How do the Exeter Town Hall forums work?
The forums are free and open to the public on a first-come, first-serve basis. At the start of the forums, candidates make their brief opening remarks before proceeding to answer questions from the audience and engage in a meaningful dialogue about various issues.
Here are the candidates scheduled to participate in forums at Exeter Town Hall:
Asa Hutchinson on Tuesday, Oct. 10 at 10 a.m.
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s forum will be held on Tuesday evening.
Hutchinson, the 72-year-old who served two terms as Arkansas governor from 2015 to 2023, bas been one of the few GOP presidential hopefuls who called on Trump to drop out of the 2024 race.
Under Ronald Reagan, he served as a U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas and joined the U.S. House where he would serve three terms. President George W. Bush appointed him director of the Drug Enforcement Administration in 2001 and he managed border security in 2003 as an undersecretary at the Department of Homeland Security.
Nikki Haley on Thursday, Oct. 12 at 6:30 p.m.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will address attendees on Thursday night. Haley, 51, trails GOP frontrunner Trump in her home state with 17% of Republicans supporting her nomination, according to the latest Winthrop poll.
From 2011 to 2017, Haley served as governor before stepping down and becoming the United Nations ambassador during the Trump administration. She announced her presidential campaign in February, citing her record of economic growth as governor and deep knowledge of world affairs garnered during her time as UN ambassador.
Noting that Republicans have “lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections,” Haley declared: “That has to change.”
“Joe Biden’s record is abysmal. But that shouldn’t come as a surprise. The Washington establishment has failed us over and over and over again.”
Doug Burgum on Friday, Oct. 13 at 10 a.m.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum will meet with voters on the morning of Friday, Oct. 13 at 10 a.m.
Elected governor in 2016 with little political experience, Burgum, 67, won his second term in a 40-point landslide in 2020.
On the campaign trail, Burgum talks about his small-town roots and values and the challenges his family faced when his father died when Burgum was a freshman in high school. Burgum mortgaged the family farm to start a software company he later sold to Microsoft in 2001 for $1.1 billion.
Mike Pence on Friday, Oct. 13 at 3 p.m.
On the campaign trail, former Vice President Mike Pence, 64, has acknowledged he’s “known well but not well known.” He’ll do his best to change that when he meets with voters on Friday, Oct. 13 at 3 p.m.
Before being elected the 48th vice president of the United States in 2016, Pence was a lawyer, a radio talk show host and a six-term conservative member of the U.S. House. In 2013, he became governor of Indiana.
When announcing his run for president, Pence stated: “I know we can bring this country back. We can defend our nation and secure our borders, we can revive our economy and put our nation back on a path to a balanced federal budget. We can defend our liberties and give America a new beginning for life.”
Vivek Ramaswamy on Saturday, Oct. 10 at 10 a.m.
Businessman and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy of Ohio will bring his campaign to Exeter Town Hall on Saturday, Oct. 14 at 10 a.m.
In his first run for political office, Ramaswamy has gained traction with Republican primary voters in Iowa, New Hampshire and across the nation. On the campaign trail Ramaswamy points to “10 Truths”: “God is real; there are two genders; human flourishing requires fossil fuels; reverse racism is racism; an open border is no border; parents determine the education of their children; the nuclear family is the greatest form of governance known to mankind; capitalism lifts people up from poverty; there are three branches of the U.S. government, not four; the U.S. Constitution is the strongest guarantor of freedoms in history.”
Ramaswamy graduated from Harvard with a degree in biology, and has a law degree from Yale. At 38 years old, Ramaswamy made his fortune starting the biotech company Roivant Sciences, which developed five therapies that gained FDA approval. After leaving Roivant, he launched the asset management firm Strive in 2022.
Will Hurd on Saturday, Oct. 10 at 6:30 p.m.
Once known as “The most interesting man in Congress,” former Texas Congressman Will Hurd, 46, will engage with voters at Exeter Town Hall on Saturday, Oct. 14 at 6:30 p.m.
“For the past 20 years I’ve been on the frontlines of the most pressing fights facing our nation,” Hurd said when announcing his campaign. “I hunted down terrorists in the Middle East after 9/11. In Congress I fought to lower taxes, secure our border and provide more opportunities for the middle class. I’ve worked at the highest levels of business to harness technology and innovation for the future of America.”
Hurd was first elected to represent Texas’ 23rd Congressional District in 2014 and re-elected in 2016 and 2018, opting not to seek a fourth term in 2020, announcing he would instead “devote his time to ensuring America is ready for a New Cold War with China.”
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