Retired Army Maj. Gen. Bert Mizusawa, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, has called Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) a coward. “In my experience, foxholes are for fighters,” he said after Warner could not commit to a debate. “I wouldn’t want to have to rely on a coward like Mark Warner.”
Strong words. The record behind them is short and plain.
AARP Virginia planned a debate for Oct. 7 in Richmond. Mizusawa said yes. Warner could not commit, and his campaign blamed an “unsettled and expectedly busy official Senate calendar.” So the debate was canceled. The Washington Examiner reports it is the first time Warner has declined the event. He took part in 2014 and in 2020.
It was not his only no. Warner has also turned down the League of Women Voters. When ABC13 and the University of Lynchburg offered a debate, Mizusawa agreed. Warner’s campaign asked for more time.
Three invitations. In the reporting the Committee found, Warner had not said yes to any of them as of Sept. 24.
On Wednesday, Oct. 7, the day AARP’s debate was supposed to happen, both men took part in a virtual forum on disability policy. It ran 80 minutes and mixed live and prerecorded segments. It was a forum, not a debate. Warner called for federal rules on artificial intelligence and more health care funding. Mizusawa said to enforce the discrimination laws already on the books and to crack down on waste in federal programs.
In the Committee’s view, that is the whole race in two sentences. Warner’s answer is more rules and more money from Washington. Mizusawa’s is to make the government do the job it already has.
They agreed on helping people stay in their own homes and on making voting easier for people with disabilities. Organizers said people with disabilities are about 15% of Virginia’s eligible voters. The Mercury report also describes a difference over mail voting. Warner opposed the restrictions that President Trump’s administration wants. Mizusawa raised concerns about fraud in ballots cast outside polling places.
Fairfax voters do not have to guess whether that is a real question. The same week, WSLS reported that a Franklin County family got a letter saying a relative who died more than two years ago had his voting rights restored. The station also reported that Virginia does not generally require ID to vote by mail. Nothing in the report shows anyone voted as a dead person. At the forum, Warner answered on mail voting by opposing the restrictions the Trump administration wants. Nothing in the coverage shows either candidate was asked about the Franklin County letters. In the Committee’s view, a debate is where that question would get asked of both of them.
Early voting is already underway for the Nov. 3 election. WSET reported on Sept. 24 that Mizusawa had agreed to the Lynchburg debate and that Warner’s campaign wanted to finish the current Senate session before committing. The Committee found no later report of an answer either way. Ask him whether he has one yet.