Virginians wishing to hear from the two major party candidates vying to lead the commonwealth for the next four years will have that rare opportunity on Thursday evening during the first gubernatorial debate.

Republican Glenn Youngkin and Democrat Terry McAuliffe have only agreed to one other debate this season, on Sept. 28, so voters should seize this opportunity to hear each man articulate his vision for Virginia’s future.

WTKR channel 3, the local CBS affiliate in Hampton Roads, will broadcast the one-hour event, which is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. It will also be available online.

Residents of our region will have no other choice but to view the proceedings via television or the internet since the two campaigns failed to reach agreement on a debate here. In fact, debates over debates — how many, where, who moderates them — has played an outsized role in the campaign so far.

McAuliffe agreed in June to participate in five debates, including the long-standing tradition of a July event hosted by the Virginia Bar Association and one at Norfolk State University.

The VBA debate was cancelled when Youngkin declined to participate, the first time in 36 years that a major-party candidate did not attend. His campaign cited moderator Judy Woodruff’s $250 donation to the Clinton Foundation in 2010 to help Haiti earthquake victims for the decision. McAuliffe previously served on the Clinton Foundation board.

Youngkin announced on Aug. 3 that he would participate in three debates: an August event hosted jointly by Hampton University, Liberty University and the Virginia Peninsula Chamber of Commerce; Thursday’s event at the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy; and the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce, NBC4/Telemundo 44 and the Schar School of Public Policy and Government event at George Mason University on Sept. 28.

The Hampton Roads event was canceled when McAuliffe objected to Liberty University’s involvement, after the school was the location of a “Election Integrity” rally that advanced lies about the 2020 presidential election. Youngkin attended that event, the only statewide candidate to do so.

Debates, by and large, enjoy far more prominence in campaigns than they deserve. Especially in a news landscape dominated by social media, clever quips and witty retorts often receive traction that substantive discussion of policy proposals do not.

Still, debates are important because they tend to be moments of voter focus — an hour when people who are likely to cast a ballot will tune in to learn about those trying to earn their vote. And they can provide useful insight in who is equipped to handle the complexities of the job — who’s done the homework and can present detailed plans for how to act, and who has not.

For Virginia, the debate over debates has obscured more pressing concerns, such as how to keep the economy going and get people back to work, how to continue the progress made on issues of social equality and criminal justice reform, how to fund our public schools and higher education, what to do about our crisis in mental health care, and how to improve our infrastructure across the commonwealth.

The fear, however, is that with no debates in Hampton Roads, issues that are of greater importance here — what to do about climate and sea-level rise, how to bolster operations at the Port of Virginia, how to improve our transportation systems — might get short shrift.

That’s why it’s a shame that the two men who want to be governor couldn’t find some common ground on even this most basic of issues. The easier path — the better path for Virginians — would have been to raise whatever objections one might have but still participate in the events themselves.

Thankfully, it’s only mid-September. And while early voting begins Friday, there’s still time for those who want to lead to show some leadership and come on down to Hampton Roads to discuss the issues that matter most to residents here.