Potomac Local, like many organizations, tried to get Hal Parrish and Jeremy McPike on stage for a debate this election season.
To our dismay, and to many of those who looked forward to the debate, it never happened. But it was not for lack of trying.
Our community news organization held more debates this year than we ever have held during our five years covering Prince William County. Candidates for state and local offices agreed to meet to debate and discuss the issues facing our community.
Potomac Local worked with the Republican and Democratic committees of Prince William County to secure the public schools we used as venues to hold these debates.
The debates were well attended, and discussion sparked from them made voters better informed. Our debates were far from perfect, but they were substantive.
Potomac Local didn’t sell sponsorships for the debate, and no one from my company was paid to be there. It was a true public service.
This summer, Potomac Local worked tirelessly to bring together McPike, Parrish, officials in the respective political parties, church pastors, and business leaders to come to agreement on when and where both candidates could meet.
We first secured Bull Run Unitarian Chruch in Manassas as our debate venue due to its central location in the Prince William region. Parrish’s campaign declined to participate and cited parking constraints as the reason.
We then secured a large meeting room at the offices of Home Instead Senior Care in Manassas. The McPike campaign did not want to debate there as they felt the location would be too close to Manassas Councilman Ian Lovejoy, who serves on the council with Parrish and manages the Home Instead offices.
Finally, we secured an auditorium inside a Prince William County Public School. The Parrish campaign declined to participate if the Prince William Chamber of Commerce did not participate in the event.
Potomac Local is a member of the Chamber, and I also know it tried unsuccessfully to bring McPike and Parrish to the table. Many who watch state politics closely, including Dr. Stephen Farnsworth, who co-moderated several of our debates, were eager to attend a debate featuring both candidates.
Potomac Local does not endorse political candidates. I know Parrish from covering the Manassas City Council where he serves as Mayor. I know McPike from my years of covering the Dale City Volunteer Fire Department where he volunteers.
McPike won a debate Potomac Local hosted in May, featuring two Democrats running against him in a Primary Election. It would have been nice to see if could do it all over again had been able to stand next to Parrish and debate the issues.
Another debate Potomac Local tried to organize at the Manassas Park Community Center, between Robert Marshall and Don Shaw was canceled after Marshall declined to participate.
Uriah Kiser is the founder and publisher of PotomacLocal.com.
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