Utah 4th district candidate McDonald says she and Owens will debate

SALT LAKE CITY — The Democratic candidate for Utah’s 4th Congressional District said she and incumbent Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT) have agreed to a debate on Friday, Oct. 28.

#BREAKING @VoteDarlene tells me she and @BurgessOwens have agreed to a debate next Friday, October 28th at 5PM, location TBD. McDonald says the moderator will be James Curry, a poly sci prof at U of U. Debate is not being put on by anyone. #utpol @kslnewsradio @UtahDebateCom

— Lindsay Aerts (@LindsayOnAir) October 21, 2022

Democratic candidate Darlene McDonald told KSL NewsRadio that the location of the Oct. 28 debate has not yet been announced. It will be moderated by James Curry, a political science professor at the University of Utah.

McDonald said that the invitation to debate was not extended to January Walker, the United Utah Party candidate.

Walker confirmed to KSL NewsRadio that she was not invited, and said she was disappointed.

“If the roles were reversed and it was Darlene (McDonald) that wasn’t invited, or even Burgess (Owens) that wasn’t invited to a different debate, I would have insisted that they be invited to attend,” Walker said.

Walker speculated that Owens’ campaign was trying to control his environment by not inviting her.

Owens did not participate in a 4th District debate on Oct. 12. That debate was sponsored by the Utah Debate Commission and moderated by Lauren Gustus, the executive editor of the Salt Lake Tribune.

Owens said he would not debate on Oct. 12 because of the tie between the moderator and the Salt Lake Tribune, which he has called a ‘racist’ newspaper.