Mayoral Candidate Challenges Rival to Live Debate on KLAQ

An interview with one candidate for El Paso Mayor led to a challenge by his opponent.

The interview was with Renard Johnson who was in the studio in person. Shortly after the interview, a phone call came in from Brian Kennedy who is ALSO running for mayor.

Kennedy wanted to call out something Johnson had said during the interview. He objected to, what he claimed was Johnson assertion that Amazon had received incentives to locate to El Paso.  Amazon did NOT receive incentives, Kennedy claimed.

However, I asserted that Renard didn’t say Amazon got perks. He said that a company such as Amazon SHOULDN’T get tax abatements and other incentives to locate here.

In the conversation with Brian, I told him that I didn’t think that was exactly what Renard had said. Then I posited, “What’s going to happen if Renard calls in to correct your correction?” Kennedy said that would be fine with him…

To which I countered, “Hey, instead of spending the next two weeks fact checking each other we should just have a live debate” ahead of the November 5^th election day.

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Brian agreed! When I asked him who the dream moderator for such a debate would be Kennedy said, “Buzz Adams”…which was the answer I was fishing for.

It’s important to note that Johnson and Kennedy, at this point, are leading the field of eight candidates for mayor. Barring anything completely unforeseen, the race for Mayor will come down to Renard and Brian, possibly resulting in a run-off.

So, no one is committed to anything at this point. I don’t know if Renard Johnson heard or is aware of the call from his opponent. I CERTAINLY don’t know if he would agree to such a debate. But, if he wants to and Brian Kennedy still wants to do it, I won’t stand in their way.

We will wait to see what develops.

Also,(Monday, October 21) is the first day of early voting in El Paso.