The Cumberland County Republican Party will be hosting a debate for the Republican State Senate District 15 candidates Thursday July 17^th at Stone Memorial High School’s Auditorium.  The doors will open at 5:00 and the debate will start at 6:00.  Moderator will be Jennifer Meckles, weekend news anchor for WBIR.  The debate will feature the three Republican candidates who are running in the August 7th Republican Primary: Paul Bailey of Sparta, Matt Swallows of Cookeville, and Gary Steakley of Cookeville.  This is the State Senate seat being held by Senator Charlotte Burks who is retiring.  The winner of the August Republican Primary will face off with Democrat Betty Vaudt who is unopposed in the Democrat Primary.

Each candidate will have an opening and closing statement. Along with questions from the audience, one question will be taken from Crossville News First readers who can post your question in the comment section of the page.