Ten days ago, it wasn't looking like Vic Mellor and Dr. Stephen Skoly would meet for a debate ahead of the Sept. 9 Republican primary in Rhode Island's 2nd Congressional District.
It turns out the pair of Republican candidates — both vying to face Democratic U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner on the ballot for the November general election — will meet for a televised debate after all.
NBC 10 WJAR plans to host a primary debate between the two candidates on Friday, Sept. 4, the station's Assistant News Director Dan Paquet confirmed.
The debate will be taped at WJAR's Cranston studio that afternoon and is set to air over the weekend twice: first on Saturday, Sept. 5, at 5:30 a.m., and again on Sunday, Sept. 6 at noon.
Mellor declines 'stunt' RI GOP debate with Skoly in CD2 primary
Paquet told Rhode Island Current in an email that the debate was organized by the TV station as part of its primary election planning process, rather than at the request of the campaigns.
Mellor spokesperson Jen Nerbonne confirmed to Rhode Island Current that Mellor will participate.
"WJAR reached out to invite Vic to the debate, and he happily accepted," Nerbonne said.
Mia Iannotti, a spokesperson for the Skoly campaign, confirmed Friday that Skoly, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon from East Greenwich who won the Rhode Island GOP endorsement in June, will participate.
The Sept. 4 debate will happen more than two weeks after early voting began Thursday.
Skoly had wanted to debate Mellor before early voting began. Skoly shared his stated terms for a state GOP-hosted debate online on Aug. 10.
Skoly accepted the invitation on Aug. 4, the same day invites went out, but Mellor ultimately declined about a week later.
Mellor, who withdrew from consideration of the GOP's endorsement in June, objected to the state Republican outfit hosting the debate.
"I'm not participating in a Facebook event managed by the same people who already endorsed my opponent and have been attacking me," Mellor said in an Aug. 12 statement. "I will debate Dr. Skoly on Channel 10, Channel 6, Channel 12 — any real television station with an actual audience of Rhode Island voters."
Mellor additionally countered that Skoly had refused a debate in June hosted by the West Warwick Republican Town Committee.
"It was a bar, a small bar in West Warwick, hosted by a committee that was working against the Republican Party, and I'm like, 'no,'" Skoly said in an interview before a campaign event Tuesday outside Marasco's in Cranston.
He told supporters Tuesday night that the June 9 event was advertised at first as a meet-and-greet but later transformed into a debate proper, which he found disingenuous and lacking in transparency.
"Nobody had attained a position on the ballot, and it was not in the position of one of the local Republican parties to hold the first statewide Republican debate," Skoly said on the mic. "That was going to be up to the party."
The candidate was firm on Tuesday that he was still up for a match.
"If somebody can work out an appropriate debate, I would still debate him," Skoly said.
Skoly said that he had entered the race with "the Hippocratic oath" in mind, and at first sought to do no harm to his primary opponent.
But Skoly stressed that "the voters and the constituents, they need to know who has the best chance. If they really want change, they need to know who has the best chance to take on the Democratic ideology here."
"I think if we can't get by the primary, this candidate [Mellor] will get destroyed in a general election," Skoly told the approximately 50 supporters gathered Tuesday night for his town hall event.
Mellor's campaign, as well as his biography, have drawn scrutiny both in and outside the Republican party. An Aug. 17 Providence Journal article detailing Mellor's campaign financing — prompted in part by a recent series of sleuthing tweets from former GOP gubernatorial candidate Ashley Kalus — raised questions about the source of more than $2 million Mellor reported loaning his campaign.
Rhode Island Current submitted questions about campaign finances to Mellor, which acknowledged the inquiry and said it was still working on responses.
Accounting specifics aside, Mellor enters the final weeks of the primary with more cash at his disposal. His campaign reported $1.44 million on hand as of June 30, compared with about $52,700 for Skoly.
Also in June, Mellor reported nearly $2.9 million total receipts through June, with most of it coming from his own contributions and loans to the campaign.
The winner of the Sept. 9 primary will face Magaziner in the Nov. 3 general election.
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