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LWV hosts first of two candidate forums
LWV - janice and jan
Janice Walker, president of League of Women Voters of Great Bend - Barton County, welcomes community members to the first of two candidate forums, Thursday at the Great Bend Senior Center. Jan Stice, left, was the moderator.

Eight candidates for office in Barton County were invited to join the League of Women Voters of Great Bend - Barton County for a forum on Thursday at the Great Bend Senior Center. Two who were unable to attend, Lindsey Krom-Craven and Alicia Straub, sent responses to LWV questions and one joined the meeting via Zoom. Straub told the League she wished she could attend the forum, but she was at the Republican National Convention representing Barton County and Kansas.

Invited were: 

• Bev Schmeidler, Great Bend, and Alicia (Schartz) Straub, Ellinwood, are both Republican candidates for Barton County Clerk.

• Glennda French, Ellinwood, and Susan Williams, Great Bend, who are both Republican party candidates for Barton County Register of Deeds.

• Lindsey Krom-Craven and Gary W. Parr, who are both candidates for the City of Great Bend - 1st Ward, city council. This is a non-partisan election they will not be on primary ballots. They will be candidates in the November general election.

• David Gonzales and Harry A. Whiting Jr., who are both candidates for the Ellinwood District Hospital board. This is a non-partisan election they will not be on primary ballots. They will be candidates in the November general election.

See the candidates’ bios as provided to the League at https://members.greatbend.org/events/details/2024-barton-county-local-candidate-forum-13727.

A second public forum for state candidates will take place at 6:30 p.m. on July 25 at the Senior Center, 2005 Kansas Ave. The public can meet the candidates at 6:30 p.m. and the forum starts at 7. Those invited are:

• Congress/District 1 candidates Tracey Mann from Salina and Eric Bloom from Lawrence, Republicans, and Paul Buskirk, a Democrat from Lawrence.

• State Senate District 33 candidates Tory Marie Blew from Great Bend and John Sturn from Ellinwood, both Republicans, and Matthew Westenfeld from Lyons, a Democrat.

• State House District 112 candidates Mark Rondeau, a Democrat from Great Bend, and Sherri Brantley, a Republican from Great Bend.

• State House District 113 candidates JoAnn Roth, a Democrat from Ellinwood, and Brett Fairchild, a Republican from St. John.

• 20th Judicial District Judge candidates Donald E. Anderson II from Ellinwood and Levi Morris from Great Bend, both Republicans seeing the Position 2 post. Running unopposed for Position 3 is Lisa Beran, a Republican from Claflin.

See the candidates’ bios as provided to the League at https://members.greatbend.org/events/details/2024-barton-county-state-federal-candidate-forum-13728.