Historically a swing district, the 17th District recently gained more rural communities and some Democratic-leaning precincts because of a court-mandated adjustment of several legislative maps. The newly redrawn district now runs from east Vancouver through Skamania County to White Salmon and Goldendale in Klickitat County.
Both candidates tout their experience serving local communities. However, they have differing views on how to address Southwest Washington’s most pressing issues.
Homelessness
To address homelessness, Harris wants to implement a camping ban. He argued that the recent Grants Pass v. Johnson decision makes it possible for the state to enforce such a ban.
“We need to keep these people moving,” he said. “Whenever we let them plant for a long period of time, we have issues.”
However, robust mental health and rehabilitation services also need to be provided, he added.
“We need to help these people and helping them isn’t allowing them to continue to camp,” he said.
If elected, he said he will work on the Involuntary Treatment Act, a state law that allows a person who is experiencing a mental health or substance abuse crisis to be detained involuntarily.
“It’s one of the acts that we need to look at that would give both the city and the police a greater opportunity to help these people,” he said.
He added that the state could do more to increase housing supply, but “there needs to be some accountability with those dollars.”
Keethler stressed that homelessness is ultimately a housing issue.
“By the time that you’re seeing the instances of people who do not have shelter, it’s because there’s been a policy breakdown much farther upstream,” she said.
Addressing the issue will require better coordination between state and federal funding, as well as between the state and local jurisdictions, she said.
“If it is an edict or a declaration of, ‘This is what needs to be built across the state in communities large and small,’ you can very quickly not see those results on the ground if there is not that buy in at the local level,” she said. “The role that the state can be playing more effectively is: How do you fund and support what is needed to spur that eventual development?”
She praised the Children’s Health Insurance Program and said she would like to expand it.
Child care
Keethler said the lack of affordable child care is part of what inspired her to run for office.
She said the state should strive for policies and support systems so that no family spends more than 7 percent of household income on child care. She also wants to support female business owners in rural areas of the district, and she said she wants to encourage “good training” and “culturally sensitive child care.”
“There’s policy that’s been put in place that was well intended to align with that, but at the end of the day, has made it really hard for some business providers of child care to be able to pay livable wages for the experience and skill that we are requiring,” she said. “Revisiting some of those policies, I think, is important.”
Harris argued that Democrats have failed to make child care more affordable despite having a majority in the Legislature.
“There’s been a lot of chatter about it, but they certainly could have fixed this if it was on their priority list,” he said.
He also criticized Democrats for tying child care funding to the capital gains tax.
“If we’re really going to fund child care in our state and do it with business, let’s not put it with the most volatile tax known to mankind,” he said. “If it’s a priority, then make it a priority, but don’t tie it to something that you know is going to go down and down and down.”
Instead, Harris said he would prioritize the issue by “looking at the budget” and “figuring out what we’re going to fund and how we’re going to do it.” He also wants to see more partnerships between businesses and the government to help address the issue.
Climate change
Harris supports the ballot initiatives that would repeal the Climate Commitment Act and the capital gains tax. Keethler does not support them.
“Do I believe in climate change? I absolutely do,” Harris said. “When we do our CO2 readings here shortly, do I believe that what we have done has impacted the world? It may have slightly, but I believe CO2 emissions in the world will still have gone up, and yet we are paying dearly.”
He said that money raised by the Climate Commitment Act isn’t necessarily being used to address the environment, and the federal government should be taking the lead on combatting climate change.
“This is a world problem,” he said. “This isn’t a West Coast problem.”
Keethler disagreed.
“Certainly, climate change is a global problem. I don’t think that means that we push it off of our plates and not also lead as a state,” she said.
She argued that the Climate Commitment Act funds programs and projects that will contribute to a more sustainable future both locally and nationally.
Other issues
The candidates also discussed their differing views on public safety, transportation and reproductive rights.
Both Harris and Keethler agree that more funding needs to be allocated toward public safety. Keethler criticized the 1 percent limit on what each city can raise for funding their police departments. Harris criticized Democrats for being soft on drugs and crime.
“I do not need them to have a supermajority where there’s nobody else at the table, and they get to run these experiments on our society,” he said.
Both candidates support replacing the Interstate 5 Bridge. Harris said he wants little to no tolling, and he expressed support for the inclusion of bus rapid transit. He added that he wants to see a third bridge constructed someday, but not until the current bridge is replaced.
Keethler agreed that replacing the current bridge is a priority.
“We’ve already seen that project fall apart once before, and you only get so many times of built-up trust and partnership,” Keethler said. “If we were to see a dramatic shift in the direction that bridge is going, those partnerships could be lost, and I’m not sure they (would) come back. And I’ve seen that with the Hood River-White Salmon Bridge.”
Keethler supports abortion rights, and she wants to expand access across the district. Harris’ website states he “will never change a voter approved initiative without a vote of the people” and that “Washington voters have overwhelmingly supported a woman’s right to choose.”
If elected, Keethler said she would not stay in her role as mayor of White Salmon.
Ballots will be mailed out in Clark County by Oct. 16. Election Day is Nov. 5.
