A candidates forum featuring Rep. Erin Murphy and Riley Horan, a St. Thomas junior who is seeking her Minnesota House District 64A seat, will be held Thursday, Oct. 27.
The 6:30 p.m. forum will be in Otto Hall at Episcopal Homes, 1860 University Ave., and will be sponsored by the Union Park District Council. Eric Molho, an organizational consultant and district council volunteer, will moderate the forum, and audience members will have the opportunity to ask questions of the candidates.
Murphy has represented District 64A since 2007 and is seeking a sixth term. She is deputy minority leader for the House DFL caucus and a fellow at the American Academy of Nursing and the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. She has a bachelor of science degree in nursing from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and a master of arts degree in organizational leadership from St. Catherine University.
Horan is endorsed by the Republican Party. A native of northern California, he is majoring in business administration and business law, a member of the College Republicans at St. Thomas and an intern at the Walsh and Gaertner law firm in St. Paul. He has said he is seeking political office to give younger people a stronger voice at the state capitol, and he favors cuts in personal income taxes and corporate taxes.
District 64A includes the northwest corner of St. Paul and a horizontal band of the city extending on Summit Avenue east to Western Avenue and south to Interstate 35E. The main campus of St. Thomas, north of Summit, is in District 64A. Resident students on the main campus are in Ward 4, Precinct 6, and will vote Nov. 8 in 100 McNeely Hall.
Students who live on the south campus or immediately south of Summit are in District 64B (Ward 4, Precinct 7) and will vote at Groveland Recreation Center, 2021 St. Clair Ave. The candidates are incumbent DFL Rep. Dave Pinto, a Ramsey County prosecutor, and Republican Emory Dively, pastor of Deaf Life Church in St. Paul.
