Candidates for 9th District to face off in debate

The candidates for the 9th congressional District seat for the U.S. House of Representatives will face off in a debate Oct. 18 at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater on East Kirkwood Avenue.

The debate is sponsored by the School of Public and Environmental Affairs and will take place at 6 p.m. It will be free to the public. Doors will open at 5 p.m.

“It’s an important vote,” David Reingold, associate dean of SPEA said. “It will be one of the districts that makes a difference in which party holds a majority in
Congress.”

The candidates for the 9th District seat are Democratic incumbent Baron Hill, Republican Todd Young and Libertarian Greg Knott. Write-in candidate Jerry Lucas is also on the ballot, but he will not be at the debate.

Hill is currently in his fifth term in the U.S. House of Representatives.

He was first elected in 1998 and had the position until the 2004 election when he was defeated by Republican Mike Sodrel.

Hill was reelected in 2006 and has remained in the seat since then.

Young is a marine veteran and deputy prosecutor for Orange County, Ind.. He earned his J.D. from the IU School of Law. Young has also served as a delegate to the Indiana Republican State Convention and as a vice precinct committeeman.

Greg Knott graduated from IU with a bachelor’s degree in public affairs and works as an IT network administrator in Bloomington.

“Our mission is to contribute to good decision making about public events and policy,” Reingold said.

With this goal in mind, the public was able to submit questions for the debate to SPEA until Oct. 6.

“The candidates will give their answers while highlighting how they differ from their opponents,” Reingold said. “It’s not going to be a talking head show.”

Monday’s debate will be moderated by SPEA lecturer and IU debate coach Brian
DeLong.

­— Michael Auslen