(Salt Lake City, UT) — Republican Congressman Burgess Owens is citing racism as the reason he skipped last night’s Fourth District congressional debate in Salt Lake City. In a video posted to social media, Owens said he would not take part in a debate moderated by the executive editor of the Salt Lake Tribune. The congressman says the newspaper published a racist political cartoon last year that compared his stance on the southern border to views held by the Ku Klux Klan. The debate went on without him, though the two remaining candidates criticized him for skipping the event.