The delayed and then postponed Greensboro City Council election is finally getting close, which means candidate forums and debates are being scheduled.

A debate for the mayoral candidates will be held on Sunday, April 3 at 4 p.m. in Room 120 at UNC Greensboro’s School of Education Building at 1300 Spring Garden St.  The debate is free and open to the public.  However, masks are required.

According to the press release, all four candidates who have filed to run for mayor have agreed to participate.  They are Mayor Nancy Vaughan, District 3 City Councilmember Justin Outling, Eric Robert and Mark Cummings.

The debate will be moderated by WFMY News anchor Benjamin Briscoe and attorney Margaret Dudley.

The mayoral debate is being hosted by the Greensboro Alumnae Chapter of Delta Signa Theta Sorority Inc. and the Department of Political Science at UNCG.

Unlike many organizations that hold candidate forums, UNCG sent out a press release to publicize this forum.  Some candidate forums in the past have actually had more candidates on the stage than people in the audience because, while the candidates were invited, no one thought to invite the media or the public.

The primary for the City Council election was originally scheduled for Oct. 5, 2021 with the general election to be held Nov. 2, 2021.  The election was originally delayed with the primary to be held March 8 because the US Census data was not available in time for the City Council districts to be redrawn before the October primary.

Then the North Carolina Supreme Court postponed the March 8 primary to May 17 because of legal challenges to the congressional and state legislative districts.

So, the City Council primary will be held along with the statewide primaries on Tuesday, May 17 and the City Council general election will be held on Tuesday, July 26.

Early voting for the May 17 primary begins on Thursday, April 28 and runs through Saturday, May 14.