LEWISBURG (WVDN) – The West Virginia Daily News is set to hold its candidates’ debate on Thursday, Oct. 27, at 6 p.m. at Carnegie Hall.
This debate is open to the public and will allow candidates from the 10th Senatorial District and the 46th District of the House of Delegates to face off in a neutral space moderated by Hinton businessman Ken Allman.
The debate is set to take place seven days after Harry “Lee” Forbes was ruled ineligible to run in the Senatorial District 10 race.
On Oct. 14, Greenbrier County Executive Committee Chair Ben Anderson had filed a suit against Forbes and West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner in Kanawha County Circuit Court, stating that Forbes was ineligible to run because he resides in the same county as current Senator Jack David Woodrum. On Oct. 20, Kanawha County Circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers ruled in favor of Anderson, and Forbes was removed from the ballot.
Two other candidates, incumbent State Senate Minority Leader Stephen Baldwin (D) and Vince Deeds (R), meanwhile, have been engaged in a war of words on their campaign pages over another event held last week at the Rupert library.
Deeds was a no-show at the candidates’ forum although it had been advertised that he was attending.
The Republican candidate stated on social media that he had informed Baldwin’s camp that he would not be in attendance, stating “Mr. Baldwin and his staff sat up a ‘debate’ with four candidates, by themselves. No neutral organization served as host or to establish questions. In addition, professional debates usually do not include third party candidates, let alone those who are no longer eligible to participate in the election process. This debate was not properly planned and we let Mr. Baldwin’s campaign know weeks ago that we would not be participating.”
Baldwin fired back on Friday, Oct. 21, “The Deeds campaign was involved in planning this debate. They simply refused to participate because all candidates were invited.”
The third party candidates in question were Forbes, who was running as an Independent, and Aaron Ransom, who is also running as an Independent.
The West Virginia Daily News debate will include Baldwin, Deeds, and Ransom, and all three of the candidates have confirmed their participation.
Candidates for the House of Delegates 46th District, incumbent Mike Honaker (R) and Paul Detch (D), will also face off at the debate.
The West Virginia Daily News welcomes the community to this debate which is the only scheduled event in which the candidates will face one another.
