PORTLAND, Maine – A dispute over next week’s WGME-TV Republican gubernatorial debate is intensifying after candidate Robert Wessels said he was excluded from the stage, prompting fellow Republican Ben Midgley to call for his inclusion and candidate Bobby Charles to announce he will boycott the event.
Wessels accused the Portland-based station of sidelining his campaign after, according to Wessels, WGME labeled him “not significant enough” to participate.
“WGME is trying to silence my campaign,” Wessels wrote on social media. “Either way, they’ve labeled my campaign as ‘Not significant enough’ to participate in their upcoming debate.”
Wessels also suggested the decision may be politically motivated, arguing that his campaign does not align with the station’s preferred agenda. He urged supporters to share his message and push back against what he described as an effort by mainstream media to silence his campaign.
The controversy drew a public response from Midgley, who said all Republican candidates deserve the opportunity to appear before voters and urged WGME to reconsider its decision.
“I am respectfully requesting that WGME reconsider and give voters the opportunity to hear from all of the candidates on the Republican Primary ballot,” Midgley wrote.
Midgley said a full debate featuring every candidate would promote transparency, fairness, and a more informed electorate.
“If these candidates were good enough for the Maine GOP to include in our convention, that should be good enough for WGME,” he added.
Charles later announced that he would not take part in the debate if all candidates were not allowed on stage, citing fairness concerns.
“It’s come to my attention that next week’s legacy media-sponsored debate did not invite all candidates to appear on stage,” Charles wrote. “Therefore, I will not be joining the debate and will focus on continuing to talk to conservative voters one by one.”
Charles said he was proud to be “the only candidate who has debated statewide this cycle” against one of Gov. Janet Mills’ “handpicked successors.” He also said he debated and won the Maine Wire debate, citing what he described as a large survey of conservatives.
“In total, I have debated the entire Republican field three times in the past year,” Charles wrote.
Charles closed by calling on “pro-Trump conservatives” to rally behind his campaign ahead of the June 9 primary.
WGME has not publicly detailed its criteria for debate participation in the candidates’ statements, and it remains unclear whether the station will reconsider its lineup.
With the Republican primary approaching, the dispute places WGME at the center of a growing controversy, as multiple candidates question whether Maine voters will hear from the full GOP field before casting their ballots.
