Congressional hopeful Ala Stanford on Wednesday morning announced she was dropping out of a WHYY candidates debate two hours before it was scheduled to begin, saying her campaign could not agree with the public radio station on a format for the debate and criticizing her opponents in the race for “misogynistic attacks.”
“I have never been afraid of a hard room,” Stanford said in a statement. “After engaging in good faith with WHYY, we could not reach terms on a format that would deliver the serious accountability voters in PA-03 deserve.”
Stanford’s campaign manager emailed the announcement to reporters around 10 a.m., two hours before the debate on WHYY’s Studio 2 was supposed to take place.
In her statement, Stanford did not clarify what problems she had with the debate format. She also did not provide details on any attacks from her opponents in the Democratic primary for Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District.
A Stanford spokesperson declined to comment beyond her written statement.
Stanford’s surprise announcement came less than three weeks before the May 19 primary, and followed a series of missteps for her campaign, including the revelation that a staffer used artificial intelligence to help answer a candidates’ questionnaire and her stumbling through a question about immigration enforcement in an interview with NBC10.
A recent Inquirer report on her stewardship of the Black Doctors Consortium also found that the organization omitted details about her income that were required to be included on nonprofit tax forms filed with the Internal Revenue Service.
Stanford’s exit from the Wednesday event meant the other two top contenders in the race, State Rep. Chris Rabb and State Sen. Sharif Street, were the only candidates to participate in the debate featured on WHYY’s Studio 2, the highest-profile live and on-air debate thus far.
It was a relatively subdued affair compared to some of the other more gloves-off style campaign events in the open race. Street and Rabb took questions from moderators and largely agreed on policy, with both saying they support expanding universal healthcare, abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and impeaching President Donald Trump.
The two state lawmakers sought to contrast their styles, with Street portraying himself as a more competent legislator.
“I get things done,” said Street, the former head of the state Democratic Party. “Rep. Rabb and I share a lot of value propositions. But the difference is I deliver on ideas.”
Rabb, a progressive who has been endorsed by the Working Families Party, said Street is too closely aligned with the Democratic establishment, and that his ideas are not bold enough.
“There’s so many people who think we can’t do things big and bold,” he said. “They play around the edges, because that’s what establishment politics does.”
Both candidates were also asked about Stanford’s absence and her charge Wednesday that the race has been “marred by misogynistic attacks and lies from both of my opponents.”
Stanford, a first-time political candidate, is the only woman on the ballot.
Rabb said he wasn’t sure what she was referring to, but pointed out that when Stanford was recently heckled by some of his own supporters during a candidates forum, he repeatedly told them to let her speak.
And Street said he has not attacked her directly, but acknowledged that she’s faced criticisms.
“She has been attacked. I’ve been attacked. Everybody on this campaign, I’m sure, has been attacked at some point,” he said.
Rabb and Street said their campaigns did not negotiate with WHYY on the format of the event.
Kevin McCorry, an executive producer and host at the station, said WHYY engaged with Stanford’s campaign “in good faith” and acquiesced to her staff members’ requests, including allowing her to have notes on the table and bring extra staffers to sit in the audience.
He said WHYY learned that she was pulling out when Stanford’s campaign manager released a statement to reporters from multiple news outlets.
“We were flexible with her requests,” McCorry said. “At no time did they say, ‘If X doesn’t change, we’re backing out.’”
Street spokesperson Anthony Campisi accused Stanford of dropping out to avoid tough questions, adding that “her campaign is in free fall.”
“Rather than answer these questions in a debate that’s aired on radio and television, she appears to be taking her ball and going home, which is not what Philadelphians expect from their member of Congress,” Campisi said Wednesday. “Philadelphians deserve a member of Congress who is ready to fight for them and against Donald Trump, not someone who runs from a fight.”
Rabb said that when it comes to campaign events, he and his team “don’t negotiate, we just show up.”
“Even if I didn’t like the format, which is not uncommon, I still show up,” he said, “because I’m a public servant and I’m a public candidate, and I got to reach people wherever they are.”
In her statement, Stanford, a physician, noted she has taken the Hippocratic Oath “to first do no harm.”
“I challenge everyone in this race to join me in promoting the kind of spirited, but serious and meaningful dialogue Philadelphians should expect from those asking to serve,” she said. “In the meantime, I will be where I have always been — on doorsteps, in church basements, and on the corners of the wards that built me.”
Shaun Griffith, a tax adviser and the fourth candidate in the race, did not participate in the debate because he did not meet WHYY’s criteria, which included a fundraising threshold.
He attended the event and sat in the audience, and said afterwards that it was “frustrating to be watching other people get to answer questions and not have the opportunity to do so myself.”
