Distillery

WHO HAS YOUR VOTE? Local Candidates made their cases at last night's Martinsville-Henry County Forum.

Seven candidates. Three local seats. And, naturally, seven different versions of what the future ought to look like.

Thursday night’s Martinsville-Henry County candidate forum gave local voters something campaign signs and Facebook posts can’t always provide: a chance to see candidates answer questions in real time, explain their priorities and show how they handle themselves when the microphone is actually turned on. The Martinsville-Henry County Chamber of Commerce regularly hosts candidate forums as part of its local advocacy efforts.

For Henry County residents, the race is for the at-large seat on the Henry County School Board. Current county documents identify Jonathan P. Martin as the board’s member-at-large; he is facing Joseph H. M. Schenk Jr. for the seat.

For Martinsville residents, things are considerably more crowded. There are two City Council seats available and five candidates asking voters to hand them one:

Michael E. Greene • Chad L. Hall • L.C. Jones, incumbent • Verna L. “Tina” Jenkins • Charles J. Niederstadt Jr.

The city’s official candidate list confirms all five will appear on the November ballot.

And this is where candidate forums become useful.

Everybody looks good on a yard sign. Nobody has ever printed “I promise to attend long meetings and occasionally make decisions that annoy half the population” underneath their name.

A forum is different.

Voters get to listen for specifics instead of slogans. Who seems prepared? Who understands the job they’re seeking? Who offers an actual solution instead of simply identifying the problem? Who answers the question—and who takes the scenic route around it?

Those distinctions matter, particularly in local elections.

School Board decisions eventually find their way into classrooms, budgets, staffing, facilities and the education local children receive. City Council decisions influence taxes, utilities, infrastructure, housing, economic development and what Martinsville might look like five, ten or twenty years from now.

And questions surrounding reversion remain particularly significant because they touch on governance, finances, schools, services, representation, and the future relationship between Martinsville and Henry County. Voters may not agree on the answer—but they deserve to know where each candidate stands and how they arrived at that position.

These may not be the races that dominate national television, but they're the races where the winners may eventually be making decisions about your street, your utility bill, your child's school or your neighborhood.

Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Henry County's registrar says in-person early voting begins September 18, so voters won't have long to decide who made the strongest case.

So now we're turning the question over to you...

👇 WHO HAS YOUR VOTE?

If you watched the forum, which candidate impressed you most—and more importantly, why? Was there an answer that changed your opinion, strengthened your choice, or left you wanting a much better answer?

Don't be afraid to talk issues. Local elections work better when the community actually talks about them.

#HenryCountyVA #MartinsvilleVA #starnewstv #starnewsplus #elections

Original Facebook source: Open post

Source note: Star News TV · Sep 12, 2026 9:09 PM.