Community Government

Both 26th District candidates lean toward the center at Vaughn forum

Washington’s most competitive legislative contest this fall is shaping up as a referendum on how to change the direction that majority Democrats in the Legislature are steering the state.

And one of the two candidates calling for that change is a Democrat herself.

Deb Krishnadasan, the state senator campaigning to retain her seat in November, says she is best positioned to influence her caucus colleagues who are passing fiscal policies that are hurting residents.

“I bring a balanced voice to the majority party. That is what we need right now,” she said at a forum this month in Vaughn. “We need to bring a voice that will get the majority party to work for our people, to take the word ‘taxes’ off our most vulnerable. We need to change direction.”

Michelle Caldier, the six-term Republican state representative seeking to unseat Krishnadasan, argues the most effective means of redirecting Senate Democrats is by reducing their numbers. Democrats hold a 30-19 advantage, allowing them to push through policies over all GOP objectors.

“Olympia is a mess. The makeup of the Legislature is so bad. The direction that we are going is absolutely ridiculous,” she said at the forum. “We need to change the balance of the Legislature … and turn around the direction of our state.”

26th District race

This contest, to be decided in the Nov. 4 election, is playing out in the 26th Legislative District that includes Gig Harbor, Purdy, the Key Peninsula, Port Orchard and parts of Bremerton. It is one of the few swing districts where residents are represented by lawmakers from both parties.

Krishnadasan is facing voters for the first time as a lawmaker.  A former Peninsula School Board member, she was appointed to her seat after former state senator Emily Randall, a Democrat, was elected to Congress last year.

Caldier won a seat in the House in 2014 and has been reelected five times, typically garnering votes from Democrats and independents who view her as one of her party’s more moderate voices.

Krishnadasan won the August primary by 1,158 votes. Most of the margin came in Kitsap County, as only 17 votes separated the two in the Pierce County portion.

The result surprised Caldier. She attributed it partly to Republicans not voting when they saw only two candidates on the ballot. She also said President Donald Trump has “ticked off” a lot of Democrats who may not know the senator but backed her because of her party.

Forum in Vaughn

The forum at the Key Peninsula Civic Center in Vaughn marked the first time the two candidates appeared together in this election. They answered questions on rural development, the state gas tax, public safety and spending.

Both candidates sought to stress their public service credentials and desire to put the state on a different path.

Caldier opened by touting her 11 years representing the district, rattling off a few community projects for which she helped secure state funds.

Then she charged ahead, bringing up the oversized elephant in this race, Trump.

“I understand that many people in the room are unhappy with the president … and things going on at the federal level,” she said. “This Senate election has absolutely nothing to do with that.”

It is about whether voters want to end the Democrats’ supermajority and restore “balance back to our state,” she said.

Tax increases

Caldier said Democrats used their lopsided advantage in the House and Senate to pass “the largest tax hike in state history.” She was referring to the $9.4 billion package used to balance the budget earlier this year, plus the $3.2 billion transportation revenue measure anchored by the 6-cent increase in the state’s gas tax on July 1.

“I have consistently voted against the gas tax,” Caldier said. “It is one of the most regressive forms of tax in our state. You have to understand, a lot of the moderate Democrats are gone. The far-left Democrats have pushed them all out. As a result, you have a very polarized Olympia and they believe that gas and your usage of gas is a sin, and they believe in taxing it to the level of sin taxes.”

Krishnadasan didn’t play the Trump card that night. Nor did she plug major policy changes she helped her party pass, including a cap on rent increases, unemployment benefits for striking workers and requiring a state-issued permit to buy a gun. Caldier opposed those new laws.

Polarization

Rather, Krishnadasan promoted her legislation to cut the state’s sales tax, which did not get a vote, and her ability to get Republican co-sponsors on some of her bills. She stressed a commitment to fiscal conservatism.

“As politics grow more and more polarized, we’re losing sight of the fact that our neighbors can’t afford life anymore. Groceries. Child care. This is what I want to focus on,” she said.

Krishnadasan did vote against her party’s major tax bills, the transportation revenue package that included the gas tax hike, and the two-year state budget.

“We are in an affordability crisis right now,” she said. “We need to continue to look at how we take taxes away from our working families and our seniors versus just, ‘where’s our revenue’.”

Campaign spending

In the primary, business- and Republican-backed political committees poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into mailers, streaming ads and texts aimed at tying her to the tax and spending decisions of her caucus.

“You’re going to get more information over the coming weeks,” she cautioned audience members in Vaughn. “I want you, please, to remember that when there were tax increases on the table, I voted no. When there were DOGE-style cuts that were proposed, I voted no.”

The two candidates are scheduled to participate in additional forums before ballots for the Nov. 4 election are mailed out.