The Kent County League of Women Voters will bring two candidate forums to the area in early April – one for the local school board and the other for the Eastern Shore seat in the U.S. Congress. Both events will prepare voters for the April primary election.
First will be the Kent County Board of Education forum at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 5, at the Chestertown Public Library. Five persons seeking seats on the board will answer League questions within strict time limits. The candidates, all competing on a nonpartisan basis, are Steven Atkinson, Joe Goetz, John Queen, Ellsworth Tolliver, and A. Bryan Williams. Those attending will be able to submit their own questions to the candidates.
Next, on Sunday, April 10 at 2 p.m., the six major-party candidates running for the U.S. House of Representatives will take part in a forum at Chesapeake College in Wye Mills
The seat for the Maryland 1st District, which includes some parts of non-Shore counties, is held by Andy Harris. Representative Harris, now completing his third term, is being challenged by Republican opponents Michael Smigiel, a former state delegate and Cecil resident; Sean Jackson, a commander of the State Police; and Jonathan Goff, a Harford resident who also challenged Harris in 2014.
Democrats vying for that party’s Congressional nomination are Jim Ireton and Joe Werner. Ireton, of Wicomico, is an educator and has served as a councilman and mayor of Salisbury. Werner is a lawyer and resident of Harford.
The Congressional forum is being co-sponsored by Leagues serving Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot counties. The school board forum is sponsored by only the Kent League, led by President Sandra Bjork. For more information on the April 26 primary, including polling places and early voting options available April 14-21, see the League-sponsored website, vote411.org.