Statement on yesterday’s #IA01 debate announcement: Our campaign was the first independent campaign in modern state history to meet the gold standard debate requirements set by @IowaPress. We promptly accepted their debate invitation in August, while @millermeeks and @BohannanIowa declined to even respond. Our campaign reached out directly to the Miller-Meeks and Bohannan campaigns multiple times in August, in an effort to arrange a debate. We were also not given the courtesy of a response. Now, suddenly, they have announced they will debate each other, only, on @kwqcnews & @KCRG in October, breaking with decades of tradition of the Iowa Press and PBS. We found about this only after it was publicly announced. We were not contacted by the networks nor did either campaign respond to our repeated inquiries. Our campaign has sent a letter to KWQC requesting inclusion and additional information including their official, predetermined debate criteria. At this time, we choose to give them the benefit of the doubt and it is my expectation that professionalism and journalistic integrity will prevail here. The voters of #IA01 deserve to hear from all three candidates on the ballot this fall, and we owe them an honest and complete representation of their options. It is clear that the two parties coordinated behind the scenes to shop this debate around, in an effort to exclude a candidate that qualified for both the ballot and the debate in historic fashion, and represents the largest voting bloc in the district. For all the vitriol spewed between the parties, see how quickly they are able to work together to maintain the status quo and silence independent voices. When people talk about a "uniparty," this is what they mean. Ultimately this situation is a perfect illustration of the reality of politics today. The parties feel that this is their seat, their government - not ours. I understand that many accept this, some may even approve of it, but this is not democracy. It’s not government of the people, by the people, and for the people.