The first debate in the Alaska Senate race between Al Gross and Dan Sullivan will be held Saturday evening at 5pm, and hosted by the Kodiak Chamber of Commerce.
As is tradition for the Kodiak debate, the topics will be limited strictly to fisheries issues. The debate will be hosted by veteran broadcast journalist Rhonda McBride, and broadcast live over the ComFish and Kodiak Chamber of Commerce websites, as well as their YouTube and Facebook pages. You can also listen to it on KMXT 100.1 FM.
The Kodiak Chamber of Commerce will be holding the debate online for the first time since the debates began in 1999. After several successful online events this year, they are confident that they can deliver for this debate as well.
“We have learned a lot of things about the most appropriate times to broadcast things. We’ve learned a lot of things about, you know how to work with the technology to the best of our abilities. You know, these virtual platforms are coming out with new features all the time,” said Sarah Phillips, executive director of the Kodiak Chamber of Commerce.
Phillips says that holding these debates on fisheries issues is of great importance to the city of Kodiak.
“So if we don’t host these debates, if we don’t show the expressed interest in the policies, we’re not taking a stand for ourselves as Kodiak to remain of vibrant economy and support our fishing industry,” said Phillips.
The Saturday fisheries debate will be the first of three scheduled debates for the Alaska senate race, and will also feature 10-minute statements from Congressman Don Young and Alyse Galvin from the Alaska house seat race.