Muskegon Mayor Ken Johnson was first elected in 2021 and is running for a second four-year term, while U.S. Navy veteran Bob Garretson is a financial planner who moved to Muskegon in 2019. Both candidates received the most votes during the August primary.
The two fielded questions from the audience on multiple topics including housing, campaign funding and DEI initiatives. Mayor Johnson:
“Diversity, equity, inclusion are being treated as bad, four-letter words. That is absurd. I’m not going to shy away from DEI.”
Bob Garretson’s response:
“We see this split, this, ‘Let’s talk about woke. Let’s talk about those items that separate us,’ when in reality, there’s so much more that unite us.”
Garretson also spoke about how he would build trust with black, brown, and LGBTQ+ communities.
“There are a lot of things that we need to do as a community both to recognize the things that have happened in the past, but also to say, ‘How do we improve those?’”
Mayor Johnson said listening and showing up are the cornerstones to helping marginalized members of the community.
“Sometimes that is difficult, particularly when someone that looks like me, even though I am a member of the LGBTQI community but being in a position to hear from folks in the marginalized communities and the pain and their struggles that they’re experiencing.”
The debate was hosted by Muskegon Engaged, an organization informing the public about local politics. A video of the debate can be found on their Facebook page.
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