The Jasper County League of Women Voters has received confirmation from all eight candidates invited to take part in a May 19 forum.
The forum, hosted by the league and the Newton Daily News, is set to take place in Newton City Hall’s council chambers, is being held in advance of the June 7 primary elections. For Jasper County voters, one of the at-large county supervisor seats and two Iowa House seats have contested primaries.
The Jasper County Board of Supervisors forum is set for 6:45 p.m. and the Iowa House candidate forum is set for 8 p.m. Catherine Fouts will moderate the forum.
The supervisor candidates include Democrats Sandy Shaver and John Deegan and Republicans Doug Cupples and Mark Sutter.
In Iowa House District 28, Lois J. DeWaard of Pleasantville and Marty Duffy of Knoxville will compete for the Democratic nomination in the primary. In Iowa House District 29, Wes Breckenridge is challenging incumbent Dan Kelley for the Democratic nomination.
Fran Henderson is helping coordinate the event for the League, which hasn’t hosted a forum for a primary election in recent years, as the party nominations for county and state seats aren’t usually contested.
“As a voter, I think having the opportunity to submit questions about issues to candidates and hearing their response is a great opportunity,” Henderson said. “The citizens of our community and county always have great questions. The forum is an opportunity for the candidates to share their reasons for running for elected office, qualifications and leadership experience and to let the citizens know where they stand on issues.”
There have been discussions about televising the debate on local cable TV, but no formal decision had been made as of press time Thursday.
Candidates who have no opposition in the primary cycle have not been invited to the primary forum, per league policy. This includes Patrick Payton of Newton; he is unopposed in seeking the Republican nomination to face either Breckenridge or Kelley in the District 29 general election in November.
Incumbent Greg Heartsill (R-Columbia) is unopposed in seeking his party’s nomination for District 28. He’ll face either DeWaard or Duffy in the general election.
The Jasper County League of Women Voters also plans to host at least one forum in the fall in the lead-up to the general election, with one candidate per party per contested seat.
Sen. Amy Sinclair (R-Allerton) has no opposition from either party in Senate District 14.
Campaign material will not be allowed at Newton City Hall or in the council chambers. This will include all signage, campaign buttons and all clothing apparel.
“In the last general election, a group of people supporting a particular candidate did come wearing T-shirts supporting that candidate,” Henderson said. “So we have taken steps to address that and that has been included in the forum rules, which were sent to all the candidates.”
Henderson said there might be some overlapping issues between the county- and state-level candidates, but it’s always tough to tell what voters might bring up as subjects.
“Mental health would be one (issue for both the county and the state),” she said. “I suppose infrastructure would be one; it’s all crumbling everywhere, and we don’t seem to be finding funding to repair it. On the state side, I think we will hear a lot more about the same: funding for education, clean water and how to fund it, human trafficking, funding the trust fund, sentence reform to name a few.”
Henderson said restoring the voting rights of felons and oversight of the privatization of Medicaid could come up as well, but there are dozens of other hot topics that could surface.
The League of Women Voters does not endorse candidates or positions on issues.
“The league is a non-partisan organization that encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues and influences public policy through education and advocacy,” Henderson said.
Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com