All four candidates running for Oklahoma City mayor have been invited to participate in a debate set for 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 25, at The Auditorium at The Douglass, 600 N. High Ave.
Incumbent Mayor David Holt has told NonDoc that he will not participate in the public discussion of issues facing the city, although he will be allowed to attend if he changes his mind.
Challengers Jimmy Lawson, Frank Urbanic and Carol Hefner have all confirmed their attendance at the debate, which will last about one hour and will be streamed on News9.com and partner Facebook pages.
NonDoc is partnering with several media outlets and nonpartisan civic organizations to host the debate in the belief that Oklahoma City residents deserve an opportunity to see their mayoral candidates answer fair questions from professional journalists in a public setting during an election cycle.
Partners for the Jan. 25 Big League Debate include:
- News 9
- Oklahoma City Free Press
- Oklahoma Gazette
- The Oklahoma City Sentinel
- Generation Citizen
- The League of Women Voters of Oklahoma County
- Together Oklahoma
Other media outlets and nonpartisan organizations interested in supporting this and future candidate debates in 2022 can email editorial@nondoc.com to learn more.
Tres Savage of NonDoc and Storme Jones of News 9 will moderate the Jan. 25 debate, with questions prepared in conjunction with other partnering media outlets.
To RSVP for a reserved seat at the Big League Debate, email Kylie Hushbeck at kylie@nondoc.com. To be alerted of the livestream on Facebook, RSVP to this event page.
NonDoc’s broader 2022 political debate series is supported by charitable sponsors, including the Oklahoma Public School Resource Center and the State Chamber of Oklahoma. Their financial support allows for event space rental, equipment rental, security and marketing of the debates.
Oklahoma City voters will head to the polls Tuesday, Feb. 8, to vote in the mayoral election. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote, the top two finishers would head to an April 5 runoff election.
The importance of public political debates
Since 2017, NonDoc has partnered with news outlets and nonpartisan organizations to host several public political debates between candidates for elected office. Those debates have been for statewide races, the 5th Congressional District, Oklahoma County sheriff and county commissioner. In 2021, both candidates for mayor of Edmond participated in a public debate streamed by News 9.
Web pages for the OKC mayoral candidates can be found here:
