The Centralia-Chehalis Chamber of Commerce announced the dates and times for its annual local election debates on Monday ahead of this year’s Nov. 4 general election.
The event will feature debates between 14 candidates competing for seats on both Centralia and Chehalis City Councils as well as a single Port of Centralia commissioner seat. The event is set for Thursday Oct. 9 at O’Blarney’s Pub in Centralia.
According to the announcement from the Centralia-Chehalis Chamber of Commerce, the event will begin with debates between Chehalis City Council candidates at 11 a.m. Chehalis has three seats up for grabs and as a result there will be three debates, starting with incumbent Kate McDougall and challenger Elijah White, who are competing for Position 1. After that will be incumbent Kevin Carns debating Jack-Allen Snodgrass competing for Position 2, and finally incumbent Bob Spahr debating Jessie Carver in the race for Position 3.
Candidates for Centralia City Council are set to begin their debates at 12:45 p.m., starting with the candidates competing for District 1, incumbent Norm Chapman and challenger Lisa Striedinger. Candidates for District Two, Ray Chapman-Wilson and Leah Sisemore, will face off next. Finally, competitors for District Three, Kevin Curtis and Tera Haskins, will debate.
The last debate of the event will be between the candidates for Port of Centralia Commission, incumbent Julie Shaffley and challenger Ally Pickard.
According to Chamber of Commerce Director Cynthia Mudge, in addition to the live debates, candidate statements will be published in the Business Connections insert in The Chronicle on the first Thursday of the month. Digital copies of the publication are also available on the chamber’s website at www.chamberway.com.
“The purpose of these debates is to give voters an opportunity to meet and learn more about each candidate,” Mudge said. “Our goal is to educate voters about key issues facing each municipality and how candidates plan to address them.”
