The libertarian candidate will not get a chance to debate Terry McAuliffe or Ken Cuccinelli. Libertarian excluded from Va. debate

The Libertarian candidate will not be invited to participate in the final debate of the Virginia governor’s race, a break for Republican Ken Cuccinelli.

WDBJ7, the CBS affiliate organizing the Oct. 24 debate on the campus of Virginia Tech, announced late Thursday that Robert Sarvis has fallen just short of the 10 percent threshold for a third candidate to get on stage.


“As of this date, the third party candidate is polling at 9.0% based on the averages on realclearpolitics.com and would, therefore, not meet the guidelines agreed upon by the campaigns,” emailed Kelly Zuber, the station’s news director.

Thursday was the deadline for deciding who would participate.

With both major candidates viewed more unfavorably than favorably, the libertarian option has fared well among voters who don’t want to pick between “the lesser of two evils.” Sarvis received 12 percent in a three-way POLITICO poll conducted over the weekend of likely voters, while Democrat Terry McAuliffe was at 44 percent and Cuccinelli 35 percent.

Cuccinelli’s campaign has warned that Sarvis could be a spoiler. The 37-year old ran unsuccessfully for state Senate as a Republican in 2011.

McAuliffe’s campaign had hoped he would be included. Sarvis being on stage would have given him the chance to criticize Cuccinelli’s views on social issues and taken some potential heat off McAuliffe.

This final debate is much more important for Cuccinelli, who is trailing in the polls, than McAuliffe, who has the money to significantly outspend his rival on television advertising.

The Sarvis campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But in an interview earlier Thursday, he told POLITICO that if the debate decision didn’t go his way “we’ll keep just trying to get ourselves in front of as many voters as possible, as much as possible, before” the election.

“I don’t know that there is grounds for a lawsuit, maybe I can have people look into that,” Sarvis added, “but that’s not really what I’m trying to do, I’d rather not go that route.”

Katie Glueck contributed.

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