Politics & Government

Race for the Fifth: Dem Candidates First Debate Saturday Online

Progressive group to ask the five candidates questions submitted and voted by the public.

By Franklin Tucker

The liberal advocacy group, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee will be hosting the first debate among the five Democratic candidates in the race to fill the Massachusetts 5th congressional district. 

The five announced candidates – Belmont's State Sen. Will Brownsberger, State Sen. Katherine Clark, Middlesex Sheriff Peter Koutoujian, State Rep. Carl Sciortino and State Sen. Karen Spilka – have agreed to participate in this first-of-its-kind open debate that will be broadcast live online at 11 a.m. this Saturday, Aug. 10.

All questions will be submitted and voted on by the public at the PCCC's new OpenDebateQuestions.com platform for hosting open debates, which is being debuted for this Massachusetts primary debate.

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"Too often, questions asked at debates are not truly what the public cares about," said Matt Wall, PCCC spokesperson. 

"Open Debates, where the public submits and votes on the questions, will hopefully be a game changer in our political process. What starts here in Massachusetts will hopefully become the norm for local, state, congressional, and even presidential debates in the future."

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Already, more than 300 questions have been submitted by the public and the PCCC expects to receive approximately 500 questions and thousands of votes from people across Massachusetts and the nation. 

The questions asked at the debate will be selected from the top 50 questions voted on by Massachusetts residents.


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