INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The three were facing each other Tuesday night for their first of two scheduled televised debates, with Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb’s coronavirus actions likely to be hotly contested.
Holcomb, Democratic challenger Woody Myers and Libertarian Donald Rainwater were to take part from separate areas of the WFYI-TV studio in Indianapolis for the hourlong debate because of COVID-19 precautions, according to organizers with the nonprofit Indiana Debate Commission.
The debate comes two weeks ahead of Election Day as Indiana is in the time since Holcomb last month lifted nearly all of Indiana’s coronavirus restrictions on businesses and crowd sizes.
Holcomb has resisted calls to reimpose tougher restrictions in addition to the statewide mask mandate, but last week while out in public places.
Myers, a physician and former state health commissioner, has criticized Holcomb as too passive in attacking the virus spread.
Myers maintains Holcomb should reinstate lower limits for bar and restaurant capacities and crowd sizes and alter the mask mandate so that violators could face fines as a way for spurring “hardheaded Hoosiers” resisting their use into understanding their importance.
over Holcomb’s mask order and his executive orders forcing the closure of businesses deemed nonessential during the early weeks of the pandemic.
Rainwater, an information technology manager from Westfield, is appealing to those voters with a message that “all Hoosiers are essential” as he flatly opposes the mask requirement and pledges to undo Holcomb’s executive orders.
State health officials on Tuesday added 48 coronavirus-related deaths to Indiana’s toll, which has reached 4,008, including confirmed and presumed coronavirus infections, since the state’s first death was reported in mid-March. That total is an increase of 502 deaths from what the state health department reported a month ago.
Indiana’s number of COVID-19 hospitalizations and intensive care unit patients are both up nearly 90% in the past month, while the state’s seven-day rolling average of newly confirmed COVID-19 infections is at the highest level during the pandemic and has more than doubled since late September.
The three candidates are scheduled to take part in another debate on Oct. 27.
