Baltimore, MD: Yesterday, the Open Society Institute and additional co-sponsors and hosts of two upcoming mayoral debates reversed themselves and decided to include the three Green mayoral candidates in their two forums. All three candidates, Joshua Harris, Emanuel McCray and David Marriott  have agreed to participate.

"We applaud the sponsors decision to take democracy seriously and ensure that all candidates are heard. Democracy cannot work if closed debates are where only two parties are allowed to participate. The sponsors of these two debates, along with the sponsors of a previous debate the Mt. Vernon Belvedere Association looked at the law and reached the same conclusion -- all candidates must be included under the law," said Andy Ellis, co-chair of the Baltimore Green Party. "Baltimore is facing multiple crisis situations and the same old ideas of the Democratic Party will not solve them. We need new ideas and the Green Party will provide those." 

The schedule of the debates is:

February 24th, 7:00 PM at Pleasant Hope Baptist Church, 430 East Belvedere Ave.
Hosted by Rev. Heber Brown and moderated by E.R. Shipp and Marc Steiner

March 16th, 7:00 PM at Union Baptist Church, 1219 Druid Hill Ave.

Hosted by Rev. Alvin C. Hathaway, Sr. and moderated by Karen Houppert and Lester Spence

The Green Party primary system is a combination of mailed ballots with in-person voting at a convention on May 1. 

For more on the Baltimore Green Party candidates see Baltimore City Green Party To Hold Contested 3-Way Mayoral Election