Donald Trump and Joe Biden will debate each other on national television Sept. 29 in what many national commentators say could be a key point in this year’s presidential campaign.

Like many of you, the Oxford Observer will be watching. 

Afterward, we at the Observer would like to talk to you about how you thought the candidates did. If you are interested in participating in a community conversation on how the two candidates discussed the issues that were put to them, please contact me at [email protected].

We hope to moderate an online discussion with members of the community. This will be an opportunity to talk about the candidates and their positions. We hope to assemble a diverse group that includes people who favor Trump, people who favor Biden and perhaps even people who have not yet made up their minds.

Tuesday’s debate is being moderated by Chris Wallace of Fox News. Wallace has said he plans to ask questions relating to the records of each candidate, the supreme court, COVID-19, the economy, race relations and the violence going on in some of our cities and the integrity of our elections.

Tuesday’s debate at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland will be followed by three other debates:

• On Oct. 7, vice presidential candidates Mike Pence and Kamala Harris will meet at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City for a debate moderated by Susan Page of USA Today.
• On Oct. 15, Trump and Biden will meet in Miami for a town-meeting style debate moderated by Steve Scully of C-SPAN Networks. The candidates will be asked questions posed by citizens from the south Florida area.
• A final debate between Biden and Trump is scheduled for Oct. 22, at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., to be moderated by Kristen Welker of NBC News. It will follow the same format as the first debate.

The Observer is happy to welcome people who feel passionately about the issues or the candidates into our project, as long as they are willing to listen to what everyone else has to say. We want our local conversations to be civil and informative to help enlighten our readers about the issues being discussed.

We hope to hear from you.

–David Wells, editor of the Oxford Observer