LEWISTON — Mayoral candidates Mark Paradis and Robert Macdonald will face off in a debate Monday at the Lewiston Public Library.

The public is invited to attend.

Paradis and Macdonald were each named runoff candidates after the Nov. 8 election failed to produce a winner with 50 percent of the vote.

City voters will go to the polls again Dec. 13 to select one of these candidates to replace outgoing Mayor Larry Gilbert.

“The two candidates are very different so voters will have a real choice in who they elect,” said Rex Rhoades, executive editor of the Sun Journal. “We hope this debate will offer a chance for voters to see those differences.”

The debate and forum is scheduled from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Nov. 28 at the Lewiston Public Library before a live audience. It also will be streamed live over the Internet on sunjournal.com, the Sun Journal’s web page, and recorded for later showing on Great Falls TV.

Sunjournal.com will also host a live blog during the debate where users can discuss the debate as it unfolds. Users will also have an opportunity to present questions to the candidates during the live broadcast.

During the mayoral campaign, Paradis made promoting economic development a key part of plans for the city, should he win. Macdonald said he hopes to make Lewiston stronger by making the city less reliant on welfare and public assistance and by reducing old and failing apartment tenements downtown.

Paradis and Macdonald were the top two vote-getters in a field of five candidates at the polls earlier this month.

Unofficial returns show that Paradis got the most votes, with 2,967 — about 32 percent of the ballots cast for mayor. Macdonald was a close second, with 2,852. Macdonald’s votes amounted to about 31 percent of the ballots cast for mayor.

The debate, which is hosted by the Sun Journal, the Lewiston Public Library, Mainebiz, Great Falls TV and the Androscoggin County Chamber of Commerce, will be moderated by Chamber President Chip Morrison.

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