Watch: The Sacramento Bee, KVIE host mayoral candidate forum

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Sacramento voters have the opportunity to select the successor to Mayor Darrell Steinberg when his term ends in late 2024.

The Sacramento Bee along with PBS-affiliate KVIE, Ch. 6, is sponsoring a forum with the four leading mayoral candidates from 2 to 3 p.m. Jan. 31. The forum will be held in advance of the March 5 primary. Ballots will be mailed to voters on Feb. 5.

The four candidates to participate in the forum are Flojaune “Flo” Cofer, Steve Hansen, Kevin McCarty and Richard Pan. The moderators will be Marcos Bretón, California Opinion Editor for The Bee, and Scott Syphax, host of “Studio Sacramento” on KVIE.

The forum will consist of the moderators asking candidates questions. The candidates will also be allowed to challenge each other on their answers.

“This is the most wide open mayor’s race Sacramento has seen in a generation and it comes at a time the city is facing serious economic challenges and a homeless crisis,” Bretón said. “Are the four main candidates up to the job? A lot of people in Sacramento are asking that question right now and we hope this debate will help voters decide who they think is ready to be our next mayor.”

Following the forum, the The Bee Editorial Board will endorse one candidate. The endorsement will be published Feb. 5.

If a candidate gets the majority vote in the primary, the election will be decided. Otherwise, there will be a runoff election between the top two candidates in the general November 2024 election.

How to watch

The forum will be streamed live on sacbee.com and The Sacramento Bee’s YouTube page at 2 p.m. Jan. 31. The event will air at 7 p.m. that evening on KVIE; it will stream on the PBS station’s site afterward.

This story was originally published January 24, 2024 at 5:00 AM.