2024 DC Debates
On this page you can learn about how to watch or listen to the 2024 DC Debates hosted by the DC Office of Campaign Finance. The debate for At-Large Member of the Council of the District of Columbia candidates will be held on May 2, 2024.
THE FAIR ELECTIONS PROGRAM
About FEP
The FEP has a mandatory requirement that all certified candidates running in a city-wide contested election for certain offices must participate in a minimum of one debate for the covered office. Any non-participating candidate (candidates registered within the Traditional Program and not in the FEP), who have registered for the covered office and qualified for the Ballot, may also participate in the debate. Where there is no other viable opposing FEP certified candidate, or other non-participating candidate willing to debate, the mandatory debate requirement shall be waived by OCF.
You can learn more about the Fair Elections Program here.
Where to Watch?
You will be able to stream the debates live at DCDebates.com
Links to watch or listen to the recording later will be available on this website as the details are finalized.
TUNE-IN LIVE • WATCH ON-DEMAND
When to Watch
At-Large Member of the Council of the District of Columbia
May 2, 2024 • 7:00-8:30 PM
MODERATOR
Sam Ford
Sam Ford recently retired as the DC Bureau Chief for 7News and WJLA 24/7.
He had been with WJLA-TV for more than 36 years. He has been a broadcaster for more than 50 years, starting with radio stations in Kansas and Minnesota before moving on to television.
Previous to WJLA, Sam spent a decade as a correspondent for CBS News. During his tenure at the network, he was stationed at CBS bureaus in New York, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C. Prior to CBS, he reported for WCCO-TV in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Sam is a founding member of the National Association of Black Journalists. His journalistic awards include: AP, New York, Edward R Murrow and several regional Emmys. And in his last six months at WJLA, he was showered with prestigious awards: from the Washington Association of Black Journalists to the Silver Circle of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences to the DC Pro Chapter Hall of Fame by the Society of Professional Journalists.
In his 40 years in the nation’s capital, he says he has covered everything from the White House to the crack house. His focus at WJLA was mainly the District of Columbia government, life and crime.
He is extremely interested in history, particularly Black history. He traces some of his ancestry to slaves owned by American Indians in Oklahoma. He is a voting citizen of the Cherokee Nation. It turns out that his father’s ancestors likely came from what today is Nigeria. Ford learned that from the new method of tracing roots through DNA. Ford has traveled to Nigeria twice looking for further clues as to his ancestry.
He was married to journalist and media specialist Gloria Murry Ford for 40 years until her death in 2021. They have a son and a daughter: Murry Ford, a hospital vice president in Atlanta, Georgia and Gina Ford, a strategic communications director in Maryland.
Sam, a Kansas native, is a graduate of the University of Kansas William Allen White Journalism School. He did graduate studies at the University of Minnesota. He’s been honored as a Broadcast Journalism “Trailblazer” by the Kansas African American Museum.
Sam is an active member of the historic Ebenezer United Methodist Church on Capitol Hill, where he is lay leader, Sunday School teacher and an occasional organist for Sunday morning worship services.
BECOME A PARTNER
Partners
On behalf of the DC Office of Campaign Finance, we are extending an invitation to community-based, non-partisan organizations to serve as partners for the 2024 DC Debates hosted by the Office of Campaign Finance. We are looking for strong partners to help spread the word to District Voters. Becoming a partner does not involve monetary donations. We do ask that partners help promote the debates on their social media channels. Please note that the Office of Campaign Finance cannot accept partners with overtly partisan political agenda.
