See our primer on the mayoral candidates here and voter guides for the other Long Beach races at LBPost.com/elections.
All of Long Beach’s mayoral candidates — except for the incumbent mayor — will answer questions and explain their positions during a forum for voters Thursday night.
The one-hour event, organized by the St. Anthony’s Neighborhood Association and the League of Women Voters, will take place at The Grand (4101 E Willow St.) at 6:30 p.m. Expect them to cover everything from homelessness and housing to the city’s estimated $61 million deficit next year.
In attendance will be five of the six candidates on the ballot: Oscar Cancio, Lee Goldin, Terri Rivers, Joshua Rodriguez and Chris Sweeney — and write-in candidate April Ronay. Incumbent Mayor Rex Richardson was also invited but declined, organizers said, due to a “scheduling conflict.”
Each candidate will be offered a two-minute opening statement, then take turns answering questions posed by a moderator, and finish with two-minute closing remarks. Some questions were written by organizers, while others will be fielded from the audience.
Topics will cover the breadth of the mayor’s office, from how they would handle the city’s $750 million general fund budget to their strategy for handling the interlocked crises of rising homelessness and the scarcity of affordable housing.
Some topics they’ve been asked to cover, organizers say, include asking candidates to specify what makes them qualified to run the office and their top priorities should be elected to the seat.
The mayor’s race in Long Beach is a tough one for political newcomers. The city has not elected a mayor who hasn’t first sat on the City Council since Beverly O’Neil’s inaugural win in 1994.
Fundraising has also been lopsided in favor of the incumbent. Richardson has so far collected more than $424,000, including from powerful unions, established Democratic colleagues and many of the defense companies he has helped bring to the city. By comparison, nonprofit executive Rivers has raised $16,000, and business owner Sweeney has raised about $7,000.
Any candidate who earns more than 50% of the vote in the June 2 primary wins outright. If no candidate reaches that mark, the top two vote-getters will advance to a Nov. 3 runoff.
Attendance at Thursday’s forum is free, but an RSVP is required. Organizers say it will be livestreamed, but info on where to watch wasn’t immediately available.