On Thursday night, July 17, the League of Women Voters of Knoxville and Knox County hosted a City Council candidate forum for the Sixth District. All five candidates—Charles Frazier, Denzel Grant, Stan Johnson, George Raudenbush, and Lawrence Williams—were in attendance. The event was moderated by liberal Compass Knox co-founder Scott Barker.

The forum remained mostly calm and respectful—until the closing moments. Charles Frazier closed out the evening by raising the issue of the Violence Interruption Grant, a program once led by Denzel Grant and later discontinued by the City of Knoxville. Frazier questioned the program’s effectiveness and its abrupt end.

Grant was given time to respond. He defended his leadership and the initiative, stating that violence in the area has decreased and continues to decline.

You can watch a replay of the forum via the League of Women Voters’ Facebook livestream [here].