Mayoral forum happening April 4

Staff reports

The Jackson Post is partnering with Jackson State Community College and Public Broadcasting of West Tennessee to bring the voters of Jackson a chance to hear from the candidates for mayor.

The Jackson Mayoral Forum will be held on Tuesday, April 4, at 6 p.m. in Ayers Auditorium in the McWherter Center on Jackson State’s campus.

All six candidates for Jackson Mayor – incumbent Scott Conger, Ray Condray, Darryl Hubbard, Lisa Williams-Lyons, Paul Sherrod and Jerry Woods – have been invited to participate.

Candidates will answer questions about issues within Jackson and their approaches to them if they’re the one elected as Mayor on May 2. Those questions will be asked by The Post’s Brandon Shields and Julia Ewoldt.

“We’re grateful to our friends at Jackson State and PBS for partnering with us to bring this opportunity for the candidates for Mayor to connect with the voters,” said Shields, who is The Post’s managing editor. “We also appreciate the candidates for not only being willing to serve the citizens of Jackson but also being willing to answer questions regarding their platform and views related to the campaign.

“This forum will happen eight days before early voting is set to begin and four weeks before Election Day, so anyone who watches will have some time to really think about what they hear and how that could affect their vote.”

The forum will stream live on PBS’ Facebook page and will air on their channel at a few times in the days following the event. Confirmed air times so far are April 8 at 9 p.m., April 13 at 9 p.m., April 15 at 11:30 a.m., April 27 at 7 p.m. and April 29 at 8 p.m. More airings will be added to the list.

“West TN PBS Channel 11 is proud to be able to serve our community by providing a forum for candidates to speak about the issues and for our viewers to hear and see their potential leaders," said West TN PBS General Manager and CEO Peter Noll. "We're thankful to partner with The Jackson Post and Jackson State Community College to bring this forum to all of the Jackson Community."

Jackson State issued a statement expressing its willingness to host the event.

“Jackson State Community College is honored to facilitate a space once again for our local mayoral elections, having hosted last year’s Madison County Mayoral Forum in our Ayers Auditorium. This time around, we welcome the City of Jackson mayoral candidates and look forward to an informative evening.”