Graham group to host candidate forum

The Young County Democratic Association is hosting a candidates forum with Daniel Epstein and Miguel Levario, two Democratic Candidates for U.S. Congress, District 19, at the North Central Texas College auditorium Saturday, July 15 at 2 p.m.

“We’re rebuilding the Democratic Party in North Texas, from the ground up, and this is just an effort to encourage grass roots participation in our region,” said YCDA president David DeLong. “We need at least two parties for our government to work well.”

Both candidates are professors at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, and pursuing the seat currently held by Jodey Arrington, who has been in office since Jan. 3.

Levario was born and raised in El Paso, and attended the University of Norte Dame and Stanford University. He finished his PhD in history at The University of Texas in Austin before taking his teaching position in 2007 at Texas Tech University.

He was an adviser for the Tech Student Democrats, worked with the 2012 and 2013 LULAC Youth Summit and was a panelist in the 2016 Lubbock Regional Latino Policy Summit.

Epstein grew up in Vermont and received his PhD in government at Harvard University, and taught political science at Colgate University for six years. He and his wife, Jasmine, moved to Lubbock so she could pursue a PhD at Texas Tech, where he is a non-tenure-track professor of political science.

Epstein quit his job at Colgate University to work for the Bernie Sanders campaign in central Virginia. It was during this time that Epstein learned about running a grassroots campaign and gained an interest in talking with voters about their priorities and concerns.