Washington State’s 18th Legislative District will feature newcomers to House of Representatives seats in 2023 as the incumbents of both positions decided not to seek re-election.
Those seeking to replace Brandon Vick and Larry Hoff, both Republicans, took part in a candidate forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Clark County on Oct. 12.
Following last year’s redistricting process, the 18th Legislative District morphed from boundaries that sprawled across Clark County to ones more centralized in the middle of the county, including Battle Ground.
18th Legislative District Position 1
Republican Stephanie McClintock and Democrat John Zingale are vying to replace Vick for the position 1 seat.
McClintock, who works in public relations for a Portland-based grain export company, previously served as the Clark County Republican Party chair in 2012. She also served a term on the Battle Ground Public Schools Board of Directors from 2013 to 2017.
She said public safety, inflation and education are her primary concerns.
“People don’t feel safe anymore, they are spending more at the pump and grocery stores, and our kids are suffering severe learning loss, and that needs to be addressed,” McClintock said.
Zingale, a social studies teacher in Vancouver Public Schools, said his experience at the ground-level of public education would give him a useful perspective at the statehouse.
“We need someone in Olympia with a first-hand account of the challenges and successes that our families and students have had,” Zingale said.
Zingale noted that while last year’s redistricting process landed before the Washington State Supreme Court, it was because a deadline was missed and was not due to a fundamental flaw in the process of creating the new district maps.
“Once the courts saw the maps, they were approved,” Zingale said.
He said the bipartisan approach of the state’s redistricting commission was “the envy of many other states that have partisan gerrymandering.”
McClintock said redistricting is important but then once again highlighted the need for public safety.
On abortion, McClintock said she would not overturn the voter-approved Initiative 120, which in 1991, protected the right to the procedure.
“I’ve been an advocate for local control since serving on the school board, so the fact that the Supreme Court has pushed this to the states to decide gives the power to the people, and that is a good thing,” McClintock said.
Zingale said he wants to see the right to abortion protected in Washington’s constitution.
“Recent history has shown us that people have said that they would not overturn a precedent, but we’ve seen that not to be true and that scares me,” Zingale said.
On the project to replace the Interstate 5 bridge over the Columbia River, Zingale spoke favorably of the process.
“Right now, I think that we have a good compromise,” Zingale said.
McClintock said if light rail is the chosen mass transit component, as has been identified in the current phase of project planning, public safety needs to be addressed “since law enforcement staffing is already an issue in Clark County.”
Candidates across the different legislative district positions were asked by the League of Women Voters if they would modify the current threshold for public school construction bonds, which require a 60% approval rate in order to pass. Districts use the bonds to construct school buildings and other infrastructure.
McClintock said she could support adjusting that threshold to more than 55%, but noted the level of funding from the state should be adequate for student learning goals. Due to undesirable levels of student success in math and English/language arts, McClintock said districts need to focus on “these basic, fundamental skills.”
“More money isn’t the answer to everything,” McClintock said.
Drawing on his experience as a K-12 educator, Zingale noted that construction bonds are for building, while state funding is for school operations.
“Right now that 60% threshold is keeping our students from having great learning environments to practice their math, or social studies or reading,” Zingale said.
He is in favor of making the threshold a simple majority but added he is willing to compromise at 55%. He added school districts should be able to build facilities based on projected growth, which current state law does not allow.
On the state’s budgeting, Zingale said using the budget surplus to supplement the state’s rainy day fund is important in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic spending. He added the funds could be used to support special education, mental health services and the establishment of a regional police training facility, something that is currently in the works.
Zingale said he is in favor of some sort of kickback for taxpayers paid through the surplus, adding it could be optional to allow those supportive of particular programs to use that money to fund them.
Agreeing with Zingale on the regional police academy support, McClintock said government spending is the lead cause of the current inflation.
“We had a $15 billion surplus, record revenue, and didn’t even put any in a rainy day fund or return those taxpayers’ dollars to the taxpayers,” McClintock said.
She took aim at the state’s phasing out of natural gas usage, saying the state needs to “find a balance of protecting our environment without damaging our economy and pricing people out of homes.”
McClintock said she does not support ranked-choice voting, which is on the November ballot.
