House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on Friday said that he would not debate Democratic challenger Richard Morrison before the Nov. 2 election.
Morrison and DeLay, both of Sugar Land, are squaring off in the newly redrawn District 22. The district includes a swath of western Galveston County, including portions of Friendswood, La Marque, Santa Fe and Dickinson.
The new boundaries are the result of a bitter redistricting battle engineered by DeLay that promises to bolster the margin by which the Republican Party controls the House of Representatives.
As a challenger with no experience in electoral politics, Morrison, an environmental lawyer, is trying to raise his profile.
On Friday, DeLay said that his latest poll put his support at 56 percent, while Morrison’s was much lower. “His name ID is nothing,” DeLay said.
Morrison says he has raised $500,000 — more than all of DeLay’s past challengers put together. In a bid to introduce himself to voters, Morrison has been running television spots portraying himself as a regular guy.
A debate with DeLay also would raise Morrison’s profile. There is also the fact that some voters might like to see the candidates go head to head before deciding whom to vote for.
“I want to know why he’s ducking me,” Morrison said last week in a visit to The Daily News. “What’s he scared of?”
At least so far, DeLay, the No. 2 man in the House, has calculated that Morrison has more to gain from a debate than DeLay has to lose by avoiding one. “A debate would be for his benefit, not for mine,” DeLay said of Morrison.
He also said that a debate with Morrison would go largely unnoticed. “Unfortunately, debates in this area have never had an impact because media doesn’t cover them,” DeLay said. “Television never covers them. I’ve been doing this for 20 years and you show up to a forum where there are more candidates at the forum than constituents. I’d much rather be out with constituents, meeting them and going to events.”
