Note: This article was co-written and co-published with Port City Daily.
A recent example of the phenomenon was WHQR, Port City Daily, and WECT’s forums hosted at Cape Fear Community College in the last three weeks. While all school board candidates showed up to answer questions from both media and the audience on Oct. 2, two New Hanover County commissioner incumbents, Republicans Dane Scalise and Bill Rivenbark, were absent from the event.
Of the 15 North Carolina General Assembly candidates, nine showed up to the media outlet’s second night of forums on Oct. 14.
Pate McMichael is the director of Elon University’s Open Government Coalition. He said the trend of candidates avoiding these opportunities is becoming problematic.
“It’s a more disturbing, longer-term trend of just a lack of faith in media across the board, the partisanship that we're seeing all across the country,” he said.
On Monday, the same day as the GA forum, Gallup released polling results showing that Americans’ trust in the media (31%) and Congress (34%) are the lowest among other political civic institutions. For mass media like TV, newspapers, and radio, 12% of Republicans trust them, compared to 54% of Democrats. Marks are better for local journalism than national news.
However, McMichael said the Fourth Estate, or the press, serves an essential democratic role despite people seeking out views that align with their perspectives.
“We had this phase of curating content where you could get your particular point of view fed to you, and now we're in an algorithm mindset, and people are just not used to getting information in their feeds that challenges them,” McMichael said. “So when you have candidates who, maybe, don't want to risk facing an independent person who's going to ask an independent question, they get cold feet.”
According to McMichael, journalists have a value system that protects First Amendment rights and ensures that elected officials have been vetted and their records scrutinized.
An August report from the Washington Post reported the move to ditch forums has become commonplace in modern-day politics. For their messaging, candidates rely on social media to appeal to supporters with their own narrative or, in some cases, use ads — including those attacking opponents.
This election year, avoiding discourse and engagement has been seen from the top down. GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump repeatedly rejected a second debate with Democratic candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris, the most recent invitation coming from Fox News.
ProPublica also reported Project 2025 — a white paper from the Heritage Foundation suggesting policies for the next Republican president — includes a recommendation that GOP politicians should only talk to conservative media.
This has been seen locally: Port City Daily, a non-partisan, independent outlet, reached out to New Hanover County School Board Chair Pete Wildeboer the morning after the board fired former Superintendent Charles Foust in July. A response was never received; however, Wiledeboer went on the WAAV’s conservative “Wilmington Morning News with Nick Craig” that morning to recap what happened (Craig’s show, which was canceled in July, was frequently the first — and sometimes the only — stop for local Republican officials).
The Washington Post reported that forums for down-ballot races are enduring similar resistance. In San Francisco, a mayoral event was canceled due to a lack of participation, and in Tennessee, school board candidates declined invitations. Only half the House of Representatives debate candidates were in attendance in Wyoming, despite the GOP and Democratic parties hosting the event with the local League of Women Voters.
Questions remain: Is it strategic, merely a conflict of scheduling, distrust of media, or fear of answering tough questions in a public-facing event that could cost an election?
Media’s tenuous relationship with conservative officials
Election forums allow voters to understand more about candidates' positions on issues facing the region. For the media, they give reporters a chance to ask questions, whether clarifying political ads or comments made in public, voting records, or policies.
Every election season, Port City Daily, WHQR, and WECT come together to host forums for New Hanover County local races and North Carolina General Assembly races for tri-county region candidates. While sometimes there are scheduling conflicts, the outlets try to accommodate them.
For instance, this election season, the GA forum was scheduled for Oct. 9. The date was moved because House candidates were called to a special voting session on Hurricane Helene relief. Rearrangements were made to schedule it to Oct. 14 in an attempt to include most candidates.
Yet, it still resulted in some Republican senators not attending — including Brent Jackson (Bladen, Duplin, Jones, Pender, Sampson) and Bill Rabon (New Hanover, Brunswick, Columbus). Jackson said he declined media invitations due to a family death; Rabon cited attendance at a leadership conference. Notably, Rabon has a record of ignoring local journalists’ inquiries and skipping past forums hosted by the media consortium (he's either declined or not responded to candidate interview requests by WHQR for many years).
Rabon is chairman of three Senate committees: finance, rules and operations, and nominations. He serves on several other important committees, such as agriculture, energy, and environment; transportation; appropriations; redistricting and elections.
House Republican candidates Carson Smith (Pender, Columbus) and Charlie Miller (New Hanover, Brunswick) also declined. The latter said he signed up to help in the state's western region due to Helene’s devastation. Smith did not give a reason.
In the House forum, District 16 politician Frances Lakey never responded to the invitation. For Senate District 9, Jackson’s opponent, Jamie Bowles, could not get out of a work commitment.
