Kevin Kelley speaks at Jefferson Park mayoral forum, (7/8/21).
Ideastream Public Media and the City Club of Cleveland, the two organizations that teamed up to present two mayoral primary debates this summer, are partnering once again to produce a head-to-head debate between the final two Cleveland mayoral contenders: nonprofit executive Justin Bibb and City Council President Kevin Kelley.
"Cleveland Mayoral Debate: Voters First," will take place on Monday, Oct. 11 at 7:30 p.m. The 90-minute event will air on WVIZ, WCPN, cityclub.org and ideastream.org/debate.
As in the primary debates, many of the questions will come from Clevelanders themselves via pre-recorded videos. Ideastream's Rick Jackson and Nick Castele moderated the first and second primary debates, respectively. Jackson will host the Oct. 11 tête-à-tête, but will be joined by a panel of journalists who will pose follow-up questions: Castele himself, Lawrence Daniel Caswell of Cleveland Documenters and Elizabeth McIntyre of Crain's Cleveland Business.
The general election is Nov. 2. Both Bibb, who won the primary, and Kelley, who came in second, have been aggressively fortifying their bases and attempting to build their coalitions as the date draws near. Both have announced important endorsements in recent days and have continued their busy schedule of evening forums.
Sam Allard is the Senior Writer at Scene, in which capacity he covers politics and power and writes about movies when time permits. He's a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and the NEOMFA at Cleveland State. Prior to joining Scene, he was encamped in Sarajevo, Bosnia, on an...
