May 24, 2021 — NEWARK, NJ — NJ PBS was proud to be asked by ELEC to host one of this year’s Gubernatorial Primary Republican debates and has been actively communicating with the Ciattarelli and Singh campaigns about the details, including rules and logistics, with the goal of providing New Jersey with a live, virtual, primetime debate. Among the reasons we planned the event as virtual from the beginning is the fact that our studio is unavailable for use due to renovation. We were pleased when both campaigns agreed to the virtual arrangement in late April and provided them the debate criteria in early May. Since then, the Singh campaign did not re-confirm its participation in our event by the deadline set by ELEC today and has refused to comply with the COVID testing requirement that is part of NJ PBS production protocols.  For these reasons, we must unfortunately cancel the debate that was scheduled for Wednesday, May 26.  We look forward to providing New Jersey with comprehensive coverage throughout the election season both on-air and online.