“It’s much too confusing and we need to keep voting easy to encourage higher voter turnout,” McClintock said.
After living in Illinois, Zingale said Washington’s current voting system is “a model for the rest of the country,” adding there are no credible challenges to voter fraud in Washington state.
“I wouldn’t make any changes. In fact I think the rest of the country should be following suit with what Washington is doing,” Zingale said.
18th Legislative
District Position 2
This year’s general election also features a newcomer Republican and Democrat seeking to replace Hoff for the position 2 seat.
Democrat Duncan Camacho, a neurotrauma intensive care unit nurse, said he wants to increase health care access and reduce prescription drug prices. He also supports police recruitment and affordable housing efforts.
Republican Greg Cheney, a lawyer for small business and criminal defense, said his number one issue is the appropriate funding of police, mental health and addiction resources. He also wants to promote job growth that reduces the reliance on commuting to Oregon for work.
Cheney said the I-5 bridge replacement is necessary due to the national security and economic impact the corridor has, which could be compromised if there was an earthquake that impacted the current bridge. He said the bridge should feature an additional lane in both directions and shouldn’t rely on tolling for funding.
“Tolls are fundamentally unfair when (commuters) are already paying Oregon state income tax,” Cheney said.
Camacho is more open to tolling based on his experience living in two politically distant parts of the country.
“I lived in northern California, I lived in Texas, and they both have tolls,” Camacho said.
He said those areas’ tolling structures typically included protections for low-income users.
Cheney doesn’t believe the state Legislature should make any change to the status quo on abortion.
“I think we can all think of exceptions … whether it be a rape, incest or something like that. I have no interest in getting between a woman and her decision on those issues,” Cheney said.
Any change to abortion rights in the state should come through a voter initiative, he said.
Camacho noted he is endorsed by Planned Parenthood, which he said makes his stance on the issue “very clear.”“Abortion rights in Washington are safe, (but) they’re not secure,” Camacho said.
He said he has seen situations with crisis pregnancies both as an ICU nurse and previously as a paramedic. Camacho said he understands how difficult the decision to have an abortion can be.
“These decisions don’t need to be made harder with government involvement,” he said.
Cheney said the state’s bipartisan redistricting commission is a strength to the state’s current electoral process. He said he would be in favor of a hybrid voting system that includes both mail-in and in-person options, recalling the first time he voted at a physical polling station.
Camacho stressed the safety of the state’s current voting situation, saying that allegations of election fraud are “very dangerous” to the integrity of the system.
“I am happy to have mail-in voting. I think we would be very proud that we lead the nation in that kind of access to voting,” Camacho said.
Both candidates believe the redistricting process could be improved through increased transparency.
On the school bond threshold, Cheney said it is important to recognize that bonds are usually a decades-long investment for a community. Given that timeframe, he feels a simple majority is too low of a threshold, though he would be more in favor of a requirement of more than 55%.
“Looking at lowering that supermajority for new construction is something that we need to do,” Cheney said.
Camacho believes there is a “general consensus” that the threshold for bond votes needs to be lowered. On school funding as a whole, he said he would like to be part of the conversation on changing the prototypical school model which the state uses to allocate funds to districts.
The candidates also touched on housing costs. Camacho focused on the effects that one-time impact fees have on new construction.
“Things like traffic lights, schools, fire departments, building into sewer systems, these things take money,” Camacho said. Although necessary, he acknowledged the added cost usually gets passed to the homebuyer.
Cheney touted his support from the Building Industry Association of Clark County and the Clark County Association of Realtors, “groups (that) are on the forefront of trying to bring affordable housing, build new housing, bring it into the inventory,” he said.
He is in favor of changing building codes to allow for more housing, through mixed-use or cottage housing allowances.
Cheney blamed Olympia Democrats for increasing home prices, ostensibly for environmental protection.
“We already have some of the cleanest air in America, and yet (Democrats) are shutting off the ability to put natural gas in the homes. When you do that, there is a new, additional cost,” Cheney said. “Everyone wants clean air and clean water, sure, of course. But we need to be cognizant that there is a cost on the affordability side that we have to balance against.”
The four candidates join dozens of others vying for seats in the general election. The deadline to submit ballots is 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 8.
