The Sun Journal, the public libraries in the Twin Cities and Central Maine Community College will host mayoral debates this month, starting in Auburn on Wednesday, Oct. 18.
The public is encouraged to attend.
Auburn candidates Adam Lee and Jason Levesque will face off at Kirk Hall at CMCC at 6 p.m. Wednesday. Lee is an attorney at Trafton, Matzen, Belleau & Frenette and serves as an Auburn city councilor for Ward 4. Levesque is the owner of Argo Marketing and a former congressional candidate in the 2nd District.
The two are vying for the seat held by Mayor Jonathan LaBonte, who is not seeking re-election.
The format of the debates will include opening statements by Lee and Levesque, followed by a series of questions posed by staffs from the libraries and the Sun Journal. In addition, each debater will be given an opportunity to ask two questions of the opposing side.
Questions will also be taken from the live and online audiences and can be submitted in advance to Mark Mogensen, managing editor/days of the Sun Journal, at mmogensen@sunjournal.com.
The events will be live-streamed on sunjournal.com and recorded by Great Falls TV for later broadcast.
On Monday, Oct. 23, mayoral candidates in Lewiston will face off at the Lewiston Public Library. The event begins at 6 p.m. and will follow the same format as the Auburn event.
Candidates are Shane Bouchard, Mark Cayer, Ben Chin, Ron Potvin and Charles Soule.
Current Mayor Robert Macdonald will be termed out of office.
The Sun Journal has asked each mayoral candidate, and all candidates for city councils and school committees in Lewiston and Auburn to respond to surveys on their campaign positions as part of the newspaper’s ongoing election coverage. Profiles on each candidate will be published starting Oct. 23.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 7.
Broadcasts of debates on the merger question hosted by the Sun Journal and the Twin Cities’ public libraries held in Auburn and Lewiston last month are available through Great Falls TV on Channel 11, or 1302 for Spectrum customers.
Great Falls TV is also broadcasting programs hosted by the Coalition Opposed to Lewiston-Auburn Consolidation and One LA.
The broadcasts rotate Monday through Saturday at 8 a.m., 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.
The content is also available on greatfallstv.net on demand.
The mayoral debates, once recorded, will also be broadcast on the above channels.
All content will run through Election Day.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
