Question candidates for federal, state, local office at Town Hall Saturday

Nearly 40 candidates are lined up to participate in a Primary Election town hall Saturday in Maricopa.

InMaricopa.com Town Hall features federal, state and local races in three time-blocks at the Maricopa High School Performing Arts Center. The candidates will take questions directly from the audience. The event will be shown on Facebook Live starting at 10 a.m. on Facebook.com/InMaricopa, where viewers can also ask questions that may be relayed to the candidates as time permits. Viewers can also follow on Twitter and Instragram @InMaricopa.

The Town Hall begins at 10 a.m. All are invited to watch, listen and participate.

Facilitators include Mayor Christian Price, state Sen. Frank Pratt, Judge Lyle Riggs, educator Rick Abel and government relations specialist Janeen Rohovit of SRP.

Those in attendance who wish to question candidates will be asked to line up at a stationary microphone.

The facilitators will hold candidates and audience members to the same rules: 1. Be polite. 2. Stay on topic. 3. Be concise (don’t repeat yourself). Because this is a primary debate, candidates are encouraged to engage conversationally with primary opponents on the issues but not with candidates from other parties who may also be on stage.

Students from high school organizations including Student Council, Air Force Junior ROTC, Junior State of America, National Honor Society and the MHS Marching Band will play important roles in running the event. Also participating are members of the Be Awesome Youth Coalition, which will be selling water and hot dogs in the lobby.

The lobby will also be the place to meet many of the candidates as several have prepared campaign tables to share their message.

Block 1 involves candidates running for Congress. All three Republicans on the ballot for U.S. House of Representatives – Wendy Rogers, Tiffany Shedd and Steve Smith – have indicated their participation. Kelli Ward, a Republican, is the only U.S. Senate candidate to sign up and will take questions on her own.

Block 2, scheduled to start no sooner than 11 a.m., features state races.

Six of eight candidates seeking two seats on the Arizona Corporation Commission are scheduled to appear – Democrats Sandra Kennedy, Bill Mundell and Kiana Sears, and Republicans Justin Olson (an incumbent), Jim O’Connor and Eric Sloan.

They will be followed by all six candidates running for state representative in Legislative District 11 – Democrats Hollace Lyon, Barry McCain and Marcela Quiroz, and Republicans Mark Finchem (an incumbent), Howell Jones and Bret Roberts. Three of the candidates are Maricopa residents.

Though they have no primary competition, LD 11 Senate candidates Vince Leach, a Republican, and Ralph Atchue, a Democrat, will take audience questions.

Two governor candidates have agreed to appear – Republican Ken Bennett and Democrat Kelly Fryer. They will be followed by state treasurer candidate Jo Ann Sabbagh.

Five of seven candidates for state superintendent of public instruction are scheduled next. They are Republicans Bob Branch, Jonathan Gelbart and Frank Riggs, and Democrats Kathy Hoffman and David Shapira.

Block 3 includes county and city races and is expected to start after 2 p.m.

Republicans Scott McKee and Amanda Stanford (an incumbent) are the only candidates vying for the position of clerk of Pinal County Superior Court.

All three candidates for constable of the Maricopa/Stanfield Justice Court are expected to participate – Republicans Bill Griffin and Glenn Morrison and Democrat Andre LaFond.

To wind up the day of politics, seven city council candidates will take the stage – Linette Caroselli, Vincent Manfredi (an incumbent who is minority owner of InMaricopa), Bob Marsh, Cynthia Morgan, Paige Richie, Rich Vitiello and Henry Wade (an incumbent). They are running for three seats in a nonpartisan election.

The schedule is tentative. Learn about the Town Hall at MaricopaEvents.com.