Ohio Supreme Court online forum announced

SANDUSKY — The four candidates running for two Ohio Supreme Court seats have agreed to participate in a virtual candidate forum scheduled for the evening of Oct. 9 sponsored by the Ohio Debate Commission. The forum will not be broadcast live but will be recorded and released to the news in an attempt to make the recording as widely available as possible. The Sandusky Register and Norwalk Reflector are in contact with the debate commission, which has promised to cooperate in making the recording available to the newspapers' readers. The forum will cover two races. Supreme Court Justice Sharon Kennedy is being challenged by John P. O'Donnell, a judge on the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. Another Supreme Court Justice, Judith French, faces a challenge from Jennifer L. Brunner, a judge on the 10th District Court of Appeals (Ohio) and former Ohio Secretary of State. The races are nominally nonpartisan and party affiliations are not listed on the ballot, but in fact, each candidate is backed by a political party. The two incumbents, Kennedy and French, are Republicans, while O'Donnell and Brunner are Democrats. The moderators will be Karen Kasler, bureau chief, Ohio Public Radio & TV Statehouse News Bureau, and Curtis Jackson, news anchor at Spectrum News will serve as moderators. "We already have nearly 30 media outlets from across the state committed to giving the forum and the candidates the attention needed so that voters can make an informed choice at the ballot box, especially since these races are the only statewide seats on the ballot," said Jill Miller Zimon, executive director of the Ohio Debate Commission. "Judicial elections often are unnoticed and overlooked,"said Dan Moulthrop, president of the debate commission and CEO of The City Club of Cleveland. "Yet the Ohio Supreme Court races are uniquely important and the ODC forum will help people compare candidates side-by-side, something we're not seeing much of this cycle." The Ohio Debate Commission was set up in 2018 and is a nonpartisan collaboration of civic organizations, media organizations, and universities.