Candidates for Washington’s Congressional District 6 — which covers the Olympic Peninsula and part of Tacoma — offered very different solutions for familiar problems.
Challengers to incumbent Derek Kilmer, a Democrat, had the stage to themselves Monday evening as Kilmer was unable to attend the event.
Candidates Rebecca Parson, Chris Binns and Todd Bloom were the only attendants at a League of Women Voters online forum Monday night, as Kilmer and the other two candidates — Republican Elizabeth Kreiselmaier and Independent Tom Triggs — were not able to participate.
The forum was a collaboration between the Leagues of Women Voters of Tacoma-Pierce, Kitsap and Jefferson counties, and candidates were asked questions based on public submissions.
In a statement, Kilmer, first elected in 2013, said congressional business kept him from being at the forum but that he was committed to helping people in the community hurt by inflation. Kilmer said he “voted to crack down on price gouging” by oil companies and expand social security. Kilmer said he also wanted to prevent members of Congress from buying stocks.
“I’m committed to helping people in our area who are struggling,” Kilmer said.
Binns and Bloom are both running as Republicans, whereas Parson is a Democrat who advocated for things like universal health care and jobs programs.
Throughout the forum, Parson — a Tacoma-based consultant who’s advocated for homelessness issues — repeated her belief that, “in a country this rich, no one should be hungry or homeless.”
Republican candidates took aim at national policies they said were hurting the economy, particularly in the energy sector, where both Binns and Bloom said the Biden administration’s environmentally focused policies were driving up costs.
“We were energy independent prior to the current administration taking office,” Bloom said. “We have able natural resources that can be more effectively removed and utilized.”
Bloom, a U.S. Navy veteran and businessman who ran against Kilmer in 2016, said he wanted to enact policies that would help the economy grow, and criticized Kilmer for being too aligned with the Biden administration’s policies.
A former Washington State Ferry worker and U.S. Marine Corp veteran, Binns said he was running because leaders at the state and national level were abusing their power.
“There’s a con, an agenda being peddled, that there are new truths about the nature of man and the foundation of this country,” Binns said. “Try being a kid in school and tell a class that a boy can’t become a girl.”
On questions of access to voting and abortion, both Binns and Bloom said those issues were the purview of the states rather than the federal government. Asked what kind of legislation they would support to ensure every American 18 and older could vote, Binns said the matter was for states to decide.
“Those criteria are reserved to the states,” Binns said. “My basic feeling is as long as (states are) following the Constitution, I don’t really feel there’s too much of a federal purview.”
Both Binns and Bloom made similar comments in response to a question about access to abortion.
“I don’t believe there is a necessity for federal legislation,” Bloom said, noting he is personally opposed to abortion. “It’s not the prerogative of the federal government.”
Parsons, however, said she would support legislation like the Women’s Health Protection Act which would ban state governments from placing certain limits related to abortion on medical providers.
“I am pro-choice.I am the only pro-choice woman in this race,” Parson said. “As a woman, my rights are not up for debate. The freedom to reproductive health care is a right.”
Parson, who described herself as a gay woman, voiced concern that other precedents set by the U.S. Supreme Court might also be reversed.
“The (U.S.) Supreme Court is going to be looking at taking away my right to marriage,” Parson said.
Primary elections are set for Aug. 2, and election ballots have already been sent out to voters. The top-two primary will narrow the field to two candidates for the Nov. 8 general election.
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Reporter Peter Segall can be reached at psegall@soundpublishing.com
