Campaign Corner
On October 14, 2025, the League of Women Voters (LWV) of Seattle King County hosted two candidate forums at the Wesley retirement community in Des Moines. This story is about the 33rd district legislative seats, with candidates Edwin Obras and Kevin Schilling. (The other forum was for Des Moines city council candidates.)
Mr. Obras is currently a member of the House. He was appointed in December 2024 to fill the seat after Tina Orwall was appointed to the Senate. Mr. Schilling is currently the Mayor of Burien.
Questions to the candidates were on education, the airport, state taxes, law enforcement, including actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), car tab avoidance, and more.
The forum started with an introduction by moderator Kathy Jorgensen. She ran a tight ship and kept the session under control. After she read the first question, volunteers holding wireless microphones went to audience members who had questions. The candidates alternated in who responded first. One early question was from Daniel Martin of Burien, who started making a statement about sleep and policing. Mr. Martin does not want the police moving homeless people off the city streets. Moderator Jorgensen set the tone with her comment that this forum was for questions, not to make statements. Mr. Martin seemed taken aback, but tried to phrase his question as “Do you agree housing is a human right?” At which point, the moderator said to the volunteer that it was time to move on, as this was not a policy question for a legislative candidate forum.
One of the most striking impressions from the evening is the way candidates answered questions. Mr. Schilling spoke noticeably faster and spent his one-minute response time answering the question. Mr. Obras spoke much more slowly, and often spent half his time repeating the question he’d just been asked.
One of the strongest contrasts on issues was the only education question of the night, asked by this reporter. I mentioned the low test scores and significant increase in spending for education, topics we’ve written about in many Highline Journal education stories. What should the state do?
Mr. Schilling’s main point was that “we need to hold people accountable.” He also stated we need to change how we’re teaching, not just spend more money. He mentioned some specific ideas, including project-based learning, a feature of Raisbeck Aviation High School, which he attended before going to Washington State University and then the London School of Economics.
Mr. Obras started with “education is underfunded”, advocated for voting for the Highline levy, then said, “We have to expand funding.” He brought up teacher pay and how Highline students have hundreds of home languages. He closed with “there are not enough resources”.
Another striking contrast was on the state budget: In response to one question, Mr. Schilling mentioned the state was trying to keep many programs at the same level as during COVID, when the Federal Government was sending a lot of extra money. He then talked about a need to grow the economy. Mr. Obras said we need to overhaul the tax system in some way, such as a wealth tax, and high earners were not paying their fair share. There was no discussion about what percentage is appropriate or fair, but in one other question, he said we need a right-sized capital gains tax. (Writer’s comment: some options include raising the rate, creating a third higher level tier in addition to the one just created, lowering the amount of the exemption from the current level of $278,000, or other alternatives).
Regarding SeaTac Airport, note first that on Oct 22, there is another candidate forum about airport issues, hosted by the activist group SeaTac Airport Community Coalition for Justice. A question asked at the Oct 14 forum about how we deal with the fallout from the airport provides a starting point. Mr. Obras stated how each community has an opportunity to come together with the Port of Seattle, and how the Port of Seattle creates jobs, but also can tend to divide and conquer the cities. Mr. Schilling talked about the potential to reduce air pollution, such as Ultrafine particles, through Sustainable Aviation Fuels, holding the port accountable, and the need to ensure health, among other comments.
Other questions were about transportation taxes, like should electric vehicle drivers pay something since they don’t pay gas taxes? (Both candidates said ‘Yes’). Other questions were around homelessness and the gun control-related issue of high-capacity magazines. (Both are in favor of more controls on military-style weapons.)
For more information, visit the websites of candidates Obras and Schilling. The video will be posted within the next few days on the Youtube channel of the League.
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