BATON ROUGE — Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards and his Republican challenger Eddie Rispone will meet in an Oct. 30 debate.

The two contenders have agreed to an event planned by Louisiana Public Broadcasting and the Council for A Better Louisiana that will air statewide.

The Baton Rouge debate may be the only head-to-head sparring the candidates do ahead of the Saturday, Nov. 16, runoff.

Rispone, a businessman making his first run for office, hasn’t announced his willingness to participate in any other proposed forums so far.

Edwards was forced into the runoff after he failed to top 50 percent of the vote in the primary election.

The race is drawing national attention from Republicans who want to oust Edwards and Democrats who want to hold on to their only governorship in the Deep South.