AMHERST — The six candidates vying for the 3rd Hampshire District state representative seat, which will be vacated by the retiring Ellen Story, will go head-to-head Wednesday evening at a debate hosted by the Amherst Survival Center.
The two-hour event, co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Amherst, will begin at 6:30 p.m. and feature the six candidates, all running as Democrats.
Story, who announced in January she will not seek reelection, was the first woman to represent Amherst in the Legislature when she was elected in 1992. The 3rd Hampshire District is made up of Amherst, Pelham and Precinct 1 of Granby.
The candidates are Bonnie MacCracken, a professional property title examiner and member of Amherst Town Meeting and the Democratic State Committee; Eric Nakajima, former executive director of the Massachusetts Broadband Institute; Sarah la Cour, executive director of the Amherst Business Improvement District; Lawrence O’Brien, a social studies teacher at Belchertown High School; Solomon Goldstein-Rose, a former member of the Amherst School Committee; and Vira Douangmany Cage, a current member of the Amherst School Committee and an organizer for the ACLU of Western Massachusetts.
Mindy Domb, executive director of the Survival Center, said questions will be posed by panelists Jim Ayres, the executive director of the United Way of Hampshire County; New England Public Radio reporter Karen Brown; and Larry Parnass, editor of the Daily Hampshire Gazette.
Additional questions submitted by several community organizations also will be raised, Domb said.
Members of the League of Women Voters of Amherst will serve as moderator and timekeeper during the debate.
Domb said Wednesday night’s forum was inspired by Story when she reflected on her first election at an event earlier this year.
At the event, attended by Domb, Story addressed her retirement and challenged those in the audience to hold debates for the candidates looking to fill her seat this fall. Domb said Story debated more than a dozen times leading up to her election in 1992.
Initially, Domb was supportive of the idea but did not consider hosting a debate at the Amherst Survival Center. After giving it some thought, Domb said she realized holding a debate would further the center’s goals, which include voter outreach, education and engagement.
“I thought, ‘Why wouldn’t we?’” Domb said. “We’re educating people about who the candidates are and we’re giving the candidates a chance to raise issues.”