Winthrop to host Republican candidates’ forum Feb. 11

Winthrop University will host a forum for Republican presidential candidates on Thursday, Feb. 11.

An Eventbrite page set up for the free event in Byrnes Auditorium lists GOP contenders Ben Carson and Ted Cruz as confirmed attendees at the forum. Other frontrunners Donald Trump and Marco Rubio have been invited.

The Carolina Values Summit will also feature Alveda King, civil rights activist and niece of Martin Luther King. The organizers hope to bring together a “a racially diverse event that will address key public policy and social concerns of evangelicals of all ethnicities around the nation.”

Each candidate will be given 30 minutes to speak separately to the crowd in Byrnes Auditorium. The event is scheduled to run from 6 to 9 p.m. Doors are tentatively scheduled to open at 4 p.m.

The announcement from Winthrop University notes the event is open to all Republican candidates who wish to attend. The flyer for the event also lists several candidates who have dropped out of the presidential race since the Iowa caucuses on Monday night; Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul and Rick Santorum, along with current candidates Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and Donald Trump.

Winthrop previously hosted all three Democratic presidential candidates for a nationally-televised forum in November.

This story was originally published February 3, 2016 at 6:46 PM with the headline "Winthrop to host Republican candidates’ forum Feb. 11."