SHARE:
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, challenger Rep. Val Demings face off in Tuesday debate
LAKE WORTH – Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and Democrat U.S. Rep. Val Demings will hold their only statewide, televised debate on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Florida Trend is a member of the non-partisan coalition of partners sponsoring the event.
“Decision 2022: Before You Vote” will air in Florida’s 10 major media markets and be streamed online at FloridaTrend.com/Decision2022.
Florida Trend has joined with the James Madison Institute, AARP Florida, the Everlades Foundation, the LeRoy Collins Institute, the Florida Press Association and the Florida League of Cities in bringing the debate to voters. Veteran broadcast journalist and WPBF anchor Todd McDermott will moderate the debate with a panel of Florida journalists contributing to the questioning of the candidates.
A consortium of network affiliate television stations – one in each of Florida’s 10 markets – are committed as broadcast partners. WPBF-Ch. 25/ABC, the Hearst station in West Palm Beach, will again be the lead producing station, as it was in 2016 and 2018. The debates will be broadcast live, from 7-8 pm, EDT, except in Pensacola and Panama City, where they will be broadcast one hour later because of time zone differences.
Alongi Media will serve as Executive Producer of both debates. The global media company was founded by former longtime NBC News Executive Producer Phil Alongi Sr. and is jointly operated by Phil Alongi II, Executive Producer and alumnus of PBS and NBC News. The highly decorated father and son duo run a team of producers who have won more than 100 Emmy Awards for debates and broadcast specials. Alongi Media produced the successful and highly acclaimed 2016 and 2018 “Before You Vote” debates featuring Sen. Rubio (2016) and then-Congressman DeSantis (2018). As in those prior debates, WPBF anchorman Todd McDermott will moderate the program with a select panel of journalists.
Here’s the lineup of broadcast partners in Florida’s 10 distinct markets:
| West Palm Beach | WPBF (ABC) | Gainesville | WCJB (ABC) | |
| Miami/Ft. Lauderdale | WTVJ (NBC) | Tallahassee | WCTV (CBS) | |
| Orlando | WESH (NBC) | Pensacola | WEAR (ABC) | |
| Jacksonville | WJXX (ABC) | Panama City | WMBB (ABC) | |
| Tampa/St. Petersburg | WFLA (NBC) | Fort Myers | WBBH ( NBC) |
As in past election cycles, the debates will be simulcast on statewide public radio, on participating TV stations’ websites and/or Facebook pages, and on daily newspaper websites and/or Facebook pages, with a national rebroadcast expected on C-SPAN after each of the live debate programs has aired.
