High temperatures didn’t deter voters from attending another in-person candidate forum this week on South Whidbey.

Under the twinkle lights of Clinton Community Hall and over the drone of several fans, state representative and state senator candidates for the 10th Legislative District shared their thoughts on sea level rise, gun violence and many other topics during the nonpartisan moderated forum hosted by the Clinton Community Council in partnership with Sno-Isle Libraries. Though officials said the turnout wasn’t as high as the hall’s first candidate forum in June, around 85 people braved the summer heat.

Republicans Carrie Kennedy and Yvonne Gallardo-Van Ornam are facing incumbent Democrat Clyde Shavers in the race for state representative, pos. 1. Democrat Dave Paul, the incumbent for state representative, pos. 2, is being challenged by Republican Garry Wray. Janet St. Clair, current Island County commissioner, is running as a Democrat against incumbent Republican Ron Muzzall for state senator. Democrat Denny Sandberg is also in the race but did not attend the July 9 forum.

The candidates answered multiple climate-related questions, including one that asked if they supported Initiative 2117, a measure on the ballot that would repeal the Washington Climate Commitment Act of 2021.

While Paul acknowledged that there’s work to be done to improve the Climate Commitment Act, he said it provides necessary funding for state ferry infrastructure.

“I don’t know how we’re going to fund five new ferries if we lose 23 or so percent of the funding if the CCA is repealed,” he said. “So I will not be voting to repeal the CCA.”

St. Clair and Shavers also voiced opposition against the initiative for the same reasons. The rest of the candidates, however, were less forthcoming in their answers. Muzzall said he supported the citizen’s right to vote on the initiative and that the bottom third of the state population that struggles with disposable income is finding it hard to survive with an extra tax on fuel.

“I think this is amazing,” Gallardo-Van Ornam said. “I think the people are talking and seeing that it’s just too expensive and they’re fed up and that is why it’s on the ballot.”

Others, like Kennedy, were unfamiliar with the initiative altogether.

The candidates were unilaterally in agreement that more traffic-calming measures, such as roundabouts, are needed in Island County.

Paul said it is a funding issue and the state does not fund its transportation sector well.

His fellow incumbent expressed a similar sentiment about the state transportation budget.

“Until we can have money growing on trees, we’re limited by the amount of money that there is to invest in these intersections,” Muzzall said.

Wray said it makes no sense to “push” roundabouts in places like the intersections in Freeland instead of Highway 525, where deadly car accidents have occurred in the past.

When asked how they planned to fix the current school funding model to ensure South Whidbey School District no longer needs to make budget cuts, most of the candidates expressed worries about declining enrollment statewide.

When she ran for Congress in 2020 and 2022, Kennedy said, the biggest concern she heard was that parents were worried about what their students are being taught in school.

“So I think if we were to start looking at what the kids are learning in school and what they’re being taught in school, maybe enrollment might go up,” she said.

Wray said an “awful lot” of money in public schools is spent for administration and doesn’t get to the classroom. Paul, who has experience as an educator, said the prototypical funding model is not keeping up with inflation. He added that special education, nurses and counselors have all been underfunded.

The candidates had plenty to say about Whidbey’s current ferry woes.

Muzzall voiced support for diesel-fueled boats and said he thought they could get built in less time than the hybrid-electric boats the state is currently pursuing. As Paul pointed out, the contractor that the state used for building vessels in the past is now out of business.

Wray expressed doubt that the ferries would be completed by 2028 and cast aspersions on electric boats.

“Our ferries are vital to us,” he said. “To try a new technology that doesn’t even exist in the world is foolish in my opinion.”

On the subject of affordable housing, Gallardo-Van Ornam said there is legislation that looks good on paper but is not well implemented.

Shavers indicated 3D-printed tiny homes as a possible solution.

St. Clair pointed to the $9 million of American Rescue Plan Act funds that the county invested in buying land and beginning to build workforce housing. At the state level, she recommended continuing to invest in middle housing, which she said is a partnership between public and private entities.

Primary election day is Aug. 6.