North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Forest will participate in a gubernatorial debate on Oct. 14, both campaigns confirmed to The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Cooper, who consistently leads in the polls by double digits, has not yet agreed to a pair of additional debates requested by Forest.

Forest wrote in a tweet on Tuesday that it took 70 days for Cooper to accept even one debate. He said his campaign “will keep pushing” for him to agree to ones hosted by Spectrum News and CBS-affiliate WNCN.

The Oct. 14 discussion is being organized by the North Carolina Association of Broadcasters.

While Forest has traversed the state for maskless, in-person campaign events, Cooper has said he has no plans to make any physical campaign stops.

“Since March, we have stopped in-person campaign events,” Cooper said in a wide-ranging interview with the AP earlier this month. “There may be some things that we need to do. I don’t know yet, so I don’t want to make that an absolute. But we know that slowing the spread of this virus means that we don’t need people gathering together in large groups.”

Photo courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Public Safety.

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