A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
Why We Don’t Invite Every Candidate to Our Debates
Every election cycle, the same complaint arrives: the New Jersey Globe hasn’t invited independent candidates to our debates. Sometimes it comes as pointed criticism, sometimes as harassment or threats. As they say, this is the business we’ve chosen — so in full transparency, here’s our reasoning.
The New Jersey Globe alone decides who qualifies for our debates. Our co-sponsors have no role in that decision.
The legal ground we stand on
No law entitles a minor-party or independent congressional candidate to a debate invitation. Neither news organizations nor nonprofits are required to invite every candidate who’s on the ballot. As long as our criteria are applied evenhandedly — not designed to exclude any one candidate — we can lawfully limit the stage to major-party contenders. Federal courts have said so repeatedly.
In 1998, Arkansas’s state-owned public television network invited only the Democratic and Republican candidates for the 3rd District, excluding independent Ralph Forbes despite his ballot qualification. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that ballot access alone doesn’t create a debate entitlement: a televised debate run by a public broadcaster is a nonpublic forum, and the broadcaster may exclude candidates using reasonable, viewpoint-neutral standards. Forbes’s exclusion, the Court found, rested on his “objective lack of support” — not his politics. Even a government-owned station has no constitutional obligation to invite everyone.
In 2018, Socialist Party Senate candidate Dan La Botz was excluded from three Ohio debates sponsored by a consortium of eight newspapers, which limited the stage to the major-party nominees. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia held that sponsors must use pre-established, objective criteria — criteria that don’t simply favor one candidate over another, and that don’t rely on party affiliation alone.
In 2014, Kentucky Educational Television excluded Libertarian David Patterson from its U.S. Senate debate between Mitch McConnell and Alison Lundergan Grimes. The station’s criteria — ballot qualification, at least $100,000 raised, 10% in independent polling, and a campaign website — were upheld by the Sixth Circuit as reasonable measures of demonstrated voter interest, not viewpoint discrimination. Notably, the court found the station wasn’t even required to publish its standards in advance, though doing so remains the safer practice.
Our criteria
Following that safer practice, the New Jersey Globe has published fair, objective, politically neutral thresholds for minor-party and independent candidates. A candidate qualifies by meeting any one of three paths, all by June 30, 2026:
- Raising at least $250,000; or
- Raising at least $25,000 from 2,500 or more individual donors, excluding loans or personal contributions; or
- Polling at 10% or above in two reputable independent polls conducted between June 1 and June 30, 2026
All candidates must also have filed timely statements of organization and quarterly reports with the Federal Election Commission, consistent with public disclosure law.
In governor’s races, only candidates who qualify for matching funds under New Jersey’s Gubernatorial Public Financing Program may join official debates awarded by the state’s Election Law Enforcement Commission –a bar cleared twice, in 1997 and 2009.
Why money matters here
Fundraising isn’t an arbitrary hurdle –it reflects the practical reality of running in New Jersey. This is the most expensive media market in the country. A candidate buying an ad in the New York City market pays New York rates to reach Long Island, Westchester, Connecticut, and northern New Jersey — with only a sliver of that audience actually voting in their district. In 2024, spending by major-party candidates and outside groups in the 7th District hit $26.3 million, making it the most expensive House race in state history.
It’s also worth noting — though it isn’t part of our criteria — every person who has represented a New Jersey congressional district since the state’s first elections in 1789 has run under a recognized major party of their era — Federalist, Democratic-Republican, Whig, Democratic, or Republican (or transitional labels like Jacksonian/Anti-Jacksonian and the fusion “Opposition” party of the mid-1850s, which functioned as predecessors or stand-ins for the two-party system rather than durable minor parties). No Populist, Progressive, Bull Moose, Socialist, American Labor, Prohibition, Libertarian, Green, or true independent candidate has ever been elected to Congress from New Jersey.
If that 237-year streak breaks, we believe it will be broken by a candidate capable of clearing a reasonable bar for debate participation. That’s a low bar for anyone running a viable campaign.
Disclosure, not just fundraising
There’s a fairness question beyond money. Candidates who raise more than $5,000 must file a personal financial disclosure with the Clerk of the House — a requirement serious major-party candidates meet as a matter of course. Those disclosures let voters see a candidate’s stocks, real estate, and other holdings; flag potential conflicts of interest; and identify who a future member of Congress might be financially beholden to. It’s a meaningful form of public oversight.
We don’t think it’s equitable for a candidate to share a debate stage with a major-party nominee without meeting that same disclosure standard. So going forward, personal financial disclosure will be part of our qualifying criteria for independent and minor-party candidates, too.
A final word
We understand the frustration candidates feel when they are excluded from a debate stage. Time in these forums is limited, and we recognize not everyone will agree with our view: that voters are best served by hearing more depth on more issues from the most viable candidates. The New Jersey Supreme Court agreed, ruling that the goal of a debate is full discussion of the issues, not guaranteed airtime for every candidate on the ballot.
We’re also sorry that New Jersey’s thin local news coverage (with 9.5 million residents, we’re the largest news desert in the country) makes every campaign harder to run. We’re a small organization doing what we can.
Whatever our disagreements over debate criteria, we have real respect for anyone willing to put their name and ideas forward for public office. It’s a noble undertaking, and one to be proud of. As Theodore Roosevelt put it, the credit belongs to those in the arena — not the critics on the sidelines.
Click HERE to read our letter to an independent candidate in NJ-7.