Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republican nominee for governor, formally accepted CNN’s invitation on Wednesday to participate in a fall debate.

Her Democratic opponent, former US Rep. Abigail Spanberger, has not yet responded to CNN’s invitation.

The election is one of two governor’s races across the nation in the year immediately after the presidential election and could serve as a bellwether ahead of next year’s midterms. Earle-Sears is seen by many in her party as an underdog against Spanberger, who won the endorsement Wednesday of the Virginia Police Benevolent Association even as the law enforcement group backed Republicans for lieutenant governor and attorney general.

CNN’s forum will take place live in late September or early October with questions posed directly by

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