The commissioners’ forum also resulted in a lack of participation. NHC Commissioner Scalise informed WHQR five days before the forum that he would not attend; invitations went out the first week of July. Upon reaching out to ask Scalise to clarify his obligation for skipping the event, he responded:
“The public deserves to hear from the candidates about where they stand. And they do hear from me every day, just not during the 45-minute window you unilaterally selected for your forum. I told [WHQR News Director] Ben [Schachtman] I was sorry for my absence ... I have participated in 3 other public forums, answered every questionnaire sent to me, and, more significantly, I directly respond to the emails and calls I receive daily from the people of New Hanover.”
Rivenbark RSVP’d to Schachtman in person that he would be there. But come showtime, Rivenbark was absent.
Schachtman said Rivenbark relayed to him during their conversation that he’d been wary of the press because he felt the media, in particular WECT, had been unduly critical of him.
Rivenbark didn’t return WHQR’s phone call or follow-up email about why he skipped the commissioner forum; however, the next day, he was present for a CFCC student forum hosted by Nelson Beaulieau, a former New Hanover County school board member. Scalise was also at Beaulieau’s event.
Both commissioners have criticized the media in the past.
For instance, Rivenbark has refused to answer questions from Port City Daily before, either ignoring inquiries altogether or sending terse responses — as seen in a 2022 email.
PCD was reporting about a lawsuit filed by a resident who was kicked out of a commissioner meeting. When asking for the chair’s response, Rivenbark wrote: “If you ever write an article about something positive please call me. Other than that, take me off your list.”
In the spring of 2022, Rivenbark posted screenshots of a terse email exchange he had with WECT’s news director; Rivenbark accused WECT of “skewing” sound bites and said while he would remain available to constituents he would “not participate in the media distortions.”
However, he did respond to Port City Daily earlier this spring and asked whether the commissioners had refused a meeting with the school board on their budget, which spurred controversy community-wide. Rivenbark called some school members' claims “unfounded.”
Scalise has been frank about when he thinks the media has a partisan agenda on a particular story, which often colors whether and to what extent he responds to media questions. On topics of fiscal responsibility — like the county's quixotic attempt to eminent domain the strip club neighboring the government center for more parking, or the debate over holding the tax rate steady — Scalise responded quickly with thorough comments. On other topics, like calls to end DEI at the county from fellow conservative and former commissioner Woody White, Scalise declined to respond to questions to WHQR.
Scalise has also taken to social media to outline disdain for local and national coverage in recent months. Shortly after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump in July, he wrote on X: “Almost all journalists are objectively political propagandists.”
Following, he called out The Assembly — a media partner of WHQR — on X for leaving out the word “almost” when referencing his post in an article.
“In fairness, as I wrote in the tweet linked above, I do think partisanship in journalism is essentially inevitable because we all have our preferences and dislikes. But we shouldn't pretend that @TheAssemblyNC or @whqr are simply ‘calling balls and strikes.’ They are political operatives advancing an explicit agenda," he wrote.
A month before that, Scalise also took to X to call out Port City Daily: “Siri, what does media bias look like?”
He included a screenshot of headlines from the outlet’s front page, all regarding local budgets that had passed in June. The commissioner implicated the news outlet for making the county look worse than other municipalities — which was not the intent of any journalist at PCD.
Frustrations in Brunswick County
The issue extends beyond New Hanover County. Though Port City Daily, WECT, and WHQR have not hosted forums together for down-ballot Brunswick County candidates, the Brunswick Beacon attempted to hold one this year for commissioner candidates.
“It was a little bit surprising to us that the Republicans declined,” editor Dylan Phillips said.
Phillips added that organizations, including the League of Women’s Voters of the Lower Cape Fear, had contacted the news outlet to hold a forum after failing to get confirmation from candidates to host their own events. With Brunswick Beacon at the helm, the thought was the media could get more of a response than singular organizations that may lean left or right. Though, the league maintains its mission as a nonpartisan group, not tied to “supporting nor opposing candidates or political parties at any level of government,” but rather concerned about public-facing issues.
Phillips decided if Brunswick Beacon was to host a forum, the reporters would devise the questions, with audience questions addressed too. He said he enlisted the help of the Brunswick County party chairs, Shelley Allen for the Democratic side and Bill Moore for the GOP, to reach out to candidates in late summer.
“Shelley said that she contacted all three of the Dem candidates and they were on board,” Phillips said. “And Bill Moore got back and said the three Republican candidates declined the offer.”
There was no reasoning given.
Port City Daily emailed Moore to ask why the Republicans declined and if he offered any advice to candidates per attending, but a response was not received by press. Moore previously told WHQR that the county party did not have a hand in candidates’ decisions about attending forums or talking to the press.
