By james art MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – Prospective voters sat down with two of the four candidates for U.S. Senate at the West High School Civic Club’s first ever town hall in Madison.
Student-generated questions covered the economy, immigration and foreign policy when incumbent Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Libertarian Phil Anderson spoke to high school moderators at Monday’s forum.
Sophomore and moderator Clark Schrager wanted to host the event to get young people involved in politics, even though some of them are too young to vote on Nov. 5.
“At some point in 2022, the consumer price index reached above 8% inflation. What is your plan to ensure that families can still afford basic necessities?” he asked the candidates. “I’m really interested to see who answers my questions and we’re going to try to get the best answers for the students and I think that’s going to be really good.”
West High Civics Club advisor Carrie Boman said it’s never too early for young people to ask politicians about policies that will affect their future.
“A lot of decisions that are made about their lives, whether it’s gun safety, school policy and curriculum policy, are made without their input,” she said. “So they’re engaged and they have a voice and they realize that.”
Boman was impressed by her students’ passion and interest in the issues elected officials will be making decisions on. “I just have to pinch myself,” she said. “I didn’t write these questions! They wrote these questions! I didn’t tell them what to write!”
“So we really wanted to show both sides of that argument,” Schrager said. “So that voters, especially young voters who are voting for the first time in this election, know what they are voting for and what they are voting for.”
Not all candidates came to the forum.
Republican Eric Hovde’s team and MMSD said a scheduling conflict prevented him from attending. Thomas Liger ran as an America First candidate and he also did not run.
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