The Craven County Democratic Party hosted a forum on Monday night April 8th for the Democratic candidates running in the NC 3rd Congressional District special election.

Five of the six candidates for the Democratic nomination to finish the term of Walter Jones, Jr. were in attendance, discussing their plans on a broad range of issues including health care, the economy, protecting our eastern North Carolina shoreline, voting rights, and providing constituent services to the whole of the district.
Over 180 people were in attendance at the forum, which was held at Word of God Christian Center on Neuse Boulevard, and over 500 people also watched part or all of the forum streamed on Facebook Live.

The forum was moderated by long-time New Bern resident Nelson McDaniel, and timekeeping was managed by Brian Leonard. The MC for the evening was Charles Dudley, 1st Vice Chair of the Craven County Democratic Party, and Bishop Holly Raby of Word of God Christian Center offered an opening benediction and closing remarks.

“Tonight’s forum showed just how fortunate we are in the 3rd district to have such exceptional Democratic candidates,” remarked Charles Dudley. “At tonight’s forum, the Democratic candidates put forward practical ideas to work together and make Eastern North Carolina a better place to live, work, and play.”

Dudley continued, “When we compare that to the lack of ideas coming from the 17 candidates running in the other party, it’s clear that any of these five Democratic candidates we heard tonight would be a better representative for Eastern North Carolina than one of them. We’re ready and eager to work hard and get out the vote for whichever of these fine candidates ends up being the Democratic nominee in the special election.”

The Democratic primary is open to all registered Democratic and unaffiliated voters, and unregistered voters can register and vote at one-stop early voting. One-stop early voting for the April primary starts on Wednesday, April 10, at the Craven County Board of Elections. It will be available every weekday from 7:00am-7:00pm until Friday, April 26, except for Friday, April 19 when one-stop early voting will be closed. Election Day for the Democratic primary is April 30.