Nexstar Media stations will host two multi-market live telecasts of debates between the major-party candidates running for governor of Illinois: Democrat J. B. Pritzker and Republican Darren Bailey.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH A REPLAY OF THURSDAY’S DEBATE
The first debate will be at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 6 at the Illinois State University campus in Normal, Ill. The second debate will originate from the studios of WGN-TV in Chicago and will take place at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. Both debates will be broadcast across the state of Illinois.
Produced by WMBD-TV in Peoria and WGN-TV in Chicago, these hour-long debates will be available via broadcast or digital live stream in every county of the state, potentially bringing together more than 6 million viewers. The debate will air on local Nexstar television stations in eight markets serving Illinois, and Nexstar is partnering with Gray Television’s WGEM-TV in Quincy and Allen Media’s WSIL-TV in Carterville to make the debate available in all Illinois television markets. In addition, radio stations throughout the state will be provided free access to the debate. WGLT (89.1 FM) in Normal and WCBU (89.9 FM) in Peoria intend to carry the debates in their respective markets. WGN Radio (720 AM) in Chicago will carry the second debate on Oct. 18.
The first debate at Illinois State University will be moderated by WGN-TV News anchor Tahman Bradley and WCIA-TV News anchor Jennifer Roscoe. The second debate from WGN-TV will be moderated by WGN-TV News anchors Micah Materre and Tahman Bradley. The moderators will pose questions to each candidate, including several submitted in advance by voters. They will focus on topics important to viewers at home.
| Station | Network | Market |
| WGN-TV | – | Chicago, IL |
| KPLR | CW | St. Louis, MO |
| WCIA | CBS | Champaign, IL |
| WHBF | CBS | Rock Island, IL |
| WEHT | ABC | Evansville, IL |
| WMBD | CBS | Peoria, IL |
| WQRF | Fox | Rockford, IL |
| WTWO | NBC | Terre Haute, IN |
| WGEM | NBC | Quincy, IL |
| WSIL | ABC | Harrisburg, IL |
The election for Illinois Governor will take place on Nov. 8. Voters must register to vote by Oct. 11, by mail, and Oct. 23, online. To register to vote, please visit: https://ova.elections.il.gov .
