In what has shaped up to be a classic mud-slinger, the race for Southwest Louisiana’s seat in the U.S. House of Representatives goes down to Saturday’s wire with each side claiming the lead based on its own polling. The combatants — Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle and ex-deputy Clay Higgins — will sit within shouting distance of each other Thursday night during a KATC-hosted “digital town hall” event in conjunction with the UL College of Liberal Arts and Political Science Department. It airs at 7 p.m. on KATC TV3 and will be live-streamed by the local ABC affiliate.

According to a press release, the “debate” will allow voters to ask the candidates questions via social media, which will be relayed by Marcelle Fontenot. Her weeknight co-anchor, Jim Hummel, will serve as moderator.

Voters can submit questions in text or video form by posting them on KATC’s Facebook and Twitter pages with the hashtag #KATCDebate. Viewers can also comment during the broadcast using the same hashtag.

Angelle and Higgins finished first-second, respectively, in the Nov. 8 primary, and since then the race has gotten exceedingly ugly, pulling in super PACs and opposition research. Higgins has accused Angelle of being a career politician and on the corporate dole, while the Angelle camp has made much ado about allegations that Higgins skipped out on tens of thousands of dollars in back child support. Higgins has either denied the allegations or claimed they're inaccurate, but telephone conversations posted to Facebook by an ex-wife appear to undercut those claims.