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SC Debate Format Changed After Lindsey Graham Refuses COVID-19 Test

Just hours before its Friday evening start time, the hotly contested second debate has been turned on its head.

Just hours before its Friday evening start time, the format for the hotly contested second debate between South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and his Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison has been changed after Graham adamantly refused to get tested for COVID-19. Instead of going head-to-head, each candidate will do separate back-to-back, one-on-one interviews with panelists and a moderator asking questions. Both candidates tested negative for the virus before their first debate, in which Harrison brought his own plexiglass wall. But, since then, at least 34 people in President Trump’s orbit—including people who’ve had close contact with Graham—have tested positive. Harrison threatened to pull out of the debate if Graham wasn’t tested—something that he and moderators reportedly all already agreed to do. Graham said he’d agreed to all federal coronavirus guidelines, such as getting his temperature taken, and claimed Harrison was pulling a political stunt by demanding he be tested.