A Republican gubernatorial candidate in Arizona refused an invitation to participate in a political panel hosted by Univision and the LIBRE Initiative arguing that its focus on Latino issues and the fact that it was going to be televised on a Spanish network was “damaging to the country”.
"I am declining to participate in your debate”, wrote Andrew Thomas in an email he sent to the organizers of the debat, which he posted in his Facebook page.
“I believe it is wrong and damaging to our nation to conduct a forum that expressly caters to one racial or ethnic group only. This is particularly true when the debate is to be broadcast to the voters by a media outlet that speaks only Spanish, as Arizona is an Official English state."
After posting the message on Facebook, Thomas took to Twitter to call the debate "balkanizing."

I am declining to participate in a balkanizing debate hosted by the Libre Foundation and Univision 8/20. See my FB page for explanation.

— Andrew Thomas (@ThomasforAZ) August 18, 2014

The debate was translated into Spanish and broadcast by Univision on Wednesday.