Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Lee and Democratic nominee Karl Dean are committing to three debate dates this fall in advance of the Nov. 6 election.

Bill Lee

Karl Dean

Lee announced Thursday, Aug. 23, he will attend debates, and Dean confirmed he would join:

•Oct. 2 in Memphis held by USA Today Network-Tennessee/WMC-TV at the University of Memphis.

•Oct. 9 in Kingsport held by Kingsport Times-News at the Eastman Employee Center.

•Oct. 12 in Nashville held by Nexstar Television Network. The location is to be determined.

“I believe Tennessee can lead the nation and that means challenging the status quo and providing conservative leadership to keep Tennessee moving in the right direction,” Lee said in an announcement. “I look forward to continuing to share my vision with Tennesseans on the campaign trail and from the debate stage this fall.”

Lee is going across the state on a “Believe in Tennessee” tour of all 95 counties while Dean recently launched a statewide “Town Square” campaign. Dean’s campaign said he is committed to the three debate dates and agreed to 16-plus debates and forums but was limited to three by the Lee campaign.

“I’d love to see us go beyond just having a couple of these real structured televised debates,” Dean said in a previous interview. “I’d love to see us go to town squares. I’d like to see us go to rural areas, suburban areas, go to the urban areas, go to the African-American churches and just have a discussion and talk through the issues and let people decide.”