Heck proposes three debates with Cortez Masto in counteroffer

Joe Heck’s U.S. Senate campaign has proposed three debates with Democratic opponent Catherine Cortez Masto.

The Republican congressman’s proposal is a counteroffer to her initial debate proposal in mid-June.

One debate would be a one-hour prime-time event hosted by the Nevada Broadcasters Association at the Vegas PBS studios, according to a letter Heck Campaign Manager James Langenderfer sent to Cortez Masto Campaign Manager Scott Fairchild on Thursday. That debate would be broadcast statewide on English- and Spanish-language television and radio.

The other two debates would be in Reno and Elko, and broadcast statewide by Sinclair Broadcast Group.

“We believe issues important to Northern and rural Nevada should receive the attention they deserve,” Langenderfer wrote. “With more than 86 percent of Nevada’s lands controlled by the federal government, decisions made in Washington, D.C., have dramatic and lasting effects on the Silver State’s economy.”

Heck and Cortez Masto, a former Nevada attorney general, are competing for the seat of retiring U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Cortez Masto’s campaign initially had proposed three debates, with at least one hosted by a Spanish-language TV station. A spokesman for Cortez Masto’s campaign declined Thursday to comment on Heck’s debate proposal.

Contact Ben Botkin at bbotkin@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2904. Find @BenBotkin on Twitter.