Coming August 26 Online: 42nd District Representative Candidate Forum

Note: This August and September, we’ll be trying something a little different. We’ll be pre-recording our programs and sending out a link for you to view. This will allow us to guarantee our candidate forums are free of any technical problems that could impact candidates' ability to communicate with our audience. Unfortunately, this eliminates an important aspect of our programs—the ability to ask questions. We look forward to returning to that in future meetings.

If you already registered for the August program, thank you! We are cancelling all registrations, since registration is not required for August and September.

Please expect an announcement with a link to the August program on August 26, and for our September program on September 23.

We expect to return to live Zoom meetings, and to pre-registration, starting in October.

The Candidates:

Position 1:  Alicia Rule and Luanne Van Werven

Position 2:  Jennifer Sefzik and Sharon Shewmake

The 42nd Legislative district has gone thru some changes. After being a solidly Republican district for many years, two years ago Position 2 flipped as Republican Vince Buys lost his seat to Democrat Sharon Shewmake.

Now Shewmake, a WWU Economics professor must defend her seat against Republican Jennifer Sefzik, a small business owner and debate coach.

Meanwhile in Position 1 Republican incumbent Luanne Van Werven will face Blaine City Council member Alicia Rule. It is fitting to have an all-female slate of candidates to debate on August 26th, Women’s Equality Day, which celebrates the ratification of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women’s right to vote.

A representative’s term is two years. The House is made up of 98 members, two from each legislative district in the state. The total membership of the House is up for election each even-numbered year.

During legislative sessions, the Legislature is called upon to enact or reject legislation affecting public policy in the state, provide for the levy and collection of taxes and other revenue to support state government and assist local government, and appropriate funds for these purposes.