Florida Trend joins partnership for “Before You Vote” televised debate project in races for governor, U.S. Senate

Florida Trend, the Sunshine State’s highly respected “Business Authority,” has joined the “Decision 2022: Before You Vote” televised debate project as a key partner in the planned general election faceoffs this fall for Governor and U.S. Senator.

The longest-running televised debate project in Florida’s modern history expects national interest in the debates to be held at Palm Beach State College’s Lake Worth campus in mid-October.

Governor Ron DeSantis and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, both national political figures, are expected to easily win renomination from Republican voters as they seek reelection to their respective positions against Democrat challengers still to be determined in the 2022 primary election process. The two incumbents both participated in the “Before You Vote” televised debates in their races in 2016 (Rubio) and 2018 (DeSantis).

Florida Trend joins the debate project with its other anchoring partners: The James Madison Institute, AARP Florida, the LeRoy Collins Institute, and the Florida Press Association. Underwriting sponsors already committed to the project include the Florida League of Cities and AARP. Two more sponsors are expected to join.

“Among the issues that matter most to Florida are strengthening the state’s economy and creating jobs that help our citizens compete on a national and global scale. We’re excited to join this well-established debate project that has proven its reliability and fairness in so many elections cycles for nearly 20 years.” — David Denor, Publisher, Florida Trend

On behalf of the coalition of non-partisan project partners, Dr. J. Robert McClure, President and CEO of The James Madison Institute, welcomed the addition of Florida Trend to the debate series.

“For more than 60 years, Florida Trend has been the respected journalistic bible for our state’s diverse and flourishing business community,” said McClure. “It is always relevant and trustworthy in any meaningful conversations about the most important issues facing our state. We’re so pleased and proud to have Florida Trend as an anchoring partner.”

The debates are planned for live broadcast on a Tuesday night and a Thursday night in the same week, from 7-8 p.m. Eastern, except in Florida’s Panhandle communities of Pensacola and Panama City, where they will be broadcast one hour later (7-8pm Central). Members of a consortium of network affiliate television stations – one in each Florida market – are committed as broadcast partners. WPBF-Ch. 25/ABC, the Hearst station in West Palm Beach, will again be the producing station.

Alongi Media will produce 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 “Before You Vote” debate in which Sen. Rubio faced former Congressman Patrick Murphy, and the similarly successful 2018 debate in which then-Congressman Ron DeSantis faced former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum. As in those prior debates, WPBF anchorman Todd McDermott will moderate the programs with a select panel of journalists, to be determined.

Here’s the lineup of broadcast partners in Florida’s 10 distinct markets:

As in past election cycles, the debates will be simulcast on statewide public radio, on participating TV stations’ websites, and on daily newspaper websites – with a national rebroadcast expected on C-SPAN after each of the live debate programs has aired.

More details about the “Decision 2022: Before You Vote” debate project will be shared soon, including the criterion for major candidates’ participation in the debates.