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| Farouk Shami |
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| Bill White |
Leading Democratic candidates in the primary race for Texas governor met for their first live debate, held on Monday, February 8 at 7:00 p.m. The Texas Debates: Race for Governor was broadcast to millions statewide on public and commercial television and radio and online at texasdebates.org. The debate included former Houston Mayor Bill White and Texas businessman Farouk Shami.
There are five other candidates on the Democratic primary ballot: Alma Aguado, Felix Alvarado, William C. Dear, Clement Glenn and Star Locke. After careful review, KERA determined these candidates did not meet the Criteria for Candidate Participation in KERA Broadcast Debates to participate in the forum on Monday, February 8, 2010.
The Texas Debates aired live on KERA-TV, KERA-FM and TXA 21 (KTXA-TV). KTXA-TV included analysis of the debate in their newscast at 8:00 p.m. KUVN Univision 23 will air the debate in Spanish on Saturday, February 13 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
KERA-FM broadcast analysis of the debate in the half-hour special The Texas Debates and the Democratic Primary hosted by Shelley Kofler at 6 p.m. Tuesday, February 9. The roundtable discussion included Fort Worth Star-Telegram Columnist Bud Kennedy and SMU Political Science Professor Cal Jillson.
Krys Boyd, host of KERA?s interview talk show Think, will lead a roundtable discussion of the issues and debate analysis on Friday, February 12 at 7:30 p.m. on KERA-TV. Joining Krys are Fort Worth Star-Telegram Columnist Bud Kennedy and SMU Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Professor Dr. Rita Kirk. The debate will repeat on KERA-TV at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, February 14, followed by Think at 11:30 a.m., and again on Monday, February 15 at 10:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. respectively.
The Texas Debates was produced by KERA in partnership with CBS 11 (KTVT-TV) and TXA 21 (KTXA-TV), Star-Telegram, KUVN Univision 23, The Texas Association of Broadcasters (TAB), Texas State Networks and the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas.
The debate was moderated by CBS 11 News Anchor Karen Borta who also took questions via social media. KUVN Univision 23 Reporter Maria Renee Barillas hosted questions from voters in the live audience. Questions were also posed by panelists Shelley Kofler, KERA-FM and KERA-TV and Dave Montgomery of the Star-Telegram.
The Texas Debates originated from the CBS-11/TXA-21 studios, located at 5233 Bridge Street, Fort Worth, Texas 76103-1399. The program was distributed at no charge to all commercial and public radio and television stations statewide as a public service, courtesy of the Texas Association of Broadcasters (TAB). Stations had the option of taking the broadcast live or delaying it. Real-time translation and closed captioning were provided by TAB, a service it has contributed for broadcast debates of statewide candidates since 1998.
The Texas Debates was streamed live at texasdebates.org, and archive video of the full debate in English and Spanish as well as KERA's analysis special can be found on the video page.
The Texas Debates: Race For Governor on February 8 was made possible, in part, by AARP.
