Lincoln candidates talk policing, transportation and more in first forum since primary

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – With the city election only three weeks away, a public forum was held at Mount Zion Baptist Church on Tuesday.

Almost a dozen organizations teamed up for the event, including Las Voces, the League of Women Voters, OutNebraska and the NAACP’s Lincoln branch.

This was the first public forum since last week’s primary, and all mayoral and city council candidates were invited to participate.

But the only mayoral candidate who made an appearance was incumbent Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird.

“It’s important to show up, and I am committed to doing that every day for our community,” she said.

When asked about former State Sen. Suzanne Geist’s absence, her campaign provided this statement:

“Suzanne had a previously scheduled campaign event this evening, but the campaign reached out to the NAACP individually for a meeting to talk about Suzanne’s vision to make Lincoln better, safer and more affordable, and they declined.”

Topics covered included inclusiveness for the LGBTQ+ community, housing, policing and transportation.

“We know there’s more to do, and I have testified at the state Legislature where we could get broad protections for all our LGBTQ community members of the state of Nebraska,” Gaylor Baird said.

As for the city council spots available in this election, Democratic candidate Bailey Feit and Republican Tom Duden in District 2 were in attendance.

They both talked about how they will make Lincoln’s transportation a priority over the next four years.

“Transportation always comes up as a barrier when I’m working with my high school students because we create opportunities for them to have some work-based learning or do job shadowing or internships, but they don’t have a way to get there,” Feit said. “I’d really like to solve that.”

“We’re always going to need public transportation,” Duden said. “We have people with disabilities that need to be transported. We have individuals that go to school that don’t have cars. There’s a lot of reasons why people use the bus system.”

In regard to housing and policing, both Democratic candidate Justin P. Carlson and nonpartisan candidate Elina Newman brought their views forward for District 3.

Newman spoke mostly about housing and personal ties to the topic.

“When kids my age would worry about which Backstreet Boy they wanted to marry, I was worried about losing my home,” Newman said. “I’m the only first-generation refugee running in this race, and I know firsthand what it takes to make it in the United States.”

Carlson spoke about his vision for the police force.

“Diverse teams are more efficient; they make better decisions,” he said “And so I’m certainly supportive of diversity. Our police force should look like Lincoln.”

And for District 1, Democratic candidate James Michael Bowers was there, while Republican Taylor Wyatt was not.

No candidates from District 4 were present.

City elections are nonpartisan, so the candidates’ political affiliations won’t appear on the ballot.