McAuliffe, Cuccinelli to Talk Technology in Reston Thursday

Virginia gubernatorial candidates Terry McAuliffe (D) and Ken Cuccinelli (R) will discuss technology and business policy in Northern Virginia Thursday morning.

During a town-hall forum co-hosted by Microsoft and the Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC), the candidates will outline their views on technology and business policy and answer questions from a panel of business leaders and the audience.

The event will not be a debate – after McAuliffe and Cuccinelli appear onstage together to give their opening statements, they’ll come back on stage separately for the questions. Virginians thirsting for a debate will have to wait for Sept. 25, when the candidates will face off in McLean for the election’s first debate.

The governor’s race between McAuliffe, the former chair of the Democratic Party, and Cuccinelli, the conservative attorney general of Virginia, will likely be 2013’s premier election, drawing eyes and dollars from around the nation.

McAuliffe, a McLean resident, made a campaign stop in Northern Virginia with Democratic attorney general candidate Mark Herring Tuesday morning to tour the new McLean Silver Line Metro station.

Last week, while Democrats took to the polls for the primary, Cuccinelli unveiled new workforce policy that would boost the exposure of science and technology programs in localities with unemployment rates over seven percent.

The forum will take place in Microsoft’s offices in Reston at 8:15 a.m. on Thursday, June 20, 2013.

Check back on Patch Thursday for further coverage of the forum.