The New Jersey Election Law Enforcement (ELEC) commission has approved the dates, times, and locations for three statewide debates this September and October, including two gubernatorial debates and one lieutenant gubernatorial debate.

The first gubernatorial debate between Gov. Phil Murphy and former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, hosted by the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, will be held at 7 PM on Tuesday, September 28 in Newark.  Its partners include WABC-TV, WPVI-TV, 6-ABC Philadelphia, Twitter, Univision, WBGO-FM, NJ Advance Media and Rutgers Eagleton Institute of Politics and Rutgers School of Public Affairs and Administration at Rutgers University.

The lone lieutenant gubernatorial debate between Lieutenant Gov. Sheila Oliver and former State Sen. Diane Allen will be hosted by the New Jersey Globe, the Rebovich Institute of New Jersey Politics at Rider University, and Project Ready on Tuesday, October 5 at 7 PM.  The debate will be moderated by David Wildstein, the editor of the New Jersey Globe, and will be rebroadcast on Talk Radio 77 WABC.  The debate will be livestreamed on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and LinkedIn.

The second will take place at 8 PM on Tuesday, October 12, and will be hosted by NJ PBS, Rowan University, NJ Spotlight News, WNYC and the Gothamist.

State law requires that gubernatorial candidates participate in two ELEC-sanctioned debates and lieutenant gubernatorial candidates participate in one, and that those debates occur between September 21 and October 22. This year, with counties beginning mail-in ballot distribution on September 18, some voters will have already voted even before the first debate.