Candidate rated most likely to win 8th District seat won't be at forum

EVANSVILLE — There will be a forum featuring candidates to represent Vanderburgh, Warrick, Posey and Gibson counties in Congress — it just won't include the one considered most likely to win.

Barbara Williams, vice president of the League of Women Voters of Southwestern Indiana , said this week that Democrat Erik Hurt , an Evansville resident, and Libertarian Party nominee Richard Fitzlaff of Terre Haute responded to the League's invitation to participate in the forum within an hour of receiving it.

Republican Mark Messmer, a Jasper-based former state senator , still hasn't acknowledged the invitation sent on Sept. 16.

The candidate forum will begin at 5:30 p.m. and end at 7 p.m. on Oct. 3 at McCollough Library, 5115 Washington Ave. in Evansville.

Messmer has steadfastly refused to debate or appear in forums Hurt and Fitzlaff, saying through a spokesman this month that, "voters are well aware of his position on the issues."

"Our campaign is spending its time every day meeting directly with voters in every corner of the district, so we will not be debating," Messmer's statement said.

Messmer arguably can afford to absorb whatever criticism he receives for declining to share a stage with his opponents — and Hurt and Fitzlaff have given him plenty — because the 21-county 8th District is one of the most Republican congressional districts in the nation. Messmer's campaign also had raised more than $1 million as of June 30, an amount Hurt and Fitzlaff still haven't sniffed.

According to Washington, D.C.-based political handicappers, the 8th District seat is a safe bet to stay in Republican hands and Messmer a safe bet to succeed retiring Republican Rep. Larry Bucshon in Congress.

More: Indiana's 8th District race doesn't have a money gap. It has a money chasm.

But Williams said candidates for Congress should be willing to present themselves in public forums with opponents because that's part of their obligation to voters.

"People need to have access to candidates and they need to be able to talk to people who are running for office," Williams said. "I think it would be best in every (candidate) came. The League of Women Voters is a way in which people in the community can learn about who's running for elected office."

Election Day is Nov. 5. Early in-person voting in Vanderburgh County begins Oct. 8.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Candidate rated most likely to win 8th District seat won't be at forum