Kari Lake and Ruben Gal­lego spar about debate host for key Sen­ate con­test

Arizona’s Sen­ate can­di­dates, news anchor-turned-Repub­li­can politi­cian Kari Lake and Rep. Ruben Gal­lego (D‑AZ), have con­flict­ing ideas about how a debate should be run. 
The Cit­i­zens Clean Elec­tions Com­mis­sion is the typ­i­cal host of polit­i­cal debates in Ari­zona, but Lake has expressed some skep­ti­cism about tak­ing that route. Gal­lego told NBC News that he is pre­pared for a debate host­ed by the Cit­i­zens Clean Elec­tions Com­mis­sion.
“I think we should talk about which debate we do,” Lake said last week. “I think our two teams can dis­cuss a fair place, a fair plat­form to do that.”
When Lake ran for gov­er­nor of Ari­zona in 2022, her oppo­nent, now-Gov. Katie Hobbs (D‑AZ), refused to debate Lake, claim­ing Lake “has shown that she’s not inter­est­ed in any kind of sub­stan­tive con­ver­sa­tion, she’s only inter­est­ed in cre­at­ing a spec­ta­cle.” 
Hobbs end­ed up par­tic­i­pat­ing in a 30-minute ques­tion-and-answer ses­sion on Ari­zona PBS, which upset the com­mis­sion. Now, Lake is resent­ful toward the com­mis­sion despite it not being involved with the PBS Q&A, cit­ing “how they treat­ed peo­ple in the last elec­tion cycle, back in ’22, where peo­ple who decid­ed not to do the debate, name­ly Hobbs, end­ed up get­ting her own half an hou …