Voters sick of hearing about GOP drama in the U.S. Senate race or seeing Democrat Michael Bennet’s TV commercials will get a chance to check out a third option. Libertarian Lily Tang Williams will join three Republicans in a moderated candidate’s forum in Colorado Springs, sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Black Conservatives.
The forum kicks off at 6:30 p.m at Colorado Christian University in Colorado Springs tonight, Thursday, June 2.
All candidates in the big race were invited. Organizers for the black conservative group say Republicans Robert Blaha, Ryan Frazier and Darryl Glenn will also attend. Republicans Jon Keyser and Jack Graham said they couldn’t make it, said Jim Lutack, a spokesman for the group, as did incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet. Green Party candidate Arn Menconi also won’t make the forum because he’s moving and his kids are graduating, he told The Colorado Independent.
Derrick Wilburn, chairman of the Rocky Mountain Black Conservatives, says Graham had a scheduling conflict and doesn’t blame him for not being able to make it, but thinks it’s a mistake for Keyser not to show.
“Keyser accepted and then declined yesterday,” Wilburn told The Colorado Independent. “I don’t know the exact reason. I think all we know is that he changed his mind.”
Wilburn says he sent the candidate an email urging him to attend.
“It’s the last candidate’s event in the state’s most heavily Republican populated county and you’re seeking the Republican nomination— the last one before ballots drop,” he said. “Why would you not be there? We’ll see if he changes his mind.”
Keyser didn’t return a voicemail asking to discuss the issue.
Wilburn said he hoped Bennet would also show up unannounced, saying, “The more the merrier.”
The Rocky Mountain Black Conservatives is a nonprofit that’s been around for about five years with a mission of inspiring conservative outreach and messaging to people of color.
For minorities in America to ignore one side of the partisan divide is unhealthy, Wilburn says.
“We’re working on trying to bridge that gap.”
[Photo credit: Paul via Creative Commons on Flickr]
Libertarian Ideas are all smoke and mirrors and is a failed Ideology…By any and all logic, the whole idea of Libertarian is a false hope…and a twisted idea of governing…in the sense of there will be no government…the gop is a failed party, flailing about looking for any excuse to lie, cheat or steal this election…