社区中，”这位共和党人说，据《休斯顿纪事报》报道。“选民想看到和听到的，就是他们想在自己的社区中看到州长。他们希望有机会向州长提问。”另一位德克萨斯州候选人，民主党参议院候选人詹姆斯·塔拉里科，也同样面临着让他的对手、德克萨斯州总检察长肯·帕克斯顿（共和党人）与他同台辩论的障碍。
"The most important thing that a governor can do is to show up in communities," the Republican said, according to the Houston Chronicle. "What voters want to see and hear, they want to see their governor in their community. They want to have the ability to ask their governor questions." Another Texas candidate, Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico, has similarly faced barriers to getting his opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), to meet him on the debate stage.
周三晚上，塔拉里科在德克萨斯州沃斯堡参加了一场由CNN和Jubilee主办的市政厅会议。CNN表示，他们向帕克斯顿提出了类似的邀请，但尚未收到这位共和党人竞选团队的回复。德克萨斯州州长选举的民调显示，塔拉里科和希诺萨都与各自的共和党对手陷入了激烈的竞争。阿博特正在竞选连任第四任德克萨斯州州长。
On Wednesday evening, Talarico participated in a town hall in Fort Worth, Texas, hosted by CNN and Jubilee. CNN said they extended a similar offer to Paxton but had not heard back from the Republican’s campaign. Polling in the Texas gubernatorial race shows both Talarico and Hinojosa locked in competitive races against their Republican opponents. Abbott is running for a fourth term in the Texas governor’s mansion.
周三发布的一项马里斯特大学（Marist University）民意调查显示，在德克萨斯州的潜在选民中，阿博特（Abbott）以4个百分点的优势领先——这一领先优势仍在该调查的误差范围内。在同一项调查中，47%的受访者支持塔拉里科（Talarico），而在美国参议院选举中，45%的受访者支持帕克斯顿（Paxton）。
A Marist University poll released Wednesday, showed Abbott with a 4-point advantage among likely Texas voters — a lead that fell within the survey’s margin of error. In the same poll, 47 percent of respondents backed Talarico, while 45 percent supported Paxton in the U.S. Senate contest.