Some Democrats in Florida’s 27th District criticized frontrunner Donna Shalala for disrespecting organizers of a debate by skipping it on Tuesday.

Shalala defended her decision not to attend, the Miami Herald reported, saying, “There will be lots of time to debate.”

The former University of Miami president said she still had obligations to the university until the end of the month.

“My team has known for a long time that I had something on my calendar that I could not change,” she said.

But candidate David Richardson accused the former Clinton administration secretary of Health and Human Services of “backtracking.”