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Second Ted Cruz-Beto O'Rourke Debate Postponed

Ivan Pierre Aguirre: O'Rourke/Bob Daemmrich: Cruz
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via Texas Tribune
Left: U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke campaigning in El Paso in 2018; right: Ted Cruz campaigning for the U.S. Senate in 2012.

The Sunday debate between Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso, has been postponed due to weekend U.S. Supreme Court confirmation votes on the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

"The Sept. 30 debate between Senator Ted Cruz and Congressman Beto O’Rourke at the University of Houston has been postponed," the university said in a Facebook post on Friday. "Senator Cruz will be in Washington, D.C. for weekend votes. UH, Univision 45 and ABC-13 are working with the campaigns to find a new date to reschedule."

The highly-anticipated second of three scheduled debates was set to be a town hall-style exchange at the University of Houston that would air in most of Texas' media markets.

The first debate took place on Sept. 21 and was a rollicking clash in which both candidates generally argued for the national party's positions on a litany of issues, including immigration and law enforcement.

An attempt to reschedule will be somewhat complicated by the fact that Cruz will be casting votes in the U.S. Senate for much of October. The U.S. House is set to adjourn until the midterms on Friday.

The final debate is scheduled for Oct. 16.

Disclosure: The University of Houston has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

The Texas Tribune provided this story.

Abby Livingston joined the Tribune in 2014 as the publication's first Washington Bureau Chief. Previously, she covered political campaigns, House leadership and Congress for Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper. A seventh-generation Texan, Abby graduated from the University of Texas at Austin. She grew up in Fort Worth and has appeared in an episode of "The Bold and The Beautiful." Abby pitched and produced political segments for CNN and worked as an editor for The Hotline, National Journal’s campaign tipsheet. Abby began her journalism career as a desk assistant at NBC News in Washington, working her way up to the political unit, where she researched stories for Nightly News, the Today Show and Meet the Press. In keeping with the Trib’s great history of hiring softball stars, Abby is a three-time MVP (the most in game history —Ed.) for The Bad News Babes, the women’s press softball team that takes on female members of Congress in the annual Congressional Women’s Softball breast cancer charity game.