Monday evening, May 6, presented an opportunity for local residents and those in the surrounding area to come together and meet a number of Republican candidates for local, district and state-wide office, as the Winston County Republican Party hosted a ‘Meet the Candidates Forum’ at the Louisville Dome.
Winston County Republican Women President, Kay Forsman, indicated that the event was a sell-out with 250 tickets being sold. The Forum was sponsored by Rives & Reynolds Lumber Co. Inc., Taylor Machine Works, The Hughes Companies, Yarbrough Wood Products, Representative Joey Hood, Byron Foster, Griffin Strategies, and Gators-Billy McNeel. It was catered by Johnny Wooten of Market Café.
Winston County Republican Party Chairman, Mark Forsman, spoke of the progress of the Republican Party in Winston County, stating that four years ago there was only one Republican running for office in the county. This year there are six: Blake Edwards, Coroner; Byron Foster, Coroner; Justin Keller, Chancery Clerk; Will McNeel, Justice Court Judge East Post; Rhonda Prisock, Supervisor District 3; Taylor Tucker, County Prosecuting Attorney.
Former Senator Giles Ward asked if there has ever been a better time for a candidate to proudly proclaim that he is running for office and running as a Republican. He added that “the platform of the Grand Old Party still holds true to the values that our great nation was founded upon.” Ward went on to say that currently seven of the eight state-wide offices are held by Republicans and in November the people will make it eight out of eight.
Fifteen of 17 Republicans in contested races were present at the event, and each one was given five minutes to deliver remarks and present his platform to the gathering. The speakers included:
Robert Foster – Governor
William (Bill) Waller, Jr. – Governor
Delbert Hosemann – Lieutenant Governor
Shane Quick – Lieutenant Governor
Mark Baker – Attorney General
Andy Taggart – Attorney General
Michael Watson – Secretary of State
Buck Clarke – State Treasurer
David McRae – State Treasurer
Trey Bowman – Northern District Transportation Commissioner
John Caldwell – Northern District Transportation Commissioner
Jeremy Martin – Northern District Transportation Commissioner
Geoffrey Yoste – Northern District Transportation Commissioner
William (Billy) Tabb – House of Representatives, District 35
Joey Hood – House of Representatives, District 35
Common themes presented by the speakers were teacher pay, taxes, and infrastructure. Candidates were given an opportunity to mingle and speak one-on-one with those in attendance after the forum.
It was a historic night for Louisville and Winston County, as Ward pointed out that much of the state leadership was very probably gathered in The Dome.
