November 8 is Election Day. For most of Colton High’s students, this is just another day, but for most of the community it is an opportunity to make voices heard in regards to local politics.

This year, the Pepper Bough decided to bring in both incumbent Mayor Frank Navarro and mayoral challenger Mark Garcia for interviews with our staff. The questions ranged from those about each candidate’s vision for the city to specifics about their individual campaigns.

In honor of the federal “equal time” rule—Section 315 of the FCC Communication Act—we did our best to provide candidates similar amounts of air time. Each of these videos clocks in around 10 minutes.

Ultimately, what each of these videos strives to achieve is to answer the question: “Why should Colton teens care about local politics?” We submit these interviews in response.