Brunswick County’s Republican commissioners Pat Sykes, Frank Williams, and Mike Forte were also emailed but did not respond to PCD. However, this week Forte told WHQR he was avoiding forums because of increasingly hostile voters, citing an incident where he was spat on at a grocery store.
Related: Why are Brunswick County GOP incumbents skipping candidate debates?
As of press, none of Brunswick County Republican candidates have returned Port City Daily’s questionnaires, a free service offered to all commissioner candidates to allow them to share their thoughts on regional issues with voters ahead of the election.
Phillips said the politicians answered Brunswick Beacon’s candidate questionnaires, which were published this week.
Commissioner Forte also told WWAY in an Oct. 7 report he would attend political debates if nonpartisan groups were hosting them.
“I’m not going to walk into an ambush, which is what they are asking me to do, and I just, I refuse to do that,” Forte said. “Let WWAY do it, and I will show up, I will gladly debate them, but not when it’s so partisan.”
After reading Forte’s comments, Phillips said he contacted the commissioner to ask if he had received the Beacon’s invitation but had never heard back.
“There are a lot of issues in Brunswick County this year,” Phillips added — overdevelopment, planning board power, clearcutting trees, inadequate infrastructure, and the fast pace of growth among them.
“We wanted to get out there and let folks have their questions asked and hopefully answered through us,” Phillips said. “But it didn’t happen.”
The nonprofit group Southport NC Indivisibles-Stepping Forward also scheduled a political open house earlier this fall, drawing in mostly Democratic candidates. The grassroots organization centers its mission on a “fair, just, and inclusive society,” supporting issues like abortion access and ending gun violence.
The event was set up as an open house in the Southport Community Building for the public to meet candidates at various tables and talk with them one-on-one. It was co-sponsored by Cape Fear Sierra Club, JUST Ladies, Liberals of Oak Island, and No High Density Southport.
Only one Republican candidate showed — Dana Varnam, running for election as register of deeds. Varnam, who has worked in the office since 2001, said she has attended dozens of political events this season hosted by both parties. At the Southport NC Indivisibles-Stepping Forward open house, she said she felt welcomed and was treated with the “utmost kindness and respect.”
“I am here for all the citizens of Brunswick County,” Varnam said. “These events give me the opportunity to have direct contact with individuals, introduce myself, and personally ask someone for their vote. I really did not give it a thought about being the only Republican until it was brought to my attention … Everyone was gracious.”
It’s also worth noting there have been numerous Republican candidates who have returned to WECT, Port City Daily, and WHQR’s forums. John Hinnant — who ran for House in 2022 — made a second appearance this year as a commissioner candidate and was gracious in thanking the media — as did many returning General Assembly candidates, including Frank Iler, Michael Lee, and Ted Davis.
Intention and strategy
New Hanover County Democratic Party Chair Jill Hopman said candidates not showing up or skipping forums altogether has become a problem region-wide. She thinks it’s because of how Senate, House, and Congressional district maps were recently drawn.
“Republicans have gerrymandered our state with ‘surgical precision,’ like the NC Supreme Court has noted [in 2019], they have not only manipulated voting blocs to their advantage but the public itself,” Hopman said. “They apparently no longer feel the pressure to engage in public discourse or speak to their constituents at large.”
She added that many organizations, or even media, will only proceed with a forum if both sides attend, which has led to an imbalance.
“Republicans have stolen opportunities for Democrats to present our own case to the public and contrast our platform with theirs,” Hopman said.
She called out Republican Congressman David Rouzer for not attending a Columbus County forum hosted by the NAACP with his Democratic opponent, Marlando Pridgen.
Hopman said Rouzer has not attended many recent forums and added if Republicans “didn’t support such harmful policies, perhaps they would not be so afraid to discuss them with the voters they supposedly represent.”
Rouzer was contacted for a comment but did not respond. Republican Chair of the New Hanover County GOP, Nevin Carr, also didn’t respond to a request about politicians’ attendance at candidate forums.
GOP strategist Paul Shumaker of Capitol Communications said a candidate’s decision to attend a forum, debate, or answer a questionnaire boils down to their game plan to win an election.
“First thing you need to know is that it's a strategic decision by the campaigns, for the most part,” he said.
Shumaker touts himself as the “data guy,” focusing on micro-targeting and probability modeling. He weighs numbers but also considers whether the people hosting a forum can do more harm than good for a candidate.
He has worked on U.S. Senator races, including for Thom Tillis, Richard Burr, and Pat McCrory, and has consulted with House candidates, including Rouzer.
