NEWARK, NJ — The New Jersey Institute for Social Justice and Bethany Baptist Church in Newark will host an upcoming forum for U.S. Senate candidates in New Jersey to discuss “issues related to the Black community” ahead of the 2024 primary election.
According to a news release, the forum will include three Democratic Party candidates – Patricia Campos-Medina, Lawrence Hamm and Andy Kim – as well as one of the Republican Party candidates, Albert Harshaw. Each candidate will answer questions from the moderator as well as those from the audience.
The debate will be moderated by Assatta Mann, a senior community organizer at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice.
The forum will take place from 6 to 8:30 p.m. on Monday, May 20 at Bethany Baptist Church, 275 West Market Street in Newark. People can also watch the event live here or on the institute’s Facebook page.
The setting of the forum was chosen for a reason, organizers pointed out: founded in 1870, Bethany Baptist Church is the first Baptist congregation formed by people of African descent in Newark.
The forum is sponsored by the Garden State Bar Association, Association of Black Women Lawyers of New Jersey, NAACP New Jersey State Conference, Urban League of Essex County, New Jersey Black Empowerment Coalition and Salvation and Social Justice.
All Democratic and Republican candidates in the 2024 U.S. Senate election for New Jersey were invited to participate, organizers said.
Candidates seeking the Republican nomination in the June 4 primary election include Harshaw, Curtis Bashaw, Justin Murphy and Christine Serrano-Glassner.
Additional candidates include Christina Khalil (Green Party of NJ) and independents Nick Carducci and Patricia Mooneyham.
