The Center at Donaldson provided an opportunity for voters to better acquaint themselves with candidates seeking elected office.
Thursday night’s candidate forum saw representatives for state office, and those seeking office at the county and local level discuss their experience and explain some of their positions and how it might influence Marshall County residents.
Among the headlines of the night were the differences between candidates in the 17th District race for state representative. Republican candidate Jack Jordan says the state has to work to support education.
“Currently 52-percent of the Indiana budget is K-12,” says Jordan. “Isn’t that amazing? I didn’t know that until about a year ago. So we invest in education, but yet we put so many shackles on our teachers and our local school districts and so really if you think about what I’d love to see is a local school district where teachers control the classroom instead of the state.”
Jordan also discussed the need for workforce readiness as part of Indiana’s economic development efforts.
Michelle Livinghouse is seeking the same office on the Democratic side of the aisle. She says the education issue is one of the reasons she decided to jump into the race.
“I’m very concerned about the funding of our public schools, our roads and infrastructure, and basic civil rights for everybody. All Hoosiers,” says Livinghouse.”
Those seeking office on the Marshall County Council occupied a large swath of the candidate forum, telling those in attendance about their plans for fiscal management and for better maintaining county infrastructure.
Not every office up for re-election saw representatives in attendance. The Center at Donaldson allowed those in attendance to ask questions of the candidates in a less formal environment following the forum.
You will be able to hear the complete candidate forum this Sunday during Maximum Impact at Noon EDT.
