Cruz says he’s willing to participate in debate with O’Rourke

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said Friday that he is willing to debate Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D), the Associated Press reported.

{mosads} Cruz’s announcement came during a campaign stop in Houston on Friday, the same day O’Rourke announced that his campaign had raised more than $38 million in the third quarter of this year, a haul that would rival that of a presidential campaign.

The Cruz campaign said it has offered to debate O’Rourke in CNN and was subsequently offered a townhall by CNN, but said it couldn’t participate. 

O’Rourke was previously scheduled to appear solo in a townhall in McAllen, Texas, on Oct. 18.

“To be clear, the Cruz campaign proposed that @CNN host one of the Cruz-O’Rourke debates. The O’Rourke campaign declined. @CNN subsequently offered back to back town halls, in which we are unable to participate,” Cruz’s campaign manager, Jeff Roe, wrote in a tweet that day.

A spokesperson for Cruz, confirmed to The Hill on Friday that Cruz did not accept CNN’s invitation to participate in the townhall.

“We have always said that is not useful for Texas voters. We need debates one on one so voters know the difference in their policies,” the spokesperson said.

Cruz was critical of the network earlier this year after one of CNNs graphics accused him of being “afraid” to appear on the network by attending a town hall about school shootings following the February mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. 

Cruz and O’Rourke are locked in a tight Senate race in deep-red Texas, with the Republican incumbent leading by 6 points in the RealClearPolitics polling index. A Quinnipiac University poll released early Thursday showed Cruz with a 9-point lead over O’Rourke. 

O’Rourke winning the Texas Senate race is seen as one of a few ways in which Democrats could secure control of the upper chamber. The party needs to flip two seats to have a majority in the Senate.

The two are set to debate on Tuesday in San Antonio.

— Updated Monday at 4:31 p.m.