In July, Ryan Elijah blasted Congressman Cory Mills for refusing WESH-2’s offer to televise a Republican primary debate.
“I believe we owe it to the voters to talk about the issues that impact them the most. To talk about experience, to talk about voting records. Let’s make that happen,” Elijah said at the time.
After Elijah’s Aug. 18 primary victory over Mills, the shoe is on the other foot.
In a race for U.S. House in Florida’s 7th District, comprised of Seminole and southern Volusia counties, Elijah failed to commit to WESH’s general election debate. Instead of explaining why he won’t debate opponents Bale Dalton and Christopher Dennison, Elijah’s spokeswoman instead attacked Dalton, a Democrat, for recent comments on healthcare for transgender minors.
Dalton campaign says Elijah missed deadline to respond to WESH debate
WESH gave candidates a deadline to respond to its invitation to its Oct. 8 debate. In an email to the candidates, WESH wrote: “As you are aware, we asked all candidates to respond by today, September 11, to confirm availability and participation. Please note that as of 5 p.m., Mr. Elijah has not responded to the debate invitation or follow-up attempts.”
Dalton and Dennison agreed to the Oct. 8 date.
Dalton criticized Elijah for skipping the WESH debate.
‘What changed, Ryan?” Dalton said in a Sept. 14 statement shared with The News-Journal. “While you work on your stage fright and flip-flop answers, I’m ready to debate – and will always be ready to fight for Floridians. We don’t need more empty suit politicians who say one thing then do another.”
Candidate Bale Dalton answers a question during a forum featuring democratic party candidates for Florida’s 7th District congressional seat, Monday, July 20, 2026, in Deltona.
The “flip-flop answers” Dalton cited was a position Elijah took during an Aug. 5 GOP primary debate hosted by Volusia County Republicans, in which Elijah said he believed the 2020 election result was questionable.
“I do not believe President Biden got more votes than President Trump in that race,” Elijah said then.
News 6 Orlando’s Matt Austin asked Elijah about whether he believes that election was “stolen” in a recent interview. Elijah said: “No,” before talking about how it’s time to “move forward,” and the question is designed to “divide people.”
Elijah points to schedule conflicts; campaign swipes at Dalton’s transgender comments
In a text message response to a Sept. 14 News-Journal inquiry, Elijah wrote: “We were/are working through a conflict. We have two major events those days, so I’m a little surprised it escalated to that.”
Republican congressional candidate Ryan Elijah speaks during a debate Aug. 5, 2026, at the Brannon Center in New Smyrna Beach. Elijah is asking voters to elect him to Florida’s 7th District seat.
He asked his spokeswoman, Erin Isaac, to offer an update on the WESH debate.
Isaac did not address the reasons for Elijah’s decision to not participate, instead offering a statement and link to a video from an interview Dalton did with Austin on News 6 Orlando.
“If I were on Mr. Dalton’s team, I’d be desperate for on-stage opportunities to convince voters he doesn’t support trans surgeries for minors too,” Isaac said in an email.
Isaac shared a clip of Dalton responding to Austin’s question: “Would you support gender-affirming medical care for minors under the age of 18?”
Dalton responded: “I think this is always going to be a discussion that families should have, that parents need to be having with their children, and with their doctors. Frankly, I’ll just leave it at that, because I don’t think the federal government has any business in talking about the medical care that families determine that they need for themselves and their kids.”
Libertarian candidate looks forward to debate
Dennison, the Libertarian in the race, said he is excited to share a stage with Dalton, even if Elijah is not present.
Christopher Dennison is a Libertarian candidate for U.S. House in Florida’s 7th District in 2026.
“Bale Dalton continues to ignore and make no references to me,” Dennison said. “He only talks about Ryan and refuses to acknowledge me.”
Dennison said Elijah is following “the Trump strategy of not debating,” and questioned whether Elijah was even in charge of his own campaign. Two issues Dennison aims to challenge Elijah on are whether or not he will accept funds from AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and whether he would support the 2026 Epstein Files Transparency Act II bill.
− Mark Harper covers politics, government, and education for The News-Journal, with a focus on Florida, mostly in Volusia County. He can be reached at mark.harper@news-jrnl.com.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Florida Congress race draws accusations of debate dodging