Election 2024: Primary challengers emerge in Washington's 35th District for Couture

State Rep. Travis Couture is facing a challenge from fellow Republican Eric Onisko and Democrat James DeHart in the primary race for the 35th Legislative District's Position 2. Couture is the incumbent, having been elected in 2022. Onisko has served on Shelton’s city council since 2018, becoming mayor in 2022. DeHart ran for the 35th District House Position 1 seat in 2022, losing to Dan Griffey.

The two candidates receiving the most votes during the Aug. 6 primary will advance to November's general election.

The 35th District encompasses Mason County, western Kitsap County and western Thurston County.

The Kitsap Sun has asked legislative candidates to answer three questions, with answers limited to 200 words. The answers of Couture, Onisko and DeHart follow:

Travis Couture

Age: 36

Current occupation: State Representative, 35th District (U.S. Navy veteran; former defense contractor at NBK Bangor and Director of Operations for a Kitsap non-profit serving people with disabilities)

Previous elected experience: Elected to 35th District in 2022; former elected chairman of the Mason County Republican Party.

Party: Republican

Campaign contributions: $63,193.42

What would be your priorities if elected?

My priorities are combating crime by improving public safety, making our state more affordable by lowering the cost of living and high taxes, improving outcomes for families and kids with better education and affordable childcare, and protecting your constitutional rights. I will continue investments into the 35^th district that boost economic development, housing, and infrastructure.

Our great state is in crisis mode from decades of failed leadership and harmful policies. Washington has the lowest amount of police in the nation and the highest crime rates in decades, some of the highest taxes and cost of living, a drug and homelessness crisis, an education system that is failing our kids in the basics, the fourth most unaffordable housing in the nation, and some of the most unaffordable and unavailable childcare in the country.

I charged into Olympia with a fire in my belly and I fought for everything I promised you I would fight for and more — and I'm not done yet. It is my mission to hear you, stand up for you, fight for our values, and amplify your voice in Olympia. It is my life’s honor and privilege to be your Representative.Homelessness is a complicated issue, with a range of solutions needed. Provide one idea that the state can support to help residents avoid becoming homeless, and one that supports exit strategies for those who find themselves homeless.

The policies of the majority party in our state to combat homelessness have failed. Taxpayers have poured billions of dollars into homelessness only to watch the problem continuously worsen. At the heart of homelessness is untreated mental health and substance abuse. The devastation of the Blake decision, which effectively legalized the possession of hard drugs, remains a challenge that we still face despite the legislature somewhat re-criminalizing drug possession.

In Grants Pass v. Johnson, SCOTUS upheld the City of Grants Pass ban on public camping, and it’s a new opportunity for local governments to chart their own path to clean up the streets and provide safety. Drugs like fentanyl, are 50 to 100 times more powerful, and recovery will take much longer. The legislature should walk away from failed implementation of ‘harm reduction’ policies, and take a serious look at more efficient and longer civil commitments of those in extreme crisis.

We need to triage those who are suffering and help them put their lives back together. By doing so, we can begin to slam shut the revolving door of this system and save lives instead of walking over people who are killing themselves in slow motion on our streets.

Public schools continue to battle with decreasing enrollments, budget reductions and state funding needs. What impact can you make on education?

I have fought back against the state policies that are harming schools, students, and the community. Washington has abysmal comprehension rates in the basics of education, with roughly 50% of kids performing at grade level for English language, reading, and science. Shockingly, nearly 75% of Washington students are not proficient in math. These performance metrics are not only unsustainable, but unacceptable.

The legislature did not do enough to combat learning loss and mental health issues caused by COVID pandemic policies. At the heart of disenrollments are mental health, increased bullying and violence at schools, lack of academic achievement, and importantly the radical policies forced upon schools by the legislature that diminish parental rights, erode local control, and do not match the values of many people in our communities.

These problems have caused families to disenroll their children in favor of better opportunities, which cost schools enormous amounts of money. These problems further harm the trust voters have in schools when voting for levies and bonds. The legislature must focus on education, not indoctrination, returning local control to elected school boards, rebuilding the trust of families, and fully funding special education that is so vital to our most vulnerable students.

Eric Onisko

Age: 57

Current occupation: Retired (former local business owner)

Previous elected experience: City of Shelton city council for the past six years, mayor for the past two years

Party: Republican

Campaign contributions: Not available

What would your priorities be if elected?

My priority would be to work with both sides of the aisle and figure out a solution to mental illness. We have people on the streets that don’t belong in Western State or jail, but they can’t take care of themselves. There has to be something in the middle.

Homelessness is a complicated issue, with a range of solutions needed. Provide one idea that the state can support to help residents avoid becoming homeless, and one that supports exit strategies for those who find themselves homeless.

As I said above, mental illness, I believe, is the biggest problem we have that contributes to homelessness. There are services out there for addiction, but not much for mental illness. I have been on the housing behavioral health advisory board in Mason County for several years. Municipal and nonprofits are working very hard to try to figure this out. We definitely need state support.

Public schools continue to battle with decreasing enrollments, budget reductions and state funding needs. What impact can you make on education?

We definitely need to support our schools our kids, they are our future and need to learn reading, writing and arithmetic. Enrollment is probably declining because the state and some local schools aren’t listening to parents. Let parents parent their kids and teachers teach them please.

James DeHart

Age: 42

Current occupation: Records management officer for the Washington State Gambling Commission

Previous elected experience: None

Party: Democratic

Campaign contributions: $15,230.55

What would your priorities be if elected?

Defending our democracy: We need to ensure that our democracy continues. Without democracy, healthcare would crumble, safety net programs would buckle, and free and fair elections would cease to exist. Without democracy, the United States of America would end.

Education as our paramount duty: With the possible closing of two schools in the Olympia area, and the potential of that happening elsewhere in the 35th in the future, we need to ensure that all of our public schools are funded adequately, if not robustly. A great educational system will help create great communities.

Affordable housing is a right: One of the biggest elephants in the room is the fact that people cannot afford to keep a roof over their heads. Rent is higher than a mortgage payment and there is no equity to be earned by renting. Homeownership is credit based and is often a barrier to those in lower incomes to being able to afford their own home.

Law enforcement reform: It is necessary for a free society to revisit and revamp law enforcement tactics and policy. In-state Democrats have worked tirelessly to improve our criminal justice system and we must keep at it so we can have a safe and equitable society.

Q: Homelessness is a complicated issue, with a range of solutions needed. Provide one idea that the state can support to help residents avoid becoming homeless, and one that supports exit strategies for those who find themselves homeless.

A: I want to make tiny house villages more of a solution to the homelessness problem. Camp Quixote is one of the best organizations around that deals with this issue. It is about getting a roof over one's head, job training and rehabilitation. They have had success in Olympia and now Shelton and is working to create more of these villages.

Q: Public schools continue to battle with decreasing enrollments, budget reductions and state funding needs. What impact can you make on education?

A: I want to get rid of all the caps that were created by the Legislature that stop funding at certain levels. We need to put education first, otherwise we have an uninformed society and one that can barely function under deceiving sources and misinformation. Also, we cannot publicly fund private schools and should not be funding charter schools. Public funds are for public education. I also want to give more freedom for parents to choose the public school they want their children to attend via transfer protocol.

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: 3 candidates seek state House seat in Washington 35th District primary