Simsbury Democratic House Hopefuls To Debate Tuesday

SIMSBURY, CT — The primary election season continues to heat up locally, with Democrats in the hotly contested state representative primary expected to debate Tuesday night.

Eric Wellman and Melissa Osborne will participate in a candidate debate for the Democratic Primary for 16th House District, which encompasses all of Simsbury.

This event will be held on Tuesday from 7 to 8 p.m., at the Simsbury Public Library, 725 Hopmeadow St.

The public is invited to attend. Primary Election Day is Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022.

The two Dems are fighting to see who will square off against Republican House hopeful Mike Paine.

The 16th House seat is being vacated by Democrat incumbent state Rep. John Hampton, D-Simsbury, who has decided not to seek re-election.

The debate, sponsored and moderated by the League of Women Voters of Greater Hartford (LWVGH), will provide citizens an opportunity to learn about the candidates before the election.

A live audience will be present and Simsbury Community Media will live stream the event on SimsburyTV.org and Comcast/Xfinity Channel 96.

The format of the evening will consist of opening statements from the candidates, prepared questions from LWVGH, and written questions submitted by the audience for the candidates.

The audience questions will be previewed for relevance and clarity by LWVGH screeners then presented to the candidates by the LWVGH moderator.

Each candidate will be provided two minutes to make an opening statement.

The League of Women Voters is a non-partisan political organization celebrating its 102nd anniversary.

In the days following the debate, the program will be available on demand at SimsburyTV.org and periodically shown on Channel 96 before Primary Day, Aug. 9.