18 heading for forum

CLOVIS — A packed candidate field means a packed forum, and likely an extended one on Tuesday night.

All 18 candidates from contested Clovis municipal races have accepted invites to attend the KTQM political forum, which will be broadcast starting at 6 p.m. on KTQM 99.9 FM.

With so many candidates to make opening and closing statements and answer listener questions, general manager Rick Keefer is confident they’ll need to extend beyond the normal two-hour timeframe.

“It’s just simply a numbers issue,” Keefer said. “This year I anticipate it could go 2 1/2 hours.”

The forum moderated by Grant McGee is traditionally held the Tuesday before the election, but Keefer said the date was chosen because at the time it didn’t interfere with Clovis High basketball broadcasts. The Tuesday has since been designated as a makeup date for Wildcat games against Carlsbad, but the forum will remain as scheduled.

People can submit questions at [email protected] or by calling 575-762-4411 or 575-763-4401.