Three candidates for the open District 11 State Senate seat will be speaking in Bainbridge on Monday.

The three candidates, Dr. Dean Burke of Bainbridge, Mike Keown of Coolidge, Ga., and Dr. Jeffrey Bivins of Cairo, Ga., will speak briefly prior to the regular meeting of the Bainbridge Tea Party Group. These three candidates are among six who are vying to win a special election on Tuesday, Jan. 8, to replace former State Sen. John Bulloch. Bulloch resigned from the seat in December.

The other three candidates in the special election are Eugene McNease of Thomasville, Ga., Marshall Berman of Thomasville, and Brad Hughes of Blakely, Ga.

The meeting is Monday at 6 p.m., at the meeting room in the Decatur County Administration Building, 203 W. Broughton St. in Bainbridge. The candidates will speak about their platform and be available to talk with citizens after the meeting as well.

The featured speaker for the meeting is Jane Robbins, a senior fellow of the American Principles Project in Washington, D.C. Robbins, a graduate of Clemson (S.C.) University and Harvard Law School, will discuss the Common Core Georgia Performance Standards that are being implemented in Georgia Schools.

Specifically, she will discuss the standards’ origin, mandated national standards and tests, the federal database for tracking individual students, how parental and local controls fit in, and whether the standards violate the 10th amendment.

All those who attend the meeting are asked to bring a canned food item, which will be donated to a local food bank.