Not debatable: On Massachusetts’ campaign trail, candidates can’t stop arguing about scheduling time to argue

The biggest debate happening in Massachusetts’ primary elections this year is … over whether to debate.

From a gubernatorial candidate running radio ads urging his opponent to face him, to US Senate hopefuls appearing in a strange cross-party debate without the incumbent, a pattern is repeating itself: Candidates are demanding to take on their better-known or better-liked competitors, with varying levels of success.

In many cases, those eager debaters are being met with silence. That’s only made them louder.

“We need a nominee on the Republican side who’s been stress-tested and vetted in public life, no surprises,” said Brian Shortsleeve, a Republican candidate for governor who booked a radio spot on conservative talk radio, accusing his primary opponent, Mike Minogue, of ducking his debate requests.

“If you can’t have a debate among friends in a primary and coherently defend your own record and your business record against cross-examination, trust me,” he said, “it doesn’t get any easier.”

To be sure, ignoring debate requests can be a well-worn tactic of front-running candidates. The less oxygen a campaign gives an opponent, the thinking goes, the less seriously the public may take them.

The dynamic can be especially true in primaries that draw smaller voter pools and play out long before the spotlight of a November Election Day. President Trump, for example, did not appear in Republican primary debates in 2024, in part because he refused to sign a pledge committing to support the eventual GOP nominee (which he, of course, ultimately was).

Still, the focus on debates has permeated nearly every major race across Massachusetts, frontloading arguments on the campaign trail about transparency and accountability. It’s also creating a metatextual discourse about, well, campaign discourse as candidates try to lure voters by arguing that they deserve more engagement from their fellowcandidates.

In the gubernatorial race, Minogue handilywon the party’s endorsement at its April convention, after which he and his supporters have publicly pressured Shortsleeve to drop out, clearing the way for Minogue to face Governor Maura Healey in November. That has prompted some analysts to say a primary debate would only potentially hurt, not help, Minogue as he looks ahead to the general election.

“The obvious pitfall is that your primary candidate feels compelled to play to the base,” said Wendy Wakeman, a Republican strategist not involved with either gubernatorial campaign. “Mike Minogue should be focusing on Maura Healey, not on who cares more about a right-wing or left-wing issue.”

Still, most voters say they want at least a chance to see the Republicans face off. More than 57 percent of likely GOP primary voters surveyed in a Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll said they’d like to see one or two primary debates between the Republican candidates for governor. Another 28 percent said they’d want as many as five.

Minogue, too, has been calling for debates — just not with his primary opponent. He has instead challenged Healey to participate in two pre-general election debates before Labor Day.

In a statement, Elizabeth Hopkins, a spokesperson for Minogue’s campaign, did not directly address the calls to debate Shortsleeve.But in an earlier statement, Minogue himself said: “Side-by-side presentations are a critical part of understanding that choice. Voters shouldn’t have to wait until the last minute to be informed.”

When, or evenhow, to debate is also animating other races. Two candidates seekingUS Senator Ed Markey’s seat — US Representative Seth Moulton, Markey’s Democratic primary challenger, and John Deaton, the presumed Republican nominee — sparred in a debate this month without Markey, who declined an invitation.

Both called out the senator’s absence, with Moulton saying Markey “should be here today.” (Markey’s campaign criticized Moulton for appearing with a “MAGA candidate,” though Deaton said he’s never backed Trump.)

Markey and Moulton — after months of public prodding from Moulton —agreed in recent weeks to a series of debates, including one on Aug. 3 in Dedham and another on Aug. 20 hosted by WCVB, WBUR, and The BostonGlobe. Markey also attempted to spin the debate over debates back on Moulton by calling on him to face offin a Western Massachusetts-based event. As a result, the two will now meet July 8 in Chicopee.

“People need to hear the candidates and get to know them, not through commercials or social media,” said Karen Walton, a Moulton supporter and the chair of the Chelmsford Democratic Town Committee, which she said had repeatedly asked, along with left-leaning Indivisible chapters in the Merrimack Valley, for the candidates to participate in a candidate forum.

Similar to Minogue’s victory, Markeyeasily topped Moulton at the Democratic state convention, coming away with 73 percent of the vote to firm up his front-runner status in the intraparty contest.

“Senator Ed Markey has not waited for a debate stage to talk to voters,” Cam Charbonnier, Markey’s campaign manager, said in a statement. “When he is not in the Senate fighting for Massachusetts, he is campaigning aggressively across the state … making the case for why his record of delivering for Massachusetts should earn their vote for another six years.”

In the Eighth Congressional District’s Democratic primary, Patrick Roath, an attorney challenging USRepresentative Stephen Lynch, appeared this month at a candidate forum in the West End of Boston, where, he was quick to note, Lynch did not appear.

“This is not a one-off thing,” Roath told attendees. “It is a pattern in practice of our member of Congress not showing up when he needs it, because he feels he is entitled to the seat.”

Lynch, for his part, said he is open to participating in debates and was unable to attend the West End event due to votes in Congress that day.

“There’s a bunch of races going on, and I think everyone’s trying to get a little bit of airtime,” Lynch said.

That West End forum, however, was alsoan example of when such platformscan also go sidewaysfora candidate trying to grab Democraticvoters’ attention. Roath spoke alongside Robert Burke, the Republican candidate in the Eighth Congressional District race, who, in repeatedly defending the Trump administration, sparred directly with members of the crowd, prompting half a dozen audience members to leave midway through the event.

“I don’t fault Lynch for not being here tonight, but he has a hideous record of not coming to things,” Jane Wilson, a West End resident who is planning to back Roath, said after the forum.

In 2013, it was Lynch who was the underdog trying to pressure his challenger to debate him. That year, as he sought the open US Senate seat vacated by John Kerry, he called on Markey, then his primary opponent, to face him in a series of debates, proudly declaring that when he first ran for Congress in 2001, he “participated in dozens of debates with my Democratic opponents.”

They ultimately met in multiple debates that spring.

A notable exception to the debate aversion this year? The Sixth CongressionalDistrict, where six Democrats gathered this month for a forum at Salem State University as they seek Moulton’sopen seat.

The event offered what some say is missing in other races: Clear lines on where the candidates agree, where they diverge — in this case, how they would, or would not, work with Republicans in Congress — and how they’re differentiating themselves before voters.

And perhaps most importantly: They were all sitting next to each other.