Series of candidate forums begin tomorrow
With less than a month before Election Day, local voters will have an opportunity familiarize themselves with local candidates through a series of candidate forums, with the first scheduled for today.
The candidate forums will be hosted by the Coalition of Labor, Agriculture and Business of Imperial County along with the Imperial Valley Vegetable Growers Association ahead of the June 5 election.
The five candidate forums will feature the high-profile races in the Valley, starting today with the District Attorney forum featuring incumbent Gilbert Otero and challenger Edgard Garcia. The forum will take place at the Imperial Valley College Student Center at 6 p.m.
Wednesday’s candidate forum will feature one of the most widely contested races: the Division 5 seat for the Imperial Irrigation District Board of Directors. Incumbent Norma Sierra Galindo has four challengers. They are former Calexico Councilman and Mayor Luis Castro, property tax consultant Carlos Zaragoza of El Centro, former IID employee Ruben Casarez of Imperial and former cattleman James Horn of El Centro.
This forum will take place at the IID Condit auditorium in El Centro at 6 p.m.
Three more forums will take place next week. On May 14, the two IID Division 3 candidates —incumbent Jim Hanks and Calipatria Unified School District board member Raul Navarro — are scheduled to answers questions at the Hidalgo Society in Brawley at 6 p.m.
On May 15, candidates for the most hotly contested race on the County Board of Supervisors will have the opportunity to address the public at the Calexico Council Chambers at 6 p.m. The District 1 seat of the Board of Supervisors is currently held by John Renison. He is being challenged by former Calexico Councilman and Mayor Joong S. Kim, Program Manager Carlos Contreras, and current Calexico Councilman Jesus Escobar.
The final forum will feature the two candidates running for IID Division 1 seat: incumbent Juanita Salas and El Centro Councilman Alex Cardenas. This forum is scheduled to take place at the IID Condit Auditorium on May 17 at 6 p.m.
A total of 23 candidates will contest for eight seats in the upcoming statewide primary election on June 5.