King County voters pamphlets and the ballot for the Aug. 6 primary election should now be in their hands.

Enumclaw is participating in a different election this around because it’s been redistricted into the 5th Legislative District as a result of other redistricting in Eastern Washington. The Plateau was previously in the 31st Legislative District, represented by Reps. Eric Robertson and Drew Stokesbary, as well as Sen. Phil Fortunato.

This year’s primary is a little crowded, with five candidates running for the open Position 1. Jason Ritchie, Victoria Hunt (currently an Issaquah City Councilmember), and Kristiana de Leon (currently a Black Diamond City Councilmember) are running as Democrats, and Mark Hargrove and Landon Halverson as Republicans.

Below is a series of questions – about education, housing, the Climate Control Act, and more – the Courier-Herald posed to each candidate. This is a two-part series, with the first round of questions printed in the July 17 edition.

JASON RITCHIE (D)

What’s your opinion on the Climate Commitment Act? Is this helping or hurting WA residents/business? Is it a good goal for the state to reduce greenhouse emissions by 95%?

I support the Climate Commitment Act, but I oppose overburdening middle class residents with new taxes. We all want clean air and water and the CCA is one of several tools we can use to make this a reality. I support reinvesting any gains from the CCA by putting it back into the hands of Washington residents to combat inflation. Olympia needs to learn how to live within a budget, just like every other middle-class family in Washington.

What platform, policies, or experience separates you from other candidates?

There are a lot of good candidates running for office in the 5th LD but what makes me stand out is my collaborative, pragmatic approach and commitment to middle class, living wage jobs. I will work with anyone regardless of their party or their office, to help build an economy that supports the middle class. I am very concerned about the lack of affordable housing in our area, and I want to make sure we are doing what we can in Olympia to lessen traffic and add homes close to where people work. I want to make sure our schools are teaching our kids real life skills and I want to protect our environment.

I’ve been endorsed by several labor unions, the American Federation of Teachers as well as State Senator Mark Mullet, Representative Kristine Reeves and Representative Amy Whalen. I was also endorsed by the Seattle Times. I hope to be able to earn your vote.

MARK HARGROVE (R)

What’s your opinion on the Climate Commitment Act? Is this helping or hurting WA residents/business? Is it a good goal for the state to reduce greenhouse emissions by 95%?

We do need to be responsible stewards of our environment. But the Climate Commitment Act is greatly harming our businesses and forcing my neighbors to pay much more for daily living. Compared to the rest of the world, we already have a very clean environment. If Washington State became carbon neutral for an entire year, China would wipe out those gains in a single day. It doesn’t make sense to harm my neighbors so severely with minimal impact on the world environment.

What platform, policies, or experience separates you from other candidates?

We need to realize that the problems we see in Washington State are not nationwide. We are 4th highest in both grocery and home prices, 3rd highest in gas prices, 1st in retail theft, 4th for automobile theft, the worst for potholes, and the list goes on and on. These are problems created by our current majority in the legislature. I am part of the solution.

KRISTIANA DE LEON (D)

What’s your opinion on the Climate Commitment Act? Is this helping or hurting WA residents/business? Is it a good goal for the state to reduce greenhouse emissions by 95%?

I am overall in support of the Climate Commitment Act, but there are severe needs overhauls: for one, Governor Inslee vetoed tribal sovereignty provisions, which was both an insult and an injury. We need to empower the tribes to make more of their own decisions on the lands that indigenous people have stewarded since time immemorial. We need to do far more to recognize that we are still demanding more of workers than top polluters in terms of carrying the burden of the “gas tax”.

While there is a lot of misinformation about what the CCA does, the truth is that we really are not investing enough in workers who rely on natural gas and that we are pricing out lower-income consumers who can’t afford the transition to cleaner options.

I am disgusted that our county might very well allow for gravel mining in Cumberland while leaning on the Growth Management Act as justification. I bring up Cumberland and the gravel mines as the tip of the iceberg of what our state should find permissible when it comes to water quality and lack of enforcement on environmental projects in rural areas.

None of this is what a “just transition” looks like, and if we are truly to help residents and businesses, we need to do more to make top polluters pay up while not passing those costs down to middle and lower income residents as we keep seeing.

Similarly, hearing that unions have to “play defense” to keep their trades program funding from preliminary, Democratic-run legislative budgets makes me further question if we are committing to the people who are on the front lines of climate solutions. We need more people from more rural areas, and who are committed to environmental policies that work outside of ivory towers.

What platform, policies, or experience separates you from other candidates?

I am proud to have been part of the work in successfully championing therapeutic and community courts, advocating for programs that help people find healthier coping mechanisms, therapy, and more.

I am representing one of the fastest-growing cities in the state, where the Growth Management Act is an unfunded mandate. I am a former public school teacher, and also worked retail during COVID while serving on the City Council. I have gone to Olympia ten times alone last session, and numerous other times, to make sure that legislators knew about the not-so-unique but often unheard challenges of cities like mine.

