The problem is that Guest won’t attend. The Guest campaign made it clear that they would not debate Hughes prior to the June 26th runoff. Guest’s communications director Rob Pillow stated that Guest had already participated in 12 debates and forums during the campaign, three of which were in Hinds County. Michael Guest will continue to travel throughout the third district to meet voters to discuss key issues affecting the country. Pillow stated that “Obviously, our opponent will not dictate our schedule in any way that we would try to dictate his.” Guest and Hughes received the most votes out of six Republican candidates for the third state congressional seat. This set up a June 26 race between the two. Guest managed to win with 45 percent of votes, while Hughes received 22 percent. Whit Hughes and Michael Guest are poised to face off in the House GOP runoff. The winner will face Rep. Michael Evans, who won the Democratic primary in the race for the House seat that was left vacant by retiring Rep. Gregg Harper. Hughes has challenged Guest several times since the June 5th primary to debate at least twice before the runoff. Guest’s campaign stated emphatically that they will not debate. Hughes has made Guest’s refusal of debate a major talking point on his campaign trail. Hughes stated in a campaign email that “for months people assumed this race would go into a runoff” and that there would be debates during the runoff. My opponent, Michael Guest has refused to debate with me. “… I respect Michael, but also I respect the voters’ desire to hear from me in a debate setting.” Hinds County GOP is the largest Republican Party County Chapter in the state. Pete Perry is the chairman of Hinds County GOP and is also the Hinds County campaign chair for Hughes’ campaign. Perry did not return a Monday call from Mississippi Today. Perry did not immediately return a call to Mississippi Today for comment on Monday. Wilson said Monday that Michael Guest has not yet confirmed his attendance to the debate. “Pete Perry (if Guest is not there) and I will meet to work that out. If Guest still hasn’t given his approval, I don’t know what we will do Thursday.