Want to learn more about southwest Missouri's primary candidates? Tune into KSMU this week.

News-Leader staff
·2 min read

Missouri voters will head to the polls on Aug. 2 to narrow the field of candidates for U.S. Congress and the Missouri General Assembly in advance of the November general election.

The lists of candidates are long — the U.S. House race alone has eight Republicans and three Democrats. Become informed before Election Day so your vote is cast for the candidates that align with your beliefs and standards.

To help inform voters, a coalition of community organizations is again producing a series of nonpartisan interviews with candidates to air on KSMU Ozarks Public Radio (91.1 FM). A video version of the interviews will be posted afterward to the websites of all coalition members.

Missouri voters will head to the polls on Aug. 2 to narrow the field of candidates for U.S. Congress and the Missouri General Assembly in advance of the November general election.
Missouri voters will head to the polls on Aug. 2 to narrow the field of candidates for U.S. Congress and the Missouri General Assembly in advance of the November general election.

The coalition selected contested races that appear on Greene County ballots. Hear the interviews over the noon hour starting July 12 on KSMU. View the video versions on the News-Leader's website, the KSMU website or thelibrary.org, website of the Springfield-Greene County Library District.

Candidates in selected contested races answered questions developed by the candidate forum coalition. Here’s the schedule:

  • U.S. House, District 7, Democrats and Republicans: airs July 12-14.

  • Missouri Senate, Republican candidates for District 20 and District 30, airs July 18-19.

  • Missouri House, Republican candidates for District 137, airs July 20.

This is a primary election so when heading to the polls, voters will request a ballot for their preferred political party, with candidates from that party only. Registration in a particular party is not required.

The nonpartisan candidate forum coalition

The coalition was launched in 2019 with the shared goal of educating voters and engaging candidates with citizens.

In addition to the News-Leader, partner organizations include:

  • Be Civil Be Heard

  • Drury University’s L.E. Meador Center for Politics & Citizenship

  • Junior League of Springfield

  • KSMU Ozarks Public Radio

  • Leadership Springfield Alumni

  • League of Women Voters of Southwest Missouri

  • Missouri State University’s Office of Public Affairs

  • NAACP Springfield

  • Ozarks Technical Community College’s Social Sciences Department

  • Springfield-Greene County Library District

Galen Bacharier covers Missouri politics & government for the News-Leader. Contact him at gbacharier@news-leader.com, (573) 219-7440 or on Twitter @galenbacharier.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Tune in to KSMU for interviews with southwest MO's primary candidates