As an Association of Secular Elected Officials board member, we are fighting against Project 2025 and all prior iterations. I am the only person in this race who has consistently confronted the rise on Christian Nationalism, first by unseating a militia leader to earn my seat on the council, and later by directly confronting Patriot Front and other hate groups in my community. I don’t back down from fights when the people I love are most at risk.

My approach to legislating is “yes, and” – because the perspectives of the south end of the 5th is crucial. Knowing that simply going along to get along is why our schools are closing and why unincorporated communities like Cumberland feel and ignored, and why we are unable as a city to keep the lights on and provide basic and essential services to residents.

As an adoptee, I believe in full reproductive freedom. The Supreme Court used people like us as an excuse to take away others’ rights – and for that, I fight even harder for full access to reproductive care. The adopted community is frequently unheard and spoken over, and it is also what fuels my advocacy.

LANDON HALVERSON (R)

What’s your opinion on the Climate Commitment Act? Is this helping or hurting WA residents/business? Is it a good goal for the state to reduce greenhouse emissions by 95%?

I fully oppose the Climate Commitment Act in its current form, because it does little to protect Washington’s natural environment while raising taxes for those who are already struggling.

While the goal of the climate commitment act is to “reduce carbon emissions”, Washington State was one of just 4 states in the Nation to see an increase in carbon emissions in 2023 (Washington Policy Center via EPA), while states that have prioritized energy independence, invested in their energy sector, and gave people choice actually saw larger decreases in their emissions than Washington. I believe it is critical for our state to invest in energy resources that deliver safe, affordable, and reliable energy to Washingtonians, such as nuclear and hydropower. These types of natural resources, in addition to being abundant and affordable, produce significantly lower emissions than our current energy mix- I believe that, for this reason, hydropower and nuclear power are wise choices for Washington’s energy future. In addition, I am strongly opposed to banning natural gas in Washington State, because I believe it would increase energy costs beyond what is feasible for too many residents, many of whom would have no affordable or reliable alternative.

What platform, policies, or experience separates you from other candidates?

There are several positions and priorities I would encourage folks to consider:

I believe that protecting access to natural gas is critical for Enumclaw businesses and families alike. No electric grid, including our own, is perfect, and it is critical that natural gas remains accessible, especially in rural areas. I firmly oppose all efforts to ban natural gas, and fully support I-2066.

Protecting recently-enacted legislation that restores reasonable police pursuit is also something I will champion if elected. Giving police departments the ability to design their own public safety plans with input from community stakeholders will improve public safety outcomes for everyone.

I am firmly opposed to new property or income taxes, as well as new gas or sales taxes, especially while our state runs a budget surplus. I will fight to utilize our budget surplus to bring tax relief to homeowners and working families, and will always work to ensure taxes remain as low as possible.

In a forum earlier this year, all three of my democratic opponents expressed their support for new excise taxes when families go to sell their home. I firmly oppose new taxes, and will fight to lower existing taxes, especially while our state runs a budget surplus.

My campaign is solely endorsed by the King County Republican Party, the 5th Legislative District Republican Party, King County Councilman Reagan Dunn, Enumclaw Mayor Jan Molinaro, and countless other community leaders, because they know I have the experience and energy to fight for our communities; every place, every time. King County is my home, and it would be an honor to represent it by serving my neighbors in the legislature.

VICTORIA HUNT (D)

What’s your opinion on the Climate Commitment Act? Is this helping or hurting WA residents/business? Is it a good goal for the state to reduce greenhouse emissions by 95%?

As a climate scientist with a PhD in Ecology and the Chair of the Planning, Development and Environment Committee of the Issaquah City Council, I believe I am uniquely qualified to be effective on this issue. That’s why I have been a vocal defender of the Climate Commitment Act (CCA) throughout my campaign this year. The climate crisis represents an existential threat and the opportunity to do more to protect our planet for current and future generations is a main motivator for why I’m running for higher office. The CCA is a critical tool for meeting our goals to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, which we know are causing the climate crisis. We already feel the devastating impacts of the climate crisis already, with smokier summers, elevated risk of fire, and more extreme weather events. Further, funding from the Climate Commitment Act provides extremely important support for infrastructure and transportation projects across the district and state, clean energy, salmon recovery projects, green economy jobs, and more. I am running for State Representative to be an environmental champion for the state of Washington, and I see I-2117, the effort to repeal the Climate Commitment Act, as a huge threat – I will do everything I can to stop this repeal effort.

What platform, policies, or experience separates you from other candidates?

We cannot take for granted the hard fought victories of women over the last decades. I am the only working mom of young children in this race, and will bring that perspective to Olympia. We need to codify and defend women’s rights in the State of WA and across the US. My daughter has fewer reproductive rights in this country than I had growing up and that is unacceptable.

Additionally, as a local elected official, I have supported measures such as tenant protections, which are known to be disproportionately impactful for women. In my past campaign and service for Issaquah City Council, I have advocated for reproductive rights for women, and in my 2023 election I was endorsed by Planned Parenthood Votes because of my stance in support of reproductive rights and of abortion as healthcare.