Ahead of the start of early voting for the June 5 runoff, the Fort Worth Report and 四虎影院 will offer a virtual debate between Fort Worth mayoral runoff candidates Deborah Peoples and Mattie Parker.
The contenders will face off at noon May 18. Both nonprofit, nonpartisan news organizations will stream the debate live at 四虎影院News.org and and on their Facebook pages.
"We are pleased to partner with fellow nonprofit news organization 四虎影院 to offer our audiences a nonpartisan way to learn about the two mayoral candidates,鈥� said , the CEO and publisher of the Report. 鈥淲e consider educating, engaging and empowering Fort Worth residents to be at the core of our mission."
Peoples and Parker were the . , finished first with 22,551 votes. , received 20,964 votes. They came out on top of a field of 10 mayoral candidates vying to replace .
Early voting begins May 24 and ends June 1. Polls will be closed on May 31 for Memorial Day.
鈥淭his election is clearly a pivotal moment for Fort Worth,鈥� said Rick Holter, 四虎影院 vice president of news. 鈥淎nd we鈥檙e excited to work with Fort Worth Report to help our audience in the city get to know the candidates 鈥� and ultimately get the context they need to make an informed decision.鈥�
The moderator will be Sam Baker, 四虎影院 senior editor and local host for 鈥淢orning Edition.鈥�
A panel of journalists from both news organizations will ask Peoples and Parker questions. The panelists include Cobler, Report investigative journalist and 四虎影院鈥檚 Fort Worth reporter Miranda Suarez.
The candidates will be asked in-depth questions about three topics.
The Report and 四虎影院 welcome questions from readers ahead of the debate. Email hello@fortworthreport.org to submit your queries for Parker and Peoples. The panelists will select a few reader-submitted questions.
Questions also will be accepted during the livestream. Those can be submitted through the stream鈥檚 chat. A sampling of questions will be asked at the end of the debate.
Regardless of who wins, Fort Worth鈥檚 next mayor will make history. Peoples, 68, would be the city鈥檚 first Black mayor, and Parker, 37, would be the youngest mayor of any major U.S. city.
Jacob Sanchez is an enterprise journalist for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at jacob.sanchez@fortworthreport.org or via .
This first appeared on and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
