California State University,  Stanislaus’ (Stan State) Democratic Party Club will be hosting an event called Students Decide 2017 Candidate Forum. It will take place on Thursday, October 26th, from 6pm to 8pm in the Carol Burke Lounge.

This event will be the only on campus forum that will be held for the 2018 Congressional District 10 race.

It will be free of charge and will offer free parking in Parking Lot 11 after 5 pm. Attendees will be able to help themselves to some light refreshments and food.

 Democratic Party Club Vice President, Adam Weber (senior, Political Science) explained that the forum is not just for those who are politically affiliated.

“I even encourage students who don’t think they are political oriented to come,” said Weber.

All 10 of the Congressional Candidates have been invited and eight of them have confirmed their attendance. Seven of the eight attendees are Democratic, while one is an Independent Party member.  

The candidates who have confirmed are: Josh Harder, TJ Cox, Dotty Nygard, Virginia Madueno, Sue Zwahlen, Matteo Morelos-Bedolla, Michael Barkley and the Independent, Terra Snover.

Democrat, Seth Vaughn,  had previously confirmed but will no longer be in attendance because he recently dropped out of the race.

“Republican candidate, Jeff Denham, was invited twice, but said he will not be able to attend”, said Jason Serang (senior, Political Science), President of the Democratic Party Club.

Because there are so many candidates running for Congress, the Democratic Activist and Central Committee have decided that they want to limit the field and cut some candidates down.

“The cutting off the candidates will happen during the primaries, which will be June of next year”, explained Serang.

The format of the forum will have each candidate give a two-minute opening statement in order to have the chance to introduce themselves and their background. After the opening statements,  the candidates will be asked some questions.

The moderator who will be in charge of asking the candidates questions will be Communication Studies Professor, Dr. Shannon Stevens.

The questions that will be asked will be chosen by different groups that are in the Progressive Alliance which include: the Democratic Party Club, MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán), and Black Student Union; among many others.

“We are going to have about five or six minutes to ask the moderator questions which are the ones that the clubs are going to asked,” stated Serang while adding, “After the moderator questions are done, then we will just open it up to the floor and students can ask their questions and whatever they want.”

Democratic Party Club Advisor and Political Science Professor, Dr. Stephen Routh said, “A debate like this is a phenomenal opportunity to see these people as people.”

The forum will be dedicating the most time to student questions.

“Our priority are the student questions. Students get to ask their own questions and have a voice and see how candidates interact and understand issues,” stated Weber.

After the Forum students will also be able to have a meet and greet with all of the different candidates.