
The WBA Foundation Board will continue its 32-year tradition of holding statewide televised debates for Wisconsin’s voters by airing general election debates in the 2022 Wisconsin gubernatorial and the U.S. Senate races.
Qualifying U.S. Senate candidates will be invited to participate in a debate on Oct. 7 and qualifying gubernatorial candidates will be invited to participate in a debate on Oct. 14. Both will take place at 7 p.m. Radio and television stations from across Wisconsin will participate in the production of each debate. Details including panelists and format will be announced later.
Both hour-long debates will be made available to radio and television stations throughout Wisconsin for live or delayed broadcast.
“The WBA Foundation is honored to provide these important debates to Wisconsin’s voters as part our 32-year history of using our debates to promote the civic and political process.” WBAF President and CEO Michelle Vetterkind said.
Both debates will be moderated by veteran television debate moderator and WBA Hall of Fame inductee Jill Geisler. Geisler holds the Bill Plante Chair in Leadership and Media Integrity at Loyola University Chicago. She’s from Wisconsin and was one of the first female news directors of a major market affiliate when she was news director at WITI-TV in Milwaukee. She’s moderated the WBAF debates in 2014, 2016, and 2018.
The WBA encourages its members to inform the public by airing this debate and their own programming to help educate voters ahead of the election.
The WBA Foundation debates are sponsored by the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities and the Wisconsin Counties Association.
![]() |
![]() |
Questions or inquiries about the debates should be directed to debate@wbafoundation.org.