Jefferson City, Mo. — Missouri politics will finally have a debate that isn’t postponed. Four candidates running for the U.S. House of Representatives in Congressional District (CD) 4 will debate Thursday, July 14 at 2 p.m.
The debate will be held at the University of Central Missouri’s Warrensburg Campus and will be open to the public. The candidates in attendance will be Taylor Burks, Kalena Bruce, Mark Alford and state Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Cass County.
The debate will be hosted by the Missouri Times. The event will be moderated by KWOS conservative radio host Austin Petersen, Missouri Times publisher Scott Faughn and KMBC-Kansas City political reporter Micheal Mahoney.
“The Missouri Times is incredibly honored to be hosting Thursday’s debate,” Faughn said. “We look forward to providing our viewers and readers a chance to see these candidates debate.”
The debate will be aired Thursday night at 8 p.m. on KMOS 6.1 as well on on Sunday at 5 p.m on KMOS 6.3. It will also air on Kansas City’s PBS station on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. Thursday night’s airing on KMOS and Sunday morning’s airing on Kansas City’s PBS station will be available to view via livestream on the PBS app.
CD 4’s seat is being left vacant by Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler, who is making a bid for U.S. Senate. CD4 covers a large swath of the Central and Western portion of the Missouri.
All four candidates in attendance have advantages over the other at this point in the race.
Burks has consistently gotten national level support from sitting Congressmen. The Navy veteran is expected to do well with veterans and in Boone County, where he served as County Clerk. The debate will give him a chance to spread his message to a wider voter base, which he will need after Boone County was split in half in redistricting.
Bruce carries an endorsement from Gov. Mike Parson and the Missouri Farm Bureau. Her strong ties to the Bureau will make her the most attractive candidate for farmers in the district. Bruce hasn’t served in a political office before, so the debate may be her best chance to show voters where she stands on specific issues.
Alford is a career journalist who announced his bid in October. Since then he has gotten impressive financial contributions. Alford also lacks a political background, so the debate will give him a chance to get his platform and message out to a large audience.
Brattin has the most connections to the district, serving as a state Senator with his Senate district falling entirely within CD 4. Brattin’s platform is well known to his constituents, however there are concerns the former Marine could split the veteran’s vote with Burks.
Featured Image Courtesy of House Research
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