As we near the general election on Nov. 2, several local groups are planning candidate forums to help Lawrence voters make up their minds.
The six candidates running for Lawrence City Commission in the general election, alphabetically by last name, are Stuart Boley, Ma’Ko’Quah Jones, Lisa Larsen, Bart Littlejohn, Milton Scott and Amber Sellers.
For Lawrence school board, they are Kay Emerson, GR Gordon-Ross, Kelly Jones, Nate Morsches, Andrew Nussbaum and Elizabeth Stephens.
Three seats are up for grabs in each election.
The Times is keeping a running list of all the forums we know about (please let us know if we’re missing one by getting in touch!), and the info you need to know if you want to attend. After the forum is over, we’re adding links to available recordings and to our coverage, where applicable. Click here for that list.
Upcoming forums start with a virtual one at 5 p.m. Sunday (Sept. 19) — a “speed dating-style” forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Lawrence-Douglas County invites all 12 candidates to give brief stump speeches, then rotate between Zoom breakout rooms to answer voters’ questions. Any interested members of the public are invited — join the meeting at this link.
Another forum — which the Times is co-hosting, alongside more than a dozen other community partners — will be the Arts, Culture & Creative Industries Candidate Forum, slated for 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 2.
“Arts and culture in Lawrence is a key component to the city’s identity. In this forum we will hear from city commission candidates about their plans for leveraging Lawrence’s cultural assets as part of the city’s strategic plan, economic development, and the downtown master plan.”
That forum will be held at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 New Hampshire St., and livestreamed at this link. Seating is first-come, first-served. There’s also a Facebook event page at this link.
Other co-hosts for the arts forum include the arts center, Art Emergency, Cider Gallery, eXplore Lawrence, Gould Evans, the Lawrence Art Guild, The Percolator, Raven Book Store, Theatre Lawrence, SeedCo Studios, Spencer Museum of Art, Van Go Inc., Watkins Museum of History and Wonder Fair.
Other upcoming Lawrence City Commission forums on our calendars:
• 6:30-8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 22: Downtown Lawrence Inc. Candidate Forum
In person at Abe & Jake’s Landing, 8 E. 6th St., or via Zoom. Cost for non-DLI members is $5 and includes pizza and soft drinks. Please RSVP to admin@downtownlawrence.com or 785-843-3883.
• 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 29: Lawrence NAACP 2021 City Commission Forum
RSVP at this link to join via Zoom.
Other upcoming Lawrence school board forums on our calendars:
• 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 30: Lawrence NAACP 2021 School Board Forum
RSVP at this link to join via Zoom.
• 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 9: Lawrence Education Association general election forum
Location TBD; public attendance may be limited due to COVID-19, but the forum will be livestreamed on YouTube.
We’ll add updated information and more forums as we hear about them at this link.
Don’t miss a beat … Click here to sign up for our email newsletters
Click here to learn more about our newsletters first
