Former Congressman Lee Zeldin urges voters not to pass Proposition 1 during a news conference at Capitol in Albany.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has been one of the loudest proponents of Prop 1, which supporters call the "Equal Rights Amendment."

Schenectady Republican Claudia Cavanagh speaks at a rally in Schenectady in opposition to Prop 1 on the November ballot.

Julie Davenport, of the Schenectady Couny Republican Women’s Club, speaks against Prop 1.

Placard from a news conference where former Congressman Lee Zeldin urged voters not to pass the Equal Rights Amendment on Monday, May 6, 2024, during a news conference at Capitol in Albany, N.Y. The Equal Rights Amendment - proposition one on state ballots in the upcoming presidential election - is an amendment to the state Constitution that, if passed, would prohibit discrimination by the government based on a person’s ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, and sex — including their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes.

I’m a political junkie, which helps to explain why I like debates. I also believe candidates running for office have a duty to participate in them.

More and more, that isn’t happening. As the Times Union’s Wendy Liberatore reported, Republican candidates in Saratoga County are increasingly declining to participate in debates organized by the League of Women Voters — a refusal that is also happening in other places.

Some of that is part of a cynical strategy of debate avoidance employed by both........

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