The UWM Mainstage Theatre will be the setting for the first broadcast debates in the races for Wisconsin governor and U.S. senator from Wisconsin.
The debates will air live on WTMJ-TV and WUWM-FM. WTMJ news anchors Charles Benson and Shannon Sims, along with WUWM’s Mitch Teich, will moderate both debates.
The Democratic gubernatorial debate will start at 6 p.m. on Thursday, July 12. All eight Democratic candidates have agreed to participate – Tony Evers, Matt Flynn, Mike McCabe, Mahlon Mitchell, Josh Pade, Kelda Helen Roys, Paul R. Soglin and Kathleen Vinehout.
The Republican senatorial debate will start at 6 p.m. on Thursday, July 26. All five Republican candidates have agreed to participate – Charles Barman, Griffin Jones, George Lucia, Kevin Nicholson and Leah Vukmir.
Additional media partners include WisPolitics, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the USA Today Network.
Following the one-hour, televised debates, an additional 30 minutes of content with the candidates will air live on WUWM radio and stream live on wuwm.com, tmj4.com, nbc26.com, WisPolitics.com and jsonline.com.
The events are ticketed. All candidates receive an equal number of tickets to be distributed at their discretion. The remaining tickets will go to event sponsors.
The renovated Mainstage Theatre reopened in March after 2017 fire.