The Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission and Arizona Media Association are still finalizing whom to invite to this fall’s gubernatorial debates, even as Gov. Katie Hobbs has declared that she will not debate her opponents.

Thomas Collins, executive director of the Clean Elections Commission, confirmed that the plans remain unsettled.

“The commission and the Arizona Media Association are still finalizing their plans on gubernatorial invitations,” Collins told Arizona Globe.

Hobbs has not rejected a finalized Clean Elections invitation. Instead, she issued a blanket refusal before organizers determined who they’d invite. That leaves the voter-created commission, which sponsors Arizona’s official candidate debates, planning an event around the likely absence of the incumbent governor.

The Hobbs campaign says she will instead continue her Arizona First Tour and has made more than 100 open-press appearances and given interviews this year.

“Face-to-face engagement with Arizonans is more effective than a stage designed for short soundbites and political theater,” campaign manager Nicole DeMont said in a statement.

Hobbs’s team also notes that her Republican opponent, Rep. Andy Biggs, has skipped previous debates and forums.

The Biggs campaign says he will participate in a Clean Elections event expected to be held Oct. 6, although organizers have not yet settled its invitation list or final format.

“The independent and persuadable voters up for grabs in Arizona deserve to hear from statewide candidates in a traditional debate setting,” Biggs adviser Drew Sexton said.

“There’s a difference between congressional and statewide debates in terms of the ability to reach out and actually connect with voters,” Sexton added.

Hobbs made essentially the same calculation as a challenger in 2022, when she refused to debate Republican Kari Lake and still won. Lake’s combative campaign style made it easier for Hobbs to portray a debate as a potential spectacle.

Biggs, however, is a sitting congressman and former president of the Arizona Senate, giving Republicans a stronger argument that Hobbs is avoiding an experienced officeholder.

“There’s a big difference when you’re talking about a sitting congressman,” Republican political consultant Jaime Molera told Arizona Globe. “He’s a credible candidate. To not have a debate, to me, it’s crazy.”

Molera said Hobbs’s refusal could produce weeks of earned media rather than one potentially uncomfortable night.

“They’re going to turn this into a much bigger story,” he said. “For the Biggs team, this is going to be a gift that keeps on giving.”

The result is an unusual planning exercise: Arizona’s debate organizers are still deciding who belongs on the gubernatorial stage after the incumbent has already said she will not take it.

“I’m not pretending like Gov. Hobbs would come,” Collins said. “She has to be considered an invitee even if she’s going to decline.”