If you have had a full schedule and been unable to attend an Election 2024 local candidate forum to date, Trinity Missionary Baptist Church will have its own event Tuesday, Oct. 29.
Barney Gadson, a deacon at Trinity, is an event organizer and spoke recently on the forum that has been organized one week before Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 5.
Candidates for mayor of the City of Sumter, Sumter City Council, Sumter County Council, Sumter school board, local Statehouse and local Congressional races have been invited to participate and take questions, he said.
Many churches do not host candidate forums, but Gadson said the event is for the entire community and organizers are simply using the building as a meeting place.
"We are inviting the entire community to come out because we know a lot of people really are not paying much attention at this point," he said. "This is kind of why I am waiting until we get closer to the election so that as folks are getting prepared to go in the voting booth they will have information to make an informed decision. We are not pushing one candidate or the other - that is not our aim at all. We just want to hear from as many candidates as we can."
Trinity is at 155 Wall St., and the event is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.
A main forum focus will be to open it up for a question-and-answer time for members of the audience and the candidates.
Candidates in both contested races and unopposed races will be asked questions, Gadson added.
"For me, personally, if you are running unopposed, I still believe you have an obligation to come out and tell folks why you should remain in office for the next four years," he said. "People should still have the ability to find out the 'why.'"
A meet-and-greet will follow for the public to ask additional questions, Gadson added.
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