1 week Ago
Here’s what I know for sure: Tulsa World subscribers vote. Now it’s time for them to get everyone else to show up at the polls. To help with that, the Tulsa World, the University of Tulsa, the Tulsa Press Club and the Tulsa Voter Coalition will sponsor a free public forum on Tuesday, Oct.
22. The event starts at 5:30 p.m.
at the Lorton Performance Center on the TU campus, 550 S. Gary Place. Voters will be able to meet the two candidates for mayor and those in three City Council districts who will appear on the Nov.
5 ballot. Yes, when Tulsans vote to decide on the leader of the free world in the race for president of the United States, they will also pick who will lead our city as its 41st mayor and which candidates will round out the Tulsa City Council. Mayoral candidates Monroe Nichols and Karen Keith have been invited to appear on stage at 7 p.
m. to take questions from Tulsa World staff writer Kevin Canfield, Editorials Editor Ginnie Graham and Oklahoma Eagle Managing Editor Gary Lee. Canfield and Graham combined have 50 years of experience reporting on our community for the Tulsa World.
Canfield covers City Hall and the Mayor’s Office. After being a reporter focused on education, youth and family issues, Graham was promoted to the editorials editor, where she writes columns and edits the opinion pages, op-eds and letters to the editor. Before coming back to his hometown of Tulsa to work for the Oklahoma Eagle in 2021, Lee worked as a staff writer for Time magazine and a correspondent for the Washington Post.
He was deputy chief of Time’s bureau in Germany and chief of the Washington Post bureau in Moscow, Russia. “Public forums are important as they allow citizens to hear directly from candidates seeking to represent them,” said Melissa Abdo, director of the Office of Civic Engagement at TU, which is providing the venue for the event. I couldn’t agree more.
While the Tulsa World has published more than 50 stories by Canfield about the mayor and City Council races, this event lets voters see and hear the candidates answer questions in real time about the most relevant issues in our city. Our hope as sponsors is that the 74% of Tulsans who didn’t vote in the Aug. 27 election finally decide to tune in to who decides what streets are fixed, how to end homelessness for too many Tulsans and who leads our city at an incredible time of opportunity.
“It’s understandable how a negative political climate could contribute to voter disengagement and drive low turnout,” Abdo said. “Mailers, phone calls and social media are part of most campaigns, but there really is no replacement for a face-to-face conversation. During the Oct.
22 meet and greet, voters may ask questions and share their priorities directly with candidates.” That’s something worth your time, as all of these candidates have worked to engage with voters since they filed for office. You won’t believe the door-knocking schedule some of these candidates have kept during a hot summer.
City Council candidates invited to have a table and meet voters before the mayoral forum are District 2’s Anthony Archie and Stephanie Reisdorph, District 7’s incumbent Lori Decter Wright and Eddie Huff, and District 9’s incumbent Jayme Fowler and former state Rep. Carol Bush. More than 500 people came to the last forum, which featured on stage the five mayoral candidates who were actively campaigning.
I hope Tulsa World subscribers will take the lead, as they have so many times, and engage with those around them who are uninformed and undecided. Please invite them to come with you on Oct. 22.
It’s only the future of Tulsa on the ballot. The Tulsa World is where your story lives.
