Nearly everyday we read a headline about Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton during this highly unusual presidential campaign. Local elections are overshadowed by the national brew-ha-ha, but most of us know that the quality of our daily lives will be greatly impacted by the city council members, school board members, and by the new measures and taxes that we voters determine on November 8.

Prop Debate at San Jose State

Midpen Media provides a comprehensive view of candidates and ballot measure arguments – pro and con – on 15 different races in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. Videotaped candidate forums and candidate statements provide voters with two valuable comparison measures – how each one stands on the issues you care about and how they present themselves as speakers. Beginning on October 5, the Election Coverage pages on the Midpen Media website will have video links to coverage of each of the races, as the videos become available, on our YouTube channel as well as links to the upcoming schedule of playbacks on our cable TV channels.

We are partnering with the Palo Alto and the South San Mateo County Leagues of Women Voters to generate candidate forums for city council races and school board races in East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and Palo Alto. In addition to council and school board elections, we feature candidate statements recorded in the Media Center’s TV studio for four local races and one county measure in San Mateo County, as well as for two local races and two county measures in Santa Clara County. We’ll also feature a candidate forum for the State Assembly 24th District that voters in both counties will decide.

There will be links to at least three different candidate forums for Palo Alto City Council and at least two for Palo Alto Unified School District.

Voter Registration Drive @ SJSU

Thanks to a grant from the Knight Foundation, the Midpen Media Center is collaborating with students and professors at San Jose State University to present debates on two upcoming state initiatives. One debate is about whether to abolish capital punishment (Props 62 and 66), and the other debate is about whether to enact more stringent gun ammunition sales as well as background checks on purchasers (Prop 63). SJSU has recruited debaters from the campaigns on both sides of each issue.

Midpen’s Cathy Keys can’t make a candidate’s words sparkle, but she can sure get rid of that shine.

Midpen Media takes its role as a provider of voter resources very seriously and has televised forums since 1990, knowing that informed voters are the best ingredient for a vibrant democracy and a thriving community.  As part of that role, Midpen opens up its studio to all candidates to come and create their political statements.

If you would like to be notified when new videos are available to watch please email our Marketing and Communications Manager Becky Sanders ([email protected]) and ask her to email you, or you can subscribe to our election playlist.

Midpen’s Candidate Statement Set