GOP’s Burgess Owens agrees to debate in Utah reelection bid

By SAM METZ
Associated Press

SOUTH JORDAN, Utah (AP) — U.S. Rep. Burgess Owens is scheduled to debate Democrat Darlene McDonald in suburban Salt Lake City on Friday in their first and only meeting in the lead-up to the midterm elections. The first-term Republican elected not to participate in a televised Utah Debate Commission event earlier this month. He offered to debate McDonald after being rebuked for neither debating in the lead-up to the primary nor the general election. Owens’ district has historically been a swing seat, yet was redrawn last year to more heavily favor Republicans during the once-in-a-decade redistricting process. Owens is one of two Black Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives.