Hear from Local Candidates, In Their Own Words

Published March 15, 2023 Submitted by: Kathleen

If “all politics is local,” then April 4 is a big day for Springfield voters.

Learn about candidates on your ballot through interviews hosted by the Informed Voter Coalition, a partnership of 11 nonpartisan organizations including the Springfield-Greene County Libraries.

Candidates will share their ideas and goals in brief conversations to air at noon on KSMU Ozarks Public Radio (91.1 FM). Video versions produced by the Springfield News-Leader will be available afterwards on demand on some coalition members’ websites.

The coalition selected five contested races. Here’s the schedule (for details, see below):

March 21 – Springfield Board of Education
March 22 – Springfield City Council, General Seat C and General Seat D
March 23 – Springfield City Council, Zone 3 and Springfield Mayor

Educating voters about the candidates they’ll see on their ballots is key to the mission of the Informed Voter Coalition. In these interviews, voters can hear the candidates in their own words before heading to the polling place.

Details: Candidate Interviews for April 4 Municipal Election

Springfield R-12 Board of Education (aired March 21 at noon, KSMU, 91.1 FM)

Landon McCarter, Shurita Thomas-Tate, Judy Brunner, Chad Rollins

Springfield City Council, (airs March 22, noon, KSMU)

General Seat C : Callie Carroll, Jeremy Dean

General Seat D: Derek Lee, Bruce K. Adib-Yazdi

Springfield Mayor and Springfield City Council (airs March 23, noon, KSMU)

Council Member, Zone 3: Brandon Jenson, David Nokes

Mayor: Ken McClure, Melanie Bach

The Informed Voter Coalition launched in 2019 with the goal of educating voters and engaging candidates with citizens. All organizations are nonpartisan. Members are: Be Civil Be Heard, Drury University’s L.E. Meador Center for Politics & Citizenship, Junior League of Springfield, KSMU Ozarks Public Radio, Leadership Springfield Alumni, League of Women Voters of Southwest Missouri, Missouri State University’s Office of Public Affairs, NAACP Springfield, Ozarks Technical Community College’s Social Sciences Department, Springfield-Greene County Library District and the Springfield News-Leader.

For more information, contact kathleeno@thelibrary.org, 417-616-0564.

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