Republican Madison Cawthorn and Democrat Moe Davis, candidates for North Carolina's 11th Congressional district seat left vacant by White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, have both agreed to appear at a two-day joint forum hosted by three of the district’s largest media outlets, Blue Ridge Public Radio, Smoky Mountain News, and Mountain Xpress.
On the evenings of Friday Sept. 4, and Saturday, Sept. 5, candidates will join moderator Cory Vaillancourt of BPR and Smoky Mountain News and a diverse panel of guests for “Best in the West: North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District forum.”
The first event, to be held at Western Carolina University’s Biltmore Park campus, will feature questions by Lenoir-Rhyne University Equity and Diversity Institute developer Aisha Adams, former Asheville Citizen Times political reporter and current Mountain Xpress contributor Mark Barrett, and Pete Kaliner, longtime N.C. political reporter, radio host and podcaster. Topics will include international, national, state and urban issues.
The second event, to be held at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, will include WCU political science and public affairs department chair Chris Cooper, WCU professor of economics and director of WCU's Center for the Study of Free Enterprise Edward Lopez, and Principal Chief Richard G. Sneed, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Topics will include rural issues, native issues and education.
Due to venue capacity limits currently in place, events will not be open to the public, but will be livestreamed on the Blue Ridge Public Radio Facebook page, which can be found here. The forums will start each night at 7:30 p.m. They will be available to watch anytime on the BPR Facebook page once the live broadcast concludes.