CLEARWATER, Fla. — There’s just two weeks left before Clearwater voters will weigh in on the two city council seats on the March 15 ballot.

The six candidates made their case to be elected during a candidate forum held Monday night that was sponsored by the Clearwater branch of the NAACP.

Council member David Allbritton is the lone incumbent on that ballot. The 71-year-old former building contractor is facing opposition from 31-year-old community activist Maranda Douglas and retired information technology official Gerry Lee, 74.

Seat 5 is an open seat, featuring former Scientologist Aaron Smith-Levin, Lina Teixiera and Pastor Jonathan Wade.

All six candidates were asked by debate moderator Zeb Atkinson on how they would define progress in Clearwater.

Douglas, one of two Black candidates running this year, says that there needs for more diversity in Clearwater city leadership (there hasn’t been a Black person elected to the board since 1993).

“That’ll give residents more confidence that they have someone that they can relate to, someone that they can communicate their concerns with, and someone that will advocate for them,” she said.

Wade the other Black candidate on the ballot, said “inclusion of all citizens” would define progress for him – and he referenced the lack of affordable housing in his city.

“I’ve watched the community change to where people have had to move somewhere else to just be able to live because they can’t afford to stay in the hometown that they were raised in,” he said.

Allbritton agreed that the top issue in the city was affordable housing, but he emphasized that “you can’t legislate the market.” He added that local governments need to incentivize developers to build affordable housing.

Retired businessman Gerry Lee has emphasized improving the city’s infrastructure throughout his campaign. He said that progress for him would be going back to the basics: “Sidewalks, lights and curbs.”

Teixeira said that it was about being “proactive” to respond to the needs of the citizenry, not “reactive.”

“That means going out into the community. To be open to hearing,” she said, adding that she’s given out her telephone number to all 5,800 people she’s encountered while canvassing neighborhoods.

Smith-Levin, a former member of the Church of Scientology for nearly three decades until he left in 2013, has been scathing in his comments about Scientology throughout the campaign. He tiptoed around mentioning the church when asked how he would define progress in Clearwater.

“We have to very seriously tackle and resolve the very giant obstacle to development that we have seen in our downtown,” he said. “We need to bring our downtown back to life.”

Smith-Levin and Teixeira have been engaged in an intense battle for the District 4 seat, and Smith-Levin showed in his opening remarks that he wasn’t about to lay down his rhetorical arms.

“I’m not asking you to vote for me,” he said. “I’m going to ask you to either vote for me or Pastor Wade,” referring to Jonathan Wade, the third candidate in the three-person field.

Election Day is March 15.