When asked if he is working with Rouzer now, Shumaker said:
“I do when David has a race, but David doesn't have a race right now. So why does he need to give a platform to somebody else? Let me just ask you this: When I'm in a campaign, I'm hired to make somebody a winner and somebody a loser. So why do I want to do my opponent any favors?”
The Hill’s recent poll has a 99% favorable rating that Rouzer will win against Pridgen.
When Shumaker is hired to run a campaign he said he focuses more on IP addresses for direct reach of potential voters — targeting people by the device they utilize. Therefore, a digital ad or message can reach them always, no matter if they’re in California or North Carolina.
“Because of technology, I'm able to go take my universe of voters that I need to reach,” he said, such as unaffiliated and independents. “I can go do IP address matches on the digital side to find out what the efficiencies are. I can run the cross-screening analysis of that to tell me what percent of that audience are heavy broadcast, what percent are cable viewership, what percent are digital on platforms, and what percent I can't reach, period, by any of those platforms.”
Shumaker added that traditional media doesn’t have as much reach as it once did, and his analytics show broadcast has decreased to a 45% reach in the digital age.
“And only about a fourth of that audience is what we will call heavy viewers,” he said.
WECT, WHQR and Port City Daily’s three forums — streamed on Facebook live — cumulatively have reached an audience of almost 15,000 views to date, but it continues to grow as people access the forum videos ahead of voting. This does not include the clips that ran on air, the pre-forum coverage and the reach received when putting out a call for audience questions ahead of time to promote the event. Nor does it include publishing follow-ups post-forum and the videos’ reach that continues to get pushed in voting guides.
Alternately, Shumaker said specialized group forums oftentimes come with a niche set of followers who have already “made up their minds” when it comes to voting. For instance, a North Carolina Chamber of Commerce event will draw in more Republicans, while the League of Women Voters or Sierra Club will be more compelling to Democratic candidates, he said; this doesn’t always equal access to more votes.
“The media gave us that safety net,” Shumaker said, as candidates have more reach to varied households with publicized forums.
He referenced accepting an invite by the League of Women Voters and WECT in 2014 that worked in his candidates’ favor. At the time, Shumaker represented Tillis, who won against Kay Hagan by a slim margin. He said he spent months negotiating everything from candidate questions and rules, to not allowing stage props of any kind.
“She didn’t think we would take it [the invitation,]” Shumaker said, since it was tied to LWB. “We absolutely jumped on it … And we also leveraged that to get her committed into two other debates.”
He also has worked previously with the North Carolina Association of Broadcasters, known for sponsoring gubernatorial candidate debates. Yet, one is not being hosted this year between Mark Robinson and Josh Stein. Robinson first wouldn’t commit to one, but then challenged Stein who said he would not legitimize Robinson’s often controversial and conspiracy-laden rhetoric (Stein is up in the polls, according to The Hill, by more than 14%).
The amount of preparation it takes, Shumaker estimated, is hundreds of hours — to anticipate what’s going to be said and craft responses. Debate training can be intense, and candidates can only do so much, Shumaker said: “Legislators are part-time with full-time expectations.”
He added there has been a substantial increase in competition among news outlets, making requests in recent years balloon as well. Thus, candidates cannot fulfill them all, especially true for higher-up races. The same is valid for questionnaires, particularly in Congressional races. The strategist said candidates get more than 100 questionnaires every election season from various organizations and media.
“You can't fill them all out, nor should you,” he said, “because some of them are already biased against you, so why do you want to go on record for that?”
He said he suggests to Republican clients in Senate races to always answer the NRA due to endorsements, the Chamber of Commerce “because it helps you on the fundraising side,” as well as pro-business organizations, and N.C. Family Policy Council — and “ignore everybody else.”
Still, Shumaker recognizes the value of local media and said he listens to clients when they express interest. Ted Davis, he said, reached out to him to ask about attending a few forums this year, one of which was with WECT, Port City Daily, and WHQR. Shumaker agreed it would be a good move.
“Ted said, ‘You know, I would like to go do this,’” Shumaker recalled and was asked of a potential downside. “I said absolutely not — as long as Ted has served in that community? And, look, I worked for Ted back when he was a [New Hanover] county commissioner, by the way. I mean, nobody knows the issues in the area better than Ted Davis.”
Shumaker believes on a statewide scale, there should be more cohesive parameters for top-ticket candidates when it comes to debates and town halls with media. He calls it “good public policy” to meet with the free press, understand everyone’s perspective, and make the system of hosting political events better.
He suggested in today’s market that media pair up with universities or college campuses to make debates or forums educational, and encourage young people to get involved and learn about civics. Candidates may be more responsive.
“If you're running for United States Senate and you're afraid to go on a college campus to answer questions of students, you don't need to be a United States Senator,” Shumaker said.
Benjamin Schachtman contributed to this reporting.