Senate District 18 debate on Oct. 26

CEDAR RAPIDS -- The Gazette and KCRG-TV9 are co-sponsoring an Oct. 26 debate of the Iowa Senate District 18 candidates competing in a special election on Nov. 8 -- Republican Cindy Golding and Democrat Liz Mathis.

The forum will be from 7 to 8 p.m. at the Linn-Mar High School Auditorium, 3111 N. 10. The public is welcome. The forum also will be shown live on KCRG 9.2 and via live stream at TheGazette.com and KCRG.com.

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St., Marion

The candidates will debate on topics they deem to be important during the first half of the event and, in the second half, answer questions from KCRG-TV9 news anchor Chris Earl and Gazette columnist Todd Dorman. The panelists will take questions from the audience.

Iowa Senate District 18 covers a large portion of rural Linn County and urban areas: Fairfax, Palo, Hiawatha, Robins, Alburnett, Center Point, Walker, Coggon, Prairieburg and part of Walford.

Golding, 58, and Mathis, 53, are seeking to fill the unexpired term of Swati Dandekar. Dandekar, a Marion Democrat, took a post on the Iowa Utilities Board. Jon Tack, who filed Oct. 12 as a Constitution Party candidate, was not invited